scott walker jesse (2006)

[eddystone333]

I love Scott's post-'Nite Flights' work, but a part of me wishes he'd go back to pop just once more. Not necessarily try for a Top 10 single, but just do some songs like "30th Century Man" or his Jacques Brel covers. Imagine if he covered some of the songs done by the A-Listers who showered him with praise in the '30th Century Man' documentary or even just re-worked his old material a la 'Climate of the Hunter'.

If that's absolutely not what he wants to do, fine. It's just a thought.

[muntificator]

This is what Dracula would listen to...

[Alun53]

Audio-cinema.......

[PLin2006]

Its Jesse's birthday today.

[kaylancom]

Absolute Genius.

A true Master.

Centuries from now, they will tremble at the sound of his name.

[SalItzMed]

This song scares the shit outta me.

[80stvguy]

wow this shit is.....out there...

[oblistr]

Who did these incredible graphics?

[MrTonyfreeman7]

Making out that Scott is an innovator and visionary would take a very

selective, and inaccurate view of music history. Someone like Gavin

Friday saying that Scott's album is the first rock album of the 21st

century is just rubbish.

Stephen Stapleton of Nurse with Wound and bands such as Einsturzende

Neubauten were making music which was far more innovative, radical,

and influential than Scott Walkers, 10-15 years before Scott.

[willstrattonmusic]

@MrTonyfreeman7 This line of argument is fruitless. In all cases, one can take the germ of one person's art and trace it back to an arguably more innovative predecessor. Hyperbole is endemic in all criticism. To deny Walker any sort of honorary title just because you like someone else better is your problem, not Scott's.

[Sodhats]

Smiley face

[stormcorrosion]

Fuck, this stuff is almost creepier than Black One.

[Soilwar]

@stormcorrosion: Believe me.. it is.

[iantoau]

enough with this nursery rhymes for heroin addicts.

[redshaftedflicker]

I'll take progression over the ill fated digression that has plagued so many amazing artists over the years anyday. My favorite SW and counting!

[BlankoTV]

This things exposes my psycho side.

[piper96ao]

WHY WOULD I LISTEN TO THIS AT NIGHT??

[loversdie]

headphones

[TheGeraldemerald]

Scott Walker = integrity. Fucking star!

[PrickyKorv]

omg, first time I hear this! Just wanted to check it out, 'cus someone said it was similiar to Steven Wilson - Port Rubicon and it blew my mind so... I'm pretty much speechless! ORDERING THE DRIFT NOW!! I NEED THIS!!

[chavochavo22]

This guy is my only idol in the arts. Hes influenced me soo much and Im a painter, thats how awesome he is

[garcialovesme]

2:13 - more scary than apocolyptic war..

[lockwoodisafaggot]

this later stuff holds no real interest for me at all. Walker is a bad ass though: from kid star to teen idol to crooner to .... let's just say he's done it all....

[pantalaemon]

Akerfeldt was right, this sh*t is disturbing indeed.

I am intrigued.

[edgarholland]

When people look back on Scott's music in 100 years time, when just about every one alive now will be long gone, people will describe "The Drift" as his best work. I am in awe.

[desertrun]

is this the official video?

[jik7864]

@desertrun Yes it is

[needledropdamagedone]

Scott Walker's work is incomparable

[krollaostmedburger]

This would be really creepy if your name wat jesse and you lived in memphis

[kingjojothegreat]

think of tripping in the desert, dying of thirst. horryfying

[panisterfatheroy]

Every second comment compares Scott Walker with something else.

[cosmicrider287]

stunning piece of art.

[needledropdamagedone]

Haunting masterpiece. The Drift is Walker's magnum opus.

[ronaldvanderkleij]

is he crying for help after be driven by a train or something

[antirapmissle]

One of the few songs i would call haunting, along with something off Khanate's deubut album.

[Phyllislechat]

a eucharist.

[Phyllislechat]

I'm very grateful to have spent the late night hours watching "Scott Walker - 30 Century Man" to put all of this in context. He is a very unique, exemplary artist and an inspiration. He is right on the dot about not sacrificing your vision just to speed things along or get an audience. Listening to his music is a Eucharist. It's not important to understand or find a meaning in the lyrics, it just flows from his Muse - whatever that is.

[Kapojos]

thats interesting, i agree that in a certain way every music is art. but than ofcourse im not talking about britney spears ''music'', or even all the jazz-music. this is genre-thinking, everyone will call britney spears songs 'music'. but if you go deeper than the essence of these songs isnt real music , because it is not art, its a song. some music can turn into art, because it brings the listener in contact with a more inner life. and THAN there is a more meaningfull concept of music.

[thebadger13]

First I was scared then confused now just amazed.......

My first listen to the drift was on boxing day 2009........

[eduardojotass]

Agarrense muy fuerte! que el tío Scott nos Zambulle sin piedad al universo Jesse...

[Kapojos]

haha this song is so funny! the weird simplistic quitar and the overacted crying voice!

it makes me happy!

[BrikSwoony]

@Kapojos Are you sure there's a guitar ? Listen carefully..?

