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Magickal Musick

  
  

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FinderWolf
15:15 / 17.05.03
I was in a diner the other night and I heard this really cool cover version of Peter Gabriel's classic "Solsbury Hill".

Listening to it sung by a different singer made me really listen to the lyrics and react to the song in a fresh, new way, and midway through it hit me:

this is a song about a shamanic experience!!!, or another kind of magical/mystical experience that opens a doorway into an entirely new reality. I had never really thought about the lyrics before, because it was such a familar song.

I print the lyrics here for review:

Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city lights
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night

He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen had no choice

I did not believe the information
[I] just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
"Son," he said "Grab your things,
I've come to take you home."

To keep in silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
Open doors would soon be shut

So I went from day to day
Though my life was in a rut
'Till I thought of what I'd say
Which connection I should cut

I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey" he said "Grab your things
I've come to take you home."


When illusion spins her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouettes
When I think that I am free

Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
I will show another me

Today I don't need a replacement
I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey" I said "You can keep my things,
they've come to take me home."

What really hit me was:

- the bit about not believing his senses at first and just having to trust imagination/spirit

- 'time stands still' as an animal spirit communicates the message to him, addressing him as 'son' (the paternal/elder spirit talking to the younger/novice)

- being afraid to tell his friends about the experience because they'd think he's crazy (delusions of grandeur/godhood as evidenced by the water into wine line). He's worried at first that telling anyone would close many doors and cut many connections in his life, whereas by the end of the song/poem he realizes it opens far more important doors than those it closes, and is eager to follow where the initiation leads.

- the beating of his heart and the intensity and truth of the life-changing experience

- the bit about 'walking right out of the machinery' of the universe after being stuck for so long as 'part of the scenery' (evoking the familiar notion of creating your reality through the 'cheat codes of the universe' as referenced by Grant Morrison and more recently, Madonna, of all people)

- the Eastern notion of dispensing with life's illusions, the notion of creating/'showing' 'another me'

- finally accepting the experience with pride - 'you can keep my things [earthly concerns], they've come to take me home.'

- He walks confidently out of his old reality (like the Tarot "Fool" card, maybe?) ready to tell the world what the wide smile on his face means. 'I don't need a replacement' - he can reinvent himself, he doesn't need another life to do so.

Gabriel's "The Washing of the Water" always struck me as very Taoist, as well.

Anyone have any other songs which seem to be about magickal experiences?
 
 
LVX23
01:46 / 18.05.03
Dude, if you want to hear more about Peter Gabriel's esoterica, get a copy of the Genesis album, "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" (yes, Peter Gabriel was the original singer for Genesis). It's a double-album conceptual record. The whole thing is a bizarre intiatory journey drawing on a lot of rich western mystery school symbolism. It's very 70's prog rock-ish, but done really well. Phil Collins is the drummer, FWIW, and he shred's (should've never started singing...). I listened to it with a buddy on acid in a forest in Big Sur in the middle of the night. Epic. Now it's one of my favorites.
 
 
FinderWolf
17:24 / 18.05.03
Thanks, LVX -- I actually have all the old Peter Gabriel Genesis stuff and know all about it. But the recommendation is appreciated.

What specific elements of "Lamb Lies Down" do you think are from western mystery school symbolism?

I would love to read somewhere that "Solsbury Hill" was based on a real-life mystical vision Gabriel once had, but he doesn't give many interviews to my knowledge.

Is Madonna the only rock star who uses magick in their music?
 
 
Seth
21:05 / 18.05.03
Try Saul Williams: there's a fuck of a lot going on in Coded Language, the guy definitely seems to know his stuff. Check out Amethyst Rock Star, but don't buy it unless you like it (I only like a few tracks). If you can find them, Ohm, Twice the First Time and Elohim are much better than what's on the record (you should be able to track these down online, on the first Lyricists Lounge compilation for the former and the Black Whole Styles compilation for the other two. I think Twice the First Time is also on the Ninja Tune three disc set, too). Or check out his performance in Slam.

