Song to the Siren (Tim Buckley song)
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| "Song to the Siren" | |
|---|---|
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"Song to the Siren" is a song written by Tim Buckley and his writing partner Larry Beckett and was first released on Buckley's 1970 album Starsailor. It was also later released on Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology, the album featuring a performance of the song taken from the final episode of The Monkees TV show which aired on March 25, 1968.
Pat Boone was the first to release a version of the song when it was featured on his 1969 album Departure, predating Buckley's Starsailor release. However, the song has become perhaps Buckley's most famous due to a number of artists covering the song after his death in 1975, notably This Mortal Coil.
Contents
Background
The song was written in 1967, but Buckley was dissatisfied with the early attempts at recording it. It would finally appear on Starsailor three years later.[1] The Monkees TV show version featured the song in its original folk song style, with Buckley playing solo with a 12 string guitar. This stands in contrast to the lusher, reverb-filled version present on the Starsailor album. The Monkees television spot features the song in the key of E while the later album version is played in Bb. The album version also features heavy reverb on the electric guitar and high pitched background vocals. In comparison, the live version is more lo-fi, with no effects, and Buckley's voice is accompanied only by his guitar. The 1968 performance also features different lyrics with the phrase "I am puzzled as the oyster" later being changed to "I'm as puzzled as the newborn child" in the album version. This was reportedly because when Buckley played the song to Judy Henske, wife of then producer Jerry Yester, she responded to the line with laughter.[2][3]
Despite this, Buckley and Beckett regarded this song as their greatest collaboration effort, with Beckett later stating "It's a perfect match of melody and lyrics. There was some kind of uncanny connection between us."[1]
The song's reference to the sirens tempting sailors at sea stems from Greek mythology. This lyrical style is an example of Larry Beckett's literary inspirations, and stands in direct contrast to Buckley's own more personal writing style.[citation needed]
Version by This Mortal Coil
| "Song to the Siren" | |
|---|---|
| Single by This Mortal Coil | |
| from the album It'll End in Tears | |
| Released | September 1983 |
| Label | 4AD |
| Writer(s) | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
The most prominent recording of "Song to the Siren" is by This Mortal Coil. It was released as a single in September 1983 and spent 3 weeks on the UK Charts where it peaked at #66 on October 23, 1983.[4] More impressive, however, was the sustained demand for the track, the record-buying public helping the single to spend 101 weeks on the UK Indie Charts, a run that ranked fourth in the 1980s after three classic long-selling records: "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus (131 weeks), "Blue Monday" by New Order (186 weeks) and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division (195 weeks). "Song to the Siren" was included on This Mortal Coil's 1984 album It'll End in Tears which was released a year after the single. This Mortal Coil was a collective name for a number of artists on the 4AD Records label, with Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins performing the song. Fraser also recorded a duet with Tim's son, Jeff Buckley, developing an intense personal relationship with him.[5]
Following the release of the single by This Mortal Coil, Buckley's work experienced a reappraisal in the mid-1980s.[6] This revival of interest in the artist would be one of the greatest factors in the increase of his posthumous sales, falling second only to the publicity generated by the success of his son, Jeff.[6]
In 2012, Dawn French selected this song on Desert Island Discs as, in her words, "The song that made me fall in love again"[7]
Film soundtrack use
The version by This Mortal Coil featured on David Lynch's 1997 film Lost Highway but did not appear on the film's soundtrack album. Lynch has stated that This Mortal Coil's version of the song inspired the first two albums by Julee Cruise. Also, he had previously intended to use the original version of the song on Blue Velvet but was prevented from doing so due to legal issues or budget limitations.[8] It was also used in the trailer for the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and in Peter Jackson's 2009 film The Lovely Bones. The cover by Israeli singer Ivri Lider was featured in Eytan Fox's film HaBuah.[9] The original Tim Buckley version also appeared in the 2006 Australian movie Candy, as well as a cover by Paul Charlier and Paula Arundell. The song has also featured in popular TV shows such as Waterloo Road.
