
Date of issue: 28.07.2008
Record label: Warner
Song language: English
The Soul Is a Bird |
Now, as press, this didn’t really seem like a great way to advertise concerts, |
but it sounded like fun anyway |
And I stayed at the palace in one of the former king’s harem houses. |
Each of the king’s wives had had her own house guarded by a pair of animals. |
A bear and a fox, for example. |
By the time I got there, years later, |
the menagerie had dwindled a bit: my house was guarded by two tropical fish |
Bali was extremely hot in the afternoons, and the conversations with the prince |
drifted along randomly from topic to topic. |
The prince was a bon vivant, |
trained in Paris, and he spoke excellent English. |
And when he wasn’t in the |
palace he was out on the bumpy back roads racing cars. |
So we talked about cars, |
a subject I know absolutely nothing about, And I felt that as far as |
representing the Western world was going, I was failing pretty dismally |
Then, on the second night, the prince served an elaborate feast of Balinese |
dishes. |
At the end of the meal, the conversation slowed to a halt, |
and after a few minutes of silence he asked: |
«Would you like to see the cremation tapes of my father?» |
The tapes were several hours long, and were a record of the elaborate |
three-month ceremony shot by the BBC |
When the king died the whole country went to work building an enormous funeral |
pyre for him. |
After months of preparation, during which time the corpse |
continues to reside in the living room, they hoisted the body to the top of |
this rickety, extremely flammable structure, and lit a match. |
The delicate |
tower crumbled almost immediately, and the king’s body fell to the ground with |
a sickening thud. |
Suddenly, everyone began to cheer |
Later, I learned that the Balinese believe that the soul is a bird, |
and that when the body falls, it shakes the bird loose and gives it a head |
start on its way to heaven |
Name | Year |
---|---|
O Superman (For Massenet) | 2005 |
Bright Red | 2008 |
Speak My Language | 2005 |
My Right Eye | 2010 |
Big Science | 2005 |
Born, Never Asked | 2005 |
Speechless | 2008 |
Freefall | 2008 |
From the Air | 2005 |
World Without End | 2008 |
In Our Sleep | 2005 |
Walking and Falling | 2007 |
Bodies in Motion | 2010 |
Example #22 | 2007 |
Tightrope | 2008 |
Beautiful Pea Green Boat | 2008 |
The Puppet Motel | 2008 |
Washington Street | 2001 |
Muddy River | 2008 |
Slip Away | 2001 |