It really depends on your definition of magic in music. Are you looking for lyrical stuff, or uses of the music itself, or sleeve art, or video stuff?
 
 
karen eliot
02:38 / 30.03.04
There have been numerous rock groups over the years who explicitly make use of magickal symbolism in their work. From the well-known such as Led Zeppelin and David Bowie (there is an excellent paper on esoteric symbols in Bowie's music on Peter Koenig's OTO site)to lesser-knowns such as Graham Bond and Black Sun Ensemble (whose "Lambent Flame" album is full of quotes from Liber AL). A personal favorite is the music of Kendra Smith ( late of Dream Syndicate & Opal) whose lyrics are chock-full of references to various Thelemite concerns.
 
 
sine
08:54 / 30.03.04
I can't speak for the whole corpus, but there's a really cool song on Stephen (of Pavement fame) Malkmus' last solo/Jicks album called "Witch Mountain Bridge", which lyrics go something like:

in better times
a spell could save you
and wine that we threw into a chasm
came right back at you

now it's all so straight and narrow
and the skeptics rule the nation
the servants scream
"always wear black"

the stupid sin
no magic wish-scapes
give you a skewed impression
of the realms of the magic arts

yes, it's all over your head
so enjoy the dim vacation
a sermon reads
"never wear black"

there is no now
you can tape that to your deviled brow
time came before the end my lord
explain your cattle car
what we need is a soft second serve
of your fine approximations

the shephard breed
always wear black

you find the grace in true frustration
time came before the end
my lord, explain
 
 
pythagore
09:25 / 30.03.04
James' song "The Shining" was a big shock to me when I heard it first - I've loved their music for a long time and wasn't prepared for the fact that the singer, Tim Booth, might have some more esoteric interests.

I hold a vision that all visions are impure
The rising of the serpent The apple and the fall.
Don't trust the angels .May be devils in disguise
Don't trust the preacher. All his words don't make him wise
There are no promises that anyone can keep
The future's full of secrets
The past can never keep

and

You are the universe and god knows I'm the fool
I've journeyed round the outer worlds to return home to you
I've found a lover knows me better than myself
Sees through all my subtle lies and touches me to health
 
 
pythagore
09:28 / 30.03.04
And I guess we shouldn't even bother with mentioning Marilyn Manson's "Holy Wood", right?
 
 
Nobody's girl
09:48 / 30.03.04
Oddly enough-

Lily by Kate Bush

I quote- " Oh thou, who givest sustenance to the universe
From whom all things proceed
To whom all things return
Unveil to us the face of the true spiritual sun
Hidden by a disc of golden light
That we may know the truth
And do our whole duty
As we journey to thy sacred feet"


A Pagan Place- Waterboys
The Return of Pan- Waterboys
(OK, I occasionally enjoy folk music. But I can control it... really)

Anything by the band- Crash Worship Here's a description of one of their gigs.

Witches- Cowboy Junkies
"There are witches in the hills calling my name
saying come join us sister, come kiss the flame
Come dance in the moonbeams, ride the night wind
make love to the darkness and laugh at man's sins"

Sinner- Neil Finn
"Under moonlight I stood wild and naked, felt no shame just my spirit awaken."

For the Robert Anton Wilson crowd there's always-

Destination Eschaton- The Shamen
 
 
C.Elseware
10:04 / 30.03.04
Thanks for starting this thread. I kept on thinking about starting exactly this discussion.

I seem to recall someone suggesting last year that ecclipse by pink floyd could be a barbelith themed banishing ritual. I didn't really know much pink floyd other than the famous stuff so went out and found a copy.

---------------------

Eclipse by Pink Floyd

From the album "Dark side of the Moon"

All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

(this last like is very very quietly spoken...)

"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."

------------------------

It always creeps me out when I hear it now. In a good way.


The other lyrics which really left something with me I can't acutally find. Found the entire lyrics for the album it's on. Which I would have never bought for myself so must have been given or found or something. Ah well, I swear somewhere on the album are the lyrics
:

Now all I know is all I see
and who I am I choose to be

very close to my own philosophy.
 
