The lyrics of Manafon: Hugely Disturbing!

[Haldeman Gracie]

Surely I'm not alone in thinking that Manafon is very disturbing lyrically, to the extent that I'm actually really worried for the guy's well being! Per the short WSJ interview (currently linked to on Big Dave's own site), he admits that writing in the third person has allowed him to be more personal than ever before. He aint kidding there! But has he told us too much? And is he really at the end of his rope?

He may also (for the purposes of disguise or convenience) have given himself a third person sex change at several points. There are a few instances which indicate he may have done, which opens the door for potentially a few more. Basically, I don't think the 'he' and 'she' references can be trusted.

Losing his religion - obvious right from the opener in Small Metal Gods. Frankly, I would say this was a good thing if it wasn't for everything else going on in his life. It may have been the only crutch he had left. Sylvian's search for the 'divine' has always had more than a hint of pretention and silliness about it. Having conceded that the Western religions are all based on complete hokum, he may have made the classic mistake of swapping it for hokum that was less instantly recognisable. I actually thought that Chavez may have left him principally because of all this nonsense. But on the basis of Manafon and a recent interview where she still praises Indian teachings, it could be the other way around.

Suicide (his own) - Easily the most worrying element of the album. Suicide crops up in all of the album's four opening tracks, three times referring to Sylvian's own. In Small Metal Gods, the line 'My suicide, my better days
There’s nothing I regret' takes the prize for most disturbing on the album. It sounds like the statement of a man who knows how his own story will end, assuring us ahead of time that such an act wont be as the result of a few bad days but has been a long term 'life choice', and just a matter of timing.

In The Rabbit Skinner, there is reference to a gun, which anyone skinning rabbits might be expected to have. But it's Big Dave who seems to take the bullet in this one, with 'three little bitches fight where he fell', giving that away. Not the most expected description of his former wife and two daughters.

In The Greatest Living Englishman, Sylvian appears to be singing about both himself and R.S. Thomas. Neither will ever be The Greatest Living Englishman, but I suspect that where Thomas fails to be English and so loses claim to the title, Sylvian will fail to be 'living'. At the beginning of the song, I think the narrator himself is preparing to kill himself.

And is it only me who thinks the line 'he shut himself outside' sounds more like 'he shot himself outside'? Going through past lyrics, you could almost make the case for this being something DS has had in the back of his mind (both suicide and the manner of choice) for some time.

Drug use / marriage break-up - The musical highlight of the album is two back-to-back tracks about the break-up of his marriage to Chavez. Both mention drug use outright and seem to be pointing the finger at Ingrid, although each namecheck a different drug, both with past associations to Sylvian himself. 'She' is doing cocaine in Snow White In Appalachia, but has downgraded to marijuana in Emily Dickinson. Sylvian has previously admitted to dependence on cocaine, although, somewhat cheekily in my view, has passed this off as a battle against narcolepsy! I think the heavy-smoking Sylvian was an old fashioned drug addict just like the rest of them (and if he went from ciggies to coke without touching weed then he might have been the first worldwide). Perhaps this rock star coke addict cliché was too much for him to ever admit to without chucking in the 'medicinal' defence. I thought that was behind him now though, and certainly didn't expect it of Chavez (purely as the mother of 3 kids, more than anything else). Whether he has 'switched characters' or not, I do think that if Chavez isn't the drug user he has more or less painted her as (on a basic hearing), Big Dave probably deserves a law suit (something Chavez is known for).

However, it is the former 'user' herself who we are now told is just like 'Emily Dickinson'. And I'm sure Emily Dickinson here is most certainly Sylvian, not Chavez, despite being a 'she' throughout. So who's been doing the snorting?

R.S. Thomas / terrorism

R.S. Thomas - religious extremist and terrorist advocate. Sylvian finds him interesting for years. But now, at the point Big Dave finally sees religion as a hoax of many colours, and sees a world in fear of terrorism, it looks like he's given the disgusting old scumbag a damning re-appraisal.

But again, most comments about R.S. Thomas seem to double back on Sylvian himself to one degree or another. Even something as basic as 'There's a man down in the valley'… so sings the bloke who lives at the bottom of a mountain. Also, should you substitute the wife for the husband in a closing verse of Manafon, it's the lost-religion-wants-wife-back-partial-to-the-old-easel Sylvian again.

And his wife, she was a painter
But now she stains the altar black
He’s out bird watching on the islands
And she wishes he’d come back

...not sure about the bird watching though.

Feel free to tell me if I'm reading too much death and despair into it, and you think DS is doing just fine.

[FlyingPig]

So I'm not the only one thinking this. Spending 90% of his time alone doesn't help his situation, or maybe it does. It might very well have a purifying effect to shut yourself from the world.
But yes the lyrics are disturbing. Why on Earth would you write about your supposed anguished thoughts if you didn't feel it?

P.

[baht habit]

>>>'three little bitches fight where he fell'. Not the most expected description of his former wife and two daughters.<<<<

His former wife and daughters? Bitches? Egads, I would hope that a majority of us would commonly figure that the term 'bitches' probably refers to dogs going after a kill in this particular case.

