I’ve watched this many times since I first watched it before going to sleep last night. It haunted my dreams and all day it’s haunted me. Annoyingly, I lack language for music so can’t name the extraordinary thing that happens in the song but it has to do with the way it begins like a child’s song or story (like “Goodnight Moon”: “In the…
I’ve watched this many times since I first watched it before going to sleep last night. It haunted my dreams and all day it’s haunted me. Annoyingly, I lack language for music so can’t name the extraordinary thing that happens in the song but it has to do with the way it begins like a child’s song or story (like “Goodnight Moon”: “In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon . . . “). The almost childlike tune (this is where my lack of language for sound is limiting and frustrating) becomes a kind of tick-tock rocking swaying and the words of the poem mirror that, swaying from one thing to its opposite, evoking a dialectic. Here are some examples in which the language enacts and matches the pendulum like motion of one thing then another, something and it’s opposite:
A room like any other/ a room like no other
A burgeoning flame/ a flower
In the joyous/ dead of night
Where he sits asleep/ with his eyes wide open
Dead hands/ revived
So scorned/ adorned
Form/reform
The cross/ and the sword
By the end, it’s as if one has been lulled into a trance, one step then another, until one feels something like a palpitation. It’s so visceral and the images from the film marry with it in an amazing way.
I think it’s an especially hard thing to write about because the power of it is so trancelike.
I didn’t and don’t think I can do justice to the power of the piece but I wanted to try to say something, if only to honor and applaud it. An amazing piece, Patti. Thank you for creating it and for sharing it.
As usual, Robin, your insights take us to the heart of the piece. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. And I bet this is the first time Artaud and Goodnight Moon have ever been referenced together. Wishing you nothing but the best.
I’ve watched this many times since I first watched it before going to sleep last night. It haunted my dreams and all day it’s haunted me. Annoyingly, I lack language for music so can’t name the extraordinary thing that happens in the song but it has to do with the way it begins like a child’s song or story (like “Goodnight Moon”: “In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon . . . “). The almost childlike tune (this is where my lack of language for sound is limiting and frustrating) becomes a kind of tick-tock rocking swaying and the words of the poem mirror that, swaying from one thing to its opposite, evoking a dialectic. Here are some examples in which the language enacts and matches the pendulum like motion of one thing then another, something and it’s opposite:
A room like any other/ a room like no other
A burgeoning flame/ a flower
In the joyous/ dead of night
Where he sits asleep/ with his eyes wide open
Dead hands/ revived
So scorned/ adorned
Form/reform
The cross/ and the sword
By the end, it’s as if one has been lulled into a trance, one step then another, until one feels something like a palpitation. It’s so visceral and the images from the film marry with it in an amazing way.
I think it’s an especially hard thing to write about because the power of it is so trancelike.
I didn’t and don’t think I can do justice to the power of the piece but I wanted to try to say something, if only to honor and applaud it. An amazing piece, Patti. Thank you for creating it and for sharing it.
With warmth to all, as ever,
Robin
As usual, Robin, your insights take us to the heart of the piece. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. And I bet this is the first time Artaud and Goodnight Moon have ever been referenced together. Wishing you nothing but the best.
Thank you for your kind words, Jim. What a funny way to put it about Artaud and Goodnight Moon!
I smiled when I saw the reference. That book is a perfect little poem itself.
I think you do justice to it! Your words are eloquent.
That’s very kind of you. I’m glad that something of what I tried to express comes through. It’s such an amazing piece of work.
Warm regards to you, Donna.
Thankyou Robin! Warm regards to you as well!