 
Gypsy Lantern
10:39 / 30.03.04
'Ghost Dance' by Prince Buster
(paraphrased from the occasionally difficult to follow patois, and recalled via my slightly seive like memory)

"Dear Cleetus,
hope you are keepin' the best of health down there in boneyard,
I here you have a sound system,
and Maya Keefe is disc jockey,
but you cyaan get no red stripe,
when you see the dance,
at night.
If you should see the two brothers,
Stinky Pomells and Erikan
We grew together
Give them my regards
And if you should see my Uncle Goff
who used to be the toughest
tell 'im that Prince Busters says
hello
Tell Zaki, the high priest
give 'im my regards
And if music be the food of love
I shall forever sing on..."
 
 
Pants Payroll
13:23 / 30.03.04
The more obvious aspect of Kate Bush's "Lily" is that the chorus is essentially a recitation of part of the lesser Ritual of the Pentagram.

There is a lot of stuff in Bowie's music. I had read that apparantly "Satan" in Mel Gibsons "Passions of the Christ" looks Bowie-ish which reminded me of him saying that "Station to Station" is really about the stations of the cross as opposed to train stations. I dont see it , myself, however, this line: "one magical movement from Kether to Malkuth" sticks out like a sore thumb. As karen eliot said above, there is a good article here about the occult in Bowie's music. I think some of it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it's entertaining reading.
 
 
Aertho
14:25 / 30.03.04
"Ophelia" the album by Natalie Merchant.

The title track seems to be about the roles and facets of Binah/Babalon/Madonna/Kali.

"Life is Sweet" deconstructs Job, The Filth, the Outer Church... and reaffirms Animal Man.

"King of May" is summer solstice stuff, but I get the most powerful JFK feeling.

The whole album is about spirituality unifying emotion, reason, and just being alive
 
 
diz
15:06 / 30.03.04
well, there's obviously the whole extended Psychic TV/Coil/Current 93 family of artists, all of whom are deeply wrapped up in magickal stuff.
 
 
macrophage
16:42 / 30.03.04
"Plasterchrist" by GGFH - which has a sample claiming the Cookie Monster is the Devil. Fine by me. "Ov Power" - the best!!!
 
 
Z. deScathach
17:50 / 30.03.04
"Wings of Steel" by Collide

wind up your reasons, demons and ghosts
wind up your circuitry, loves you the most
your wings on fire, but you can't find them
your wings are higher, i've never seen them before

chasing the wings of steel, chasing the ghost of time

wind up your circuitry, loves you the most
wind up your complicated, chasing the ghost
your wings are tired, you can not get there from here
where you aspire, you can not fly there from here

chasing the wings of steel, chasing the ghost of time
chasing the taste of life, chasing the ghost of time
chasing the wings of steel, chasing the ghost of time
chasing the taste of life, chasing the ghost of time

i've come so near, yet so far
in the river of darkness, there is a light
in the middle of darkness, there is a light

wind up your consequence, fear will paralyze you
chasing the wings of steel ,chasing the ghost of time
chasing the taste of life, chasing the ghost of time
walking in the light, walking in the night

It can be downloaded (legally!) at: http://www.collide.net/aural/ sorry about not giving a link, but I can't remember the bb code for that....
 
 
---
01:01 / 31.03.04
Lateralus by Tool :


Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human.

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going, going...
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
11:15 / 31.03.04
The following song seems to be clearly inspired by a mystical experience of some kind - something like a mindbomb. I have highlighted the most pertient lyrics in bold.

Spirits move me every time I'm near you
Whirling like a cyclone in my mind
Sweet Melissa, angel of my lifetime[1]
Answer to all answers I can find

Baby, I love you, come, come, come into my arms
Let me know the wonder of all of you
Baby, I want you now, now, now, and hold on fast
Could this be the magic at last?

Lady[2], take me[3] high upon a hillside[4]
High up where the stallion meets the sun[5]
I could love you, build my world around you[6]
Never leave you till my life is done

Baby, I love you, come, come, come into my arms
Let me know the wonder of all of you
And baby, I want you now, now, oh, now, oh now and hold on fast
Could this be the magic at last?