To be honest, I don't believe that any of the songs directly or indirectly refer to his wife or family life. So many of you will not agree, since some seem hellbent to find something of that sort in these lyrics. I tend to believe that he got it all out with Blemish and Snow Borne Sorrow....These could be fictional depictions or may be songs referring to people which we have no knowledge of.
Also, I don't happen to worry one bit about his mental well being. I am interpreting any reference 'suicide' as commercial career suicide which he has been committing for many years now.

>>>Feel free to tell me if I'm reading too much death and despair into it, and you think DS is doing just fine.<<<

Yes.

[natsume]

>>>Feel free to tell me if I'm reading too much death and despair into it, and you think DS is doing just fine.<<<

Yes.

I'm with baht on this one, and agree it is perhaps a mistake to read these lyrics autobiographically. Of course, he may be drawn to themes in what he reads and creates that resonate with his own life experiences, good and bad. Any artist does that. I think he is pulling these images and story fragments from readings, life observations, art observations, what the music evokes for him, etc.

I sympathize with forum members who are having a hard time with these lyrics, undoubtedly among Sylvian's darkest. I have gone through periods in life when I didn't care to read literature or poetry of this type, times when I did "enjoy" delving into themes of spiritual crisis or despairing existentialism, and times when I can take this kind of thing and appreciate it fairly abstractly and with an element of detachment. I might be at that last stage now, but that is not the end point of an arc, as I have cycled through these many times throughout the course of my life. If this new material is too much to take, maybe put it away for a while?

[untitled]

I think there is a fair bit of biography in the lyrics (Small Metal Gods obviously, but Rabbit Skinner and Greatest Living Englishman too.) But as with A History of Holes I think it is embellished with other elements – so it's difficult to tell what's what. I would steer clear of direct/literal interpretation.

He mentioned suicide in reference to RS Thomas recently:

“there’s also this underlying doubt and struggle with his belief, an uncertainty of the existence of the other (religious devotees are warned that this is a most dangerous period in their evolution, a time of suicides and renunciations.)”

So I think it can be viewed as a shorthand for his loss/crisis of faith. Equally, suicide is the ending of ones own life and in that respect he kind of has “ended” the life he was living on a few occasions over the years – the end of his pop career, the end of his marriage, and possibly now the end of his faith.

Of course, it's all a matter or interpretation the lyrics might mean everything or nothing

In summary, I think he is fine....well, as fine as he ever is!

[sakurafleur]

i'm sure you have read the interview in the wall street journal, but this is what he said about singing in third person:

Q: It seems that the lyrics are much less personal than on previous work.

That's right. The opening track is in the first person, the rest are not. Recently, I wrote a piece for another project and I had to recast it in the third person as it became too much.

For me now, the idea of stories has become more attractive, and I found could speak more home truths that way, without it becoming overwhelming. So, it is a cloaking mechanism for an intensely personal record. It was definitely an unburdening.

[Haldeman Gracie]

>>>'three little bitches fight where he fell'. Not the most expected description of his former wife and two daughters.<<<< His former wife and daughters? Bitches? Egads, I would hope that a majority of us would commonly figure that the term 'bitches' probably refers to dogs going after a kill in this particular case.

It’s not literally about a rabbit skinner, so why is it literally about dogs and foxes all of a sudden? The ‘bitches’ is a specific metaphor, on which the female sex is indicated and he’s even specifically numbered them. I am clueless as to why anyone would think he’s had a ‘literal’ moment here.

He seems to be talking about heirs, given the ‘rabbit skinner’ (who is undeniably Sylvian) has just died, and that’s why I believe the other two females were his daughters. That one of the ‘bitches’ is Chavez is mentioned directly afterwards, where she is referred to as the ‘little girl’. This is Sylvian’s reference to Chavez, going back to their unreleased E.P., and The Day The Earth Stole Heaven (she’s under five feet tall, despite a few claims to the contrary). It’s used in a derogatory way in TDTESH, as ‘that’ little girl. Remember poor Monika Lewinsky who was finally broken by Bill’s description of her as ‘that’ woman.

Note that despite his claims in the WSJ interview that the album is third person after Track 1, the mask slips in The Rabbit Skinner and he returns to the first person. (It’s not overly relevant, as given the transparency of the material I’m not sure he will be 100% open about it, but he confirms as much in the Late Junction audio interview in any case).

To be honest, I don't believe that any of the songs directly or indirectly refer to his wife or family life. So many of you will not agree, since some seem hellbent to find something of that sort in these lyrics.

I think it’s pretty blatant myself – it’s as blatant here as it was on Blemish. As Sylvian has always had ‘so much self in his writing’, it’s not hard to see why people may think that. Especially when they are as intriguing / worrying as they are on Manafon.

I tend to believe that he got it all out with Blemish and Snow Borne Sorrow.....