Other cover versions
"Song to the Siren" has been covered many times since This Mortal Coil's version.[10]
- Former Two Nice Girls member Laurie Freelove covered the song on her 1991 album Smells Like Truth.
- The Chemical Brothers made an electronic big beat track called Song to the Siren in 1992, when they were known as the Dust Brothers. This sampled the This Mortal Coil version of Buckley's song, although the sample is unacknowledged on the album Exit Planet Dust, where the songwriting credit is given as Rowlands/Simons.
- Sally Oldfield covered the song on her 1996 album Secret Songs.
- Australian band Cordrazine covered the song on their 1997 EP Clearlight.[11]
- English Indian artist Sheila Chandra covered the song for the 2000 compilation album Gifted on Real World Records.
- The song was given new life in the form of a trance remix by Lost Witness — "Did I Dream (Song to the Siren)" peaked at #28 in the UK singles chart in 2002.[12] Similarly, a sample of This Mortal Coil's version was featured prominently in Messiah's techno single "Temple of Dreams".[13]
- On the 2000 tribute album Sing a Song for You: Tribute to Tim Buckley, The Czars contributed a version of the song over three minutes longer than the original.
- It has also been covered by Mercury Prize nominee Susheela Raman on her 2001 album Salt Rain.
- Robert Plant covered this song on his 2002 album Dreamland, and as a duet with Plant and English tenor Alfie Boe on his 2011 album Alfie.
- A cover of the song was the title track of Song of the Siren: Live in San Sebastian (Sub Pop #SP592), a 2002 live album by Damon and Naomi with Kurihara, guitarist for the band Ghost.
- Post-punk band Half Man Half Biscuit covered the song for the Peel Sessions in 2002.[14]
- It was also sampled by Ratty in their trance track "Sunrise" and a cover is used as the break in a 2003 hardstyle track by Deepack titled "Down Low".
- In 2005 Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley, a tribute album of songs by both Tim Buckley and his son, Jeff Buckley, featured a version of "Song to the Siren" by Engineers. This cover was based upon This Mortal Coil's version of the song.
- London punk band Snuff included a version on their 2004 album Greasy Hair Makes Money.[15]
- John Frusciante in his 2009 album The Empyrean.
- Italian singer Maria Pia De Vito recorded this song in her 2009 album Mind the Gap.
- Sinéad O'Connor covered it on the 2010 album Music of Ireland: Welcome Home.
- Alex Cooke sang it on his 2010 release Song to the Siren.
- Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music recorded a version for his 2010 solo album. Olympia.
- Brendan Perry, of Dead Can Dance, covered the song accompanied by Robin Guthrie, formerly of the Cocteau Twins, on Perry's 2011 tour, then again for the world tour of 2012. A live album from the 2012 tour, "In Concert", was released in 2013, and featured a rendition of the song.
- George Michael covered "Song to the Siren" on 2012 "White Light" CD-Single.
- Jann Klose, who is a featured vocalist and guitarist in the movie Greetings from Tim Buckley, covers "Song to the Siren" on his 2013 album "Mosaic".
- American singer Mikky Ekko covered this song in a Yours Truly Session in 2013.
- Amen Dunes cover "Song to the Siren" on their 2014 'Cowboy Worship' EP on Sacred Bones Records.
- Daniel Cavanagh of Anathema covered "Song to the Siren" on 2015 "Meaning & Memory" solo album.
"Song to the Siren" has also been performed live by numerous artists, including George Michael[16] and David Gray[17] among others.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley, David Browne
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
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- ↑ Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 August 2003) – BBC 4 feature
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The City of Absurdity: David Lynch's Blue Velvet
- ↑ http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/2005/08/song_to_the_sir.html
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External links
- Articles with dead external links from September 2010
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010
- Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows
- Pages using infobox song with unknown parameters
- Articles with unsourced statements from April 2011
- 1970 songs
- Songs written by Tim Buckley
- Songs written by Larry Beckett