[1] Crowley's Angel?
[2] "Our Lady" - the Goddess?
[3] The singer invites the Goddess-form to possess him.
[4] Many rituals are performed on hills, note also the possible allusion to an altered state (chemically-induced?).
[5] The Chariot and The Sun - but of course.
[6] The singer will construct his own personal belief system around the Goddess.
 
 
cusm
14:12 / 31.03.04
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world, where the traffic is thin, I slip from a vacant view..." Aah, Bowie.

For some Voodoo, there's a CD by Sun God called Loa, that is basicly a series of invocations to the Loa, done by German Thelemites who wrote the songs by basicly getting possessed and letting the Loa do the inspiration work. Its utterly amazing stuff.
 
 
salix lucida
15:33 / 31.03.04
You people are going to make me go through 6 gig of mp3s for this, aren't you...

The Changeling's Season of Mist, which has rather unfindable and, overall, unintelligble lyrics, seems to be an invocation to Faerie. I've been haunted by it for years, and some of the only phrases I can pick out are "Season of Mist, island of (grey/grace), open your gates so that I may cross over."

Everyone's already mentioned Bowie, and there's a few Loreena McKennitt songs of a generic pagan rite sort (Mummer's Dance, etc).

Nightwish have a bunch of Engrish songs that sound like otherworld-journey, but it may just be wishful thinking on my part, really...
Hand in hand with a dreamer's mind
Enter the realm don't stay awake
The dreams remain they only break
Forget the task enjoy the ride
And follow us into the night

and such.

They've also got a song called "Astral Romance" which is aptly titled.

the Mission have Severina, which has pretty standard Thelemic references ("sworn to the faith of love under will"), indirectly through their description of a girl. (On the other hand, neither Fields of the Nephilim's nor Babylon Whores' songs by the title love under will really have much, in my opinion.)

I kind of agree with the Tool song mentioned being on the list, but they've got Parabol/Parabola as well, and some other stuff i'm too lazy to look up.
We barely remember who or what came before this precious moment,
We are Choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside...
This holy reality, this holy experience. Choosing to be here in...
This body. This body holding me. Be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal all this pain is an illusion.
Alive
This holy reality, in this holy experience. Choosing to be here in...
This body. This body holding me. Be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal all this pain is an illusion...
Swirling round with this familiar parable.
Spinning, weaving round each new experience.
Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this
chance to be alive and breathing
chance to be alive and breathing.
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.
Embrace this moment. Remember. we are eternal.
all this pain is an illusion.

I'm not even counting the random christian-themed stuff I've got lying around out of some deletion-phobia, but some of that's got mystical moments beyond "hey. i just realised jesus is cool."

Um. that's on the laptop, I'm sure I'll think of more later when I'm not at work.

--the technopathic winampmancer
 
 
The Knights Templar Boogie Machine
15:46 / 31.03.04
In response to macrophage's post:

OV POWER! A DARK POWER! OV POWER!...

......Chance of hand thee force......
 
 
Colonel Kadmon
22:34 / 31.03.04
Flyboy - bang to rights on that one, I think! (Although perhaps the beauty was missed by some).

Dark Side Of The Moon is not about magic, it's about insanity. Each of the songs represents something that drives people mad, and I think Roger Waters, one of the biggest cynics who ever lived, would oppose any suggestion otherwise. In fact, it even contains a snide at religion as magic - "Far away, across the fields, the tolling of the iron bell, draws the faithful to their knees to hear the softly spoken magic spell."

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is in fact the archetypal hero myth, retold as a rock opera in modern day LA. It begins with a descent into the underworld, a room with 32 doors (the kaballah?) and a journey through the various archetypes - Brother John, Lilith - before he is reborn on the surface. So probably magical, then, to some degree.

There are mythical references on other Genesis and Gabriel stuff too - Supper's Ready from Foxtrot, and Here Comes The Flood - but wether it's directly magical or not is less clear.

Bowie definately has direct magical references in the music - check out Quicksand off Hunky Dory if you don't believe me. I think that there are references in John Lennon's stuff, too. "Julia" is an invocation of the Great Mother, symbolised as the ocean. "The Word" - "Say the word and you'll be free. Say the Word, the word is love." He put Crowley on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. "God" - "I don't believe in Tarot... I Ching... Buddah..." (or Beatles). In Mind Games he talks about "Doing the Ritual", and says "Some call it Magic, the search for the Grail."