[Kapojos]

@BrikSwoony what is it than???

i would like to know! though it doens change my conception of this song, in the end it doenst matter of its a guitar or a on object found on the street.,

[BrikSwoony]

@Kapojos - If you're a Musician - you should know.

Listen carefully...

[AMF1322]

If he makes music for himself, why does he record and sell it? Or even more, why are we listening to this? Personally, I don't like this, as I don't see Walker as a musician. I think him as a poet, who recites over blocks of instruments, sounds and noises. You can like his poetry, his sound, his ideas. But still, I can't conceive this as music.

[Kapojos]

@AMF1322 why dont you see this as music? he maybe doesnt use it in a convential way, but its still in the realm of music, he uses the elements to express something in a new way.

but ofcourse he goes further than music, and than it becomes art, because convential music is just a technic, a medium an artist can use, to bring it to a new level.

[AMF1322]

@Kapojos First of all, every music IS art. But here, I think the blocks of sounds, or "music", are just an excuse (as 'The text is a pretext'), to fill his minimalistic (I'm not sure if it is spell like this) poetry. I like the poetry he writes, don't misunderstand me. But I don't like the result of his poetry plus that sounds. I see it more like a writer reciting his work, as I said. But a more interesting question than 'Why this isn't music?', is 'Why this IS music?'.

[Kapojos]

@AMF1322 going further, than even silence can be music, or sounds you hear when you take a walk outside. poetry can also be music.

but scot walker is a bit difficult. i find it interesting because of the unorthodox connections and sounds he uses.

[MisAnnThorpe]

Scott Walker said a few years ago that he suffers from terrible nightmares. Having heard "The Drift", he leaves me in no doubt that he wasn't joking.

[JustForKhadijah]

5:00 He sounds like he's caught in his own nightmare! Bee-zar!

[JustForKhadijah]

Is this guy on acid?

[jesst666]

@JustForKhadijah no. hes just a musical genius

[lukeyboy123able]

Oh Scott, oh Scott - OH SCOTT!!

[Z4EVUR]

It's sad that I can't appreciate his singing to the fullest. Because the actual music is amazing, but personally, I just can't stand his singing. Personally of course.

[Restayvien]

@Z4EVUR

Same here, for me personally the vocals detract from the atmosphere of the track.

[amuzed50]

this is really awesome!

[qarapalida]

Scott made this vid?

[bluekarma]

Genius! Try to imagine what the song is about after I tell you and listen to it again from this perspective... It is the first 2 strums of the song Jailhouse Rock(Elvis Presley) slowed down and that is because it is a song about Elvis and his still-born dead twin brother Jesse. Imagine the horror and sadness of being in the womb as Elvis(Scott is Elvis) and next to you is your dead brother. Scott gave a voice to what Elvis might of felt inside his mothers womb. Elvis never got over this event.

[bluekarma]

@bluekarma There is also reference to Elvis witnessing the collapse of the WTC Towers on 9/11(tall, tall tower lyric). Seeing the people who died jumping from the towers.

[PLin2006]

@bluekarma holy shit dude

[Ayo1594]

My name is Jesse and this scared the poop out of me. 

[otacon451]

i'd hit it

[desertrun]

Indded the sun ain't shining here anymore.

[vicshonda]

who the heck is scott walker?

[zarathustra1077]

please upload clara.

[leviathonCage]

I wish someone would upload Clara, from The Drift.

[spurtfather]

I bough this album when it came out, got wasted, stayed up late and listen to it very loud. I've not listen to it since. It's more like a film or something, a thing you'd go back to after a couple of years, get wasted, put it on late at night again. I can handle one tune the now, but that's it. People shouldn't be in any doubt though. This is cool.

[MisAnnThorpe]

@spurtfather This record has nothing at all to do with "cool", whatever that might mean! This is a musician making music for nobody but himself, presumably, purely because he has to. I too bought the album upon its release & have listened to it all the way through, probably no more than 3 times. Anyone claiming that they actually enjoy this record is probably lying or suffering mental torment. I personally rate "The Drift" very highly but it's not an enjoyable experience. It's to be endured.

[spurtfather]

@MisAnnThorpe Sorry sorry sorry, I'll stick to using the word "cool" to describing the collaborative efforts of Miles Davis and Gil Evans, which I hear is the definition of "cool", which you seem to think has no meaning, so hopefully that will clear things up for you a bit. I hope my semantic irregularity has not stopped your un-enjoyment of this highly rated mental torment.

[MisAnnThorpe]

@spurtfather Thank you. You've cleared that one up nicely! We obviously think along similar lines after all.

[spurtfather]

@MisAnnThorpe I'd like to think all Scott Walker fans share much in common. Taste, if nothing else. x

[BowmanGerritsma]

It's difficult to endure a mans torment, but necessary to fully appreciate it.

[MrTobytwirl]

Scott Walker is genuine and unique. Always was.

[taranoch]

this is one freaky track!

[xbyiu97]

did you have to put all those annoying breaks in the lyrics

[kaini]

@xbyiu97 that's the way scott has written his lyrics in the liner notes since 1978

[xbyiu97]

@kaini sorry, my bad.

[PinkFloydFan74]

Did anyone else expect a cover of the Joshua Kadison song about his cat?