You’ve got to be kidding! He’s as obsessed as ever. If you honestly believe he got it out on Snow Borne Sorrow, can I ask you to give another listen to the mid-point between SBS and Manafon, namely The World Is Everything...

A track which is all about Chavez, meeting her, the good times, her leaving, and the fact that he is still trying to win her back. Chavez herself is the world, as far as he is concerned, by the end of the track.

These could be fictional depictions or may be songs referring to people which we have no knowledge of.

I believe it’s been very lightly fictionalised as per my original post – but still basically all a self portrait, with at least two songs (Snow White, Dickinson) dealing directly with Chavez. Sylvian’s fictionalisation appears to me to be possibly confined to little more than a third person sex change.

[Astronaut]

Many thanks Haldeman Gracie for your initial post which I thought was well written and very interesting. I can see your point of view, especially where the issue of drug abuse raises it's head. Now, we all know that DS had a drugs problem in the past, he maintains it was in the mid to late 80's whilst he was suffering from narcolepsy and severe stress brought on by the breakdown of several of his most valued relationships. No prizes for guessing who and what is being referred to there. But I'm not sure I can deduce from his recent lyrics that he (or his ex-wife) have an on-going problem with the old white powder.

Suicide: this has been an on-going thought process for DS for decades. I have (somewhere) an interview he did for a teeny-pop magazine back in the early 80's - very early since it pre-dates the demise of Japan. In this interview he discusses his thoughts on suicide at some length and reaches the conclusion that when you realise death is the end of everything and that it is achievable at your own hands you become liberated. Not only from your despair/depression but also from the thought of suicide itself. I do not think he is suicidal, but merely fascinated with the concept. DS has the strange ability to disengage himself emotionally from his subject matter when he wants to, and look at things with a purely intellectual eye (Blemish excepted).

Religion: He's lost it? Maybe, maybe not - hard to tell. I'd be inclined to say he has lost his trust in organised religions, realising at last that they do not hold the answer to the questions he has been pursuing of late. But he has in no way lost his spirituality. It may be that he is now looking to nature for this spiritual support. Perhaps he's going to move to a Welsh mountainside and become a Wiccan??? I also think your initial ponderings on the Sylvian/Chavez religious inclinations were incorrect insomuch as she was very into the Hindu religion and he was drawn to it because of her. Prior to that he was more inclined to follow the Bhuddist teachings and for a while his lyrics suggested a dabbling with the iconography of Catholicism which were quickly dropped.

R S Thomas: Calling him a "disgusting old scumbag" made me laugh so much I almost cried. Although from the very limited amount I have read about him that does seem an apt description. I think 'challenging personality' might be a kinder way of stating it.

And last, but by no means least, the references to bird watching are pertinent to Ingrid, so maybe your theory on that one is correct???

[Haldeman Gracie]

But I'm not sure I can deduce from his recent lyrics that he (or his ex-wife) have an on-going problem with the old white powder.

Who knows. But if there have been no drug problems within the marriage, I'm clueless as to what he was attempting to put across in those two tracks.

I do not think he is suicidal, but merely fascinated with the concept.

Let's hope so. I'm not quite as sure as you though. One thing I am fairly certain of, is that any mention of suicide isn't a metaphor for his career or his marriage or his hair style.

Religion: He's lost it? Maybe, maybe not - hard to tell. I'd be inclined to say he has lost his trust in organised religions, realising at last that they do not hold the answer to the questions he has been pursuing of late. But he has in no way lost his spirituality.

Losing your trust in organised religions is still a big thing to lose though, especially given how much of his life was devoted to his gurus, etc. And I count his whole Shree Ma / Guru thing as being very organised, even if it doesn't necessarily conform to the usual monetary or world domination goals.

Still, if it wasn't for his wacky '90's leanings, we wouldn't have Praise.

I also think your initial ponderings on the Sylvian/Chavez religious inclinations were incorrect insomuch as she was very into the Hindu religion and he was drawn to it because of her. And last, but by no means least, the references to bird watching are pertinent to Ingrid, so maybe your theory on that one is correct???

It appears that I had Miss Chavez all wrong. I really don't know much about her despite buying her debut CD on release date almost two decades ago (purely for the Prince involvement). Still hard to know what came first - did Big Dave lose his wife and then decide there could be no God? Or did he finally have a 'Sexy Sadie' realisation about his gurus, only for the wife to leave him in dismay?

[Astronaut]

It appears that I had Miss Chavez all wrong. I really don't know much about her despite buying her debut CD on release date almost two decades ago (purely for the Prince involvement). Still hard to know what came first - did Big Dave lose his wife and then decide there could be no God? Or did he finally have a 'Sexy Sadie' realisation about his gurus, only for the wife to leave him in dismay?

I don't really know that much about Ms. Chavez either. I have never listened to any of her work - she doesn't interest me that much since I've never been a huge fan of Prince. However, she comes across well in her interviews - seems a very charming and likeable person. Perhaps Mr S did have a "Sexy Sadie" moment - never really thought about it like that before. Interesting idea.