But Rock Music's most open magician, (Genesis P.Orridge excepted) is Robert Fripp of King Crimson. Check out these quotes from a 1973 Rolling Stone interview - "King Crimson is a magical act." "Every thought or action is a magical act." "I'm not really interested in music. Music is just a means of creating a magical state." "You don't sit down and work spells and all that hokey stuff. It's simply experimentation with different states of consciousness and mind control."
 
 
Shanghai Quasar
20:10 / 02.04.04
Does Exuma (he's the Obeah Man, you know) qualify?

"I came down on a lightning bolt
Nine months in my Mama's belly.
When I was born, the midwife scream and shout,
I had fire crystals coming out of my mouth.
I'm Exuma, I'm the Obeah Man!"
 
 
cusm
20:18 / 02.04.04
Dark Side of the Moon isn't about magick, but that last bit most definitely works as a banishing all the same. It invokes all aspects of experience, in dualistic pairs yet, bringing all to a summation in the sun, then diminished by the moon at the last. It floors me every time. It may not have been the intention Waters, but its a magickal experience all the same.

And yea, Fripp is The Man. Though Crimson's lyrics aren't the magickal part, so much as just what they're doing with the music.
 
 
cusm
20:36 / 02.04.04
A few other gems:

Opus 3 - Elemental : The "earth my body, water my blood, air my breath, fire my spirit" chant to her usual spacy trancy techno backdrop. A lot of Opus 3 is magical in a neo-wicca sort of way.

Cafe del Mar - Sisterlove the Hypnotist : a guided chackra activation meditation, with sweet chill techno accompanyment

Paul Oakenfold - Gamemaster : snippet "you are becomming aware of those who watch over your planet and come here as a place to experience reality. you are becomming aware of yourself, as a gamemaster."

The Shaman - Boss Drum : declaration of the shamanic approach

Schpongle. All of it. Its magick DMT music.
 
 
cusm
21:54 / 02.04.04
Transglobal Underground - tutta grand discordia
 
 
The Fetch
22:01 / 02.04.04
Personally, Tull Rocks
 
 
eye landed
07:16 / 03.04.04
Everything by Tool is magick. They are inspired by Fripp but are more blatant (in my opinion). Not only are the songs magick spells, but each album as well, and the whole operation is an initiation rite either for the band members or the listeners or both.

Exerpted from the drummer's bio at the official site: Endeavors into this realm have manifested periodically, such as the time he achieved insight into a hidden aspect of the unicursal hexagram utilizing an astral journey initiated through meditation and DMT. Danny then set up his drums into proportions utilizing the circle and square of the New Jerusalem and uttered a short prayer relating to the principles of the ace of swords from the book of Thoth. He then performed a ritual utilizing his new found knowledge of the unicursal hexagram to generate a pattern of movement in space relating to Fuller's vector equilibrium model. The resulting rhythm and gateway summoned a daemon he has contained within "the Lodge" that has been delivering short parables similar to passages within the Book of Lies.

Amidst all the clutter, the monthly newsletter on the official site almost always talks about magick.

Tool's singer's other band, A Perfect Circle, is magickal too. The abovementioned Collide are somehow associated with Tool as well. It's almost getting old.

Anyhow, enough showing off my authority.

Many metal bands from Europe and Britain seem to be magickians--seems more common than across the pond. Skyclad tosses off occult references almost as often as puns. An example by an irregular lyricist:

He's coming, he's coming, the crux of the message.
A silvery swordsman, no mercy to spare.
He'll slice and he'll sever with sparkling precision.
The weapon his fortune, the dragon - this air.

I'm convinced Martin Gore of Depeche Mode is a magickian, but I don't have good lyrical evidence. Autechre's weird titles are filled with numbers (777, 6ie.cr), Hebrew (Sim Gishel), and suspicious words (Incunabula, Lentic Catachresis).

Also Killing Joke.