[BadButNotSad]

It's disturbing O_o

[dancoleman2]

The 'pow pow' sound is two planes hitting the twin towers on 9/11. The song is about Elvis in the desert talking to his dead brother and dreaming of the attack.

The man is unbelievable.

[wijreel]

Yes indeed...

[Apostategr]

the guy is genious!!!you can also check Virus (NOR) that are inspired from Scott Walker! Great music!!

[patrik1122]

what program was used to make this video?

[darkbarrage99]

@patrik1122

this is the official music video

[alexrebelrebel]

Genious!

[StellaPolaris07]

It was quite good until he started to "sing".

[diamonddust22]

@StellaPolaris07 you are quite good, until you were born. Shut your cunt.

[olderguyphil]

mind blower in 5-1 sound late at nite in a dark room wow

[Raokenx]

This is almost too scary for me to focus on the beauty! Listen to this in a dark room with headphones on....

[johndoejonespoet]

Ahh, Scott Walker: transfixing.. an obvious and telling inpiration to so many disparates: Morrisey, Bowie and now surpirsingly but perhaps not so, Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth. Waterhed would have been a lesser sounding album with out The Drift...

[rherrick123]

@johndoejonespoet

I don't think Morrissey has been overtly influenced by Scott Walker. However, Bowie has voiced his interest and so have many others.

[pirez1986]

@johndoejonespoet Thats so weird, I found Scott Walker through a Mikael Akerfeldt interview!

[jbakerguitar]

@pirez1986 Me too!!!!!!!!!!!

[Restayvien]

@pirez1986

and me

[jesst666]

this is so beautiful when you listen to it around 9 pm

[ingear75]

ya gotta love scott...such vision.

[MixedTracialArtist]

i AM SHITTING BRIX

[skirtfancier]

Genius. Takes me back to David Sylvian days.

[MonsBadonicus]

I would play this song if I wanted to kill myself

[Sw155]

@MonsBadonicus wtf are u on about this song is fucking brilliant.

[jrubin68]

@MonsBadonicus I would play this song if I were to kill you.

[adult93]

Reminds me of the intro video for Left 4 Dead 1.

[cescu70]

great video, beautiful!!

[Tweezer510]

2 chords for 2 minutes...yes, this is the best music I've ever heard. Simply because you add an 'eerie vibe' doesn't make something 'omgsooriginal.'

[metalhe4d4life]

so true my kongregate friend

[randykawasaki]

@Tweezer510

so you evaluate music by the number of chords per 120 secs. On that basis the more modulation the merrier... Less can sometimes be more, my dear.

[ikillhippies]

you're a fucking idiot who shall forever bathe in languid ignorance.

[Tweezer510]

Ahh, I see someone is both pretentious and hypocritical. Congrats.

[ikillhippies]

please explain my pretense, in what way am i trying to contrusct this pretence and whether i have succeed

[jothbowgett]

well you heard much else like it? And simplicity is sometimes a brilliant an idea as the complex....

[161803]

@Tweezer510 yah totally man! 2 chords in two minutes is like...is like...1 chord in one minute! Really awesome people listen to shit like this instead:

Zr0KkzbbqPI

screw these pitchfork fools and their "nuance"!

[161803]

@Tweezer510 i don't know what you mean by "less substance," at least as it relates to overall quality. Does Hemingway have "less substance" in his prose than Thomas Pynchon? What does it matter--some people prefer barer works than others, and come off sounding as if it's obvious we should only embrace the byzantine.

Oh, and now I'll "think" about your hypothetical 23 year old kid. Never mind that I've favorited 20-something no-names with just several 1000 page views alongside Walker...

[Tweezer510]

@161803 Precisely. Opinions differ vividly, lest we be a boring society at that.

Also, who suggested you embrace anything, let alone one thing solely? Especially Mesopotamia, of all places. Or gem stones.

[161803]

@Tweezer510 perhaps I'm not sure what you meant when you said "My point was simply that one man, albeit a somewhat influential one (forgive my understatement), creates a song with (what it would seem) less substance than your average composition." My interpretation of that comment and one you made previously was that you were criticizing this work as being overly simplistic, or some such.

[Tweezer510]

@161803 My first comment was certainly as such, since I was simply 'trollin,' but then I had troll's remorse, and figured I should make amends.

[161803]

@Tweezer510 no need, trolling is good fun on youtube, where everything is Serious Business.

[Tweezer510]

@161803 Much like the interwebs as a whole. Serious business.

[jrubin68]

@Tweezer510 I would like to be sarcastic, I would like to demean you for your ignorance, but instead I will simply state that in the most fundamental sense of the statement that you are wrong, and you're just gonna' have to trust me on that.

[jesst666]

this. is. true. music. i love this man for being this original

[royalbabbi]

sounds like the chorus in ancient greek tragedies. very dramatic.

[underpantsjihad]

@royalbabbi but what in the christfuck did that sound like?

[unclejohnthezef]

lol 2:16

[OliverMohawk]

this is not MUSIC.

it's POISON

scare and love it

[InnerRise]

This isn't music. It's posing.

[TheIncredibleBAGMAN