But you can probably find magick references in a lot of lyrics. For example, any blues song that talks about "mojo". Musicians tend to be creative and open-minded, and magick is really all about metaphor, so the line between magick and art is pretty fine at the worst of times. Please ignore my hijack, since the OP specified explicit lyrical references--but I haven't seen many of those. I think explicit is usually a bad thing in poetry (at least it's thought of that way) so references are usually only available to those already in the know--another common thread with magick.
 
 
Gypsy Lantern
10:58 / 04.04.04
Years from now, throngs of occultists will gather in Conway Hall near Red Lion Square to celebrate the anniversary of Marvin Gaye's reception of the 'What's Going On' record.
 
 
hap
05:44 / 05.04.04
Maynard's new A Perfect Circle seems to have quite a bit thrown in - check out Brena
 
 
De Selby
14:15 / 05.04.04
Ever been to a Tool concert? Its like participating in a ritual.

Here's another song by Tool off Aenima.



Third Eye

Dreaming of that face again.
It's bright and blue and shimmering.
Grinning wide
And comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes.

On my back and tumbling
Down that hole and back again
Rising up
And wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye.

In... Out... In... Out... In... Out...

A child's rhyme stuck in my head.
It said that life is but a dream.
I've spent so many years in question
to find I've known this all along.

"So good to see you.
I've missed you so much.
So glad it's over.
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play.
Why are you running?"

Shroud-ing all the ground around me
Is this holy crow above me.
Black as holes within a memory
And blue as our new second sun.
I stick my hand into his shadow
To pull the pieces from the sand.
Which I attempt to reassemble
To see just who I might have been.
I do not recognize the vessel,
But the eyes seem so familiar.
Like phosphorescent desert buttons
Singing one familiar song...

"So good to see you.
I've missed you so much.
So glad it's over.
I've missed you so much.
Came out to watch you play.
Why are you running away?"

Prying open my third eye.
So good to see you once again.
I thought that you were hiding.
And you thought that I had run away.
Chasing the tail of dogma.
I opened my eye and there we were.

So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding from me.
And you thought that I had run away.
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason.

Prying open my third eye.



Didn't the Rolling Stones go through an occult phase? I don't know their music very well.
 
 
akira
14:21 / 05.04.04
Hawkwind - Silver Machine

I just took a ride
in a silver machine
and I'm still feeling mean
I got a silver machine
Do you want to ride
see yourself going by
other side of the sky
Well I got a silver machine
It flies sideways through time
It's an electric line
To your Zodiac sign
It flies out of a dream
It's anti-septically clean
You're gonna know where I've been
In my silver machine
 
 
Lord Switch
19:35 / 05.04.04
Hmm, has anyone thought about the songs by Sistsers of mercy an the songs by The mission?
The so called "girlie name songs"?

for instance:
Severina
"she believes that love is the law"

Alice
"Cross the crystal, spread the taro, in illusion comfort lies"
 
 
cusm
20:54 / 05.04.04
Hm. Speaking of Sisters, there's also Shreikback. Barry Andrews is wont for strangely abstract lyrics with a vaguely magickal feel:

wind the circle round him three times
we have to plan these things at these times...
 
 
hashmal
00:57 / 06.04.04
can't believe no one's mentioned john zorn's IAO. wonderful album. essential material for all barbelither's i would've thought. he also has an album dedicated to harry smith, can't remember the title exactly something about the hermetic theatre i think. i'm not familar with the majority of his work (there's just so bloody much and so expensive to import here), but i'm guessing a substantial proportion of it is imbued with a magical vibe/intention.
mr. bungles desert search for techno allah (or something along those lines) is good too. something to do with the yazidi(sp?) cult. i can't recall the lyrics off hand though. if my memory isn't too fucked i think it has some kind of ritual invocation in it. i could be getting it confused with something else though. i think the guitarist is into the occult and related matters.
neurosis is also very magical in orientation in my opinion, at least from through silver in blood onwards. all be it in a pagan hang out in the woods and do strange drugs way. at least that's the vibe i get on to when i listen to them. have no idea what the people in the group are actually into though.
 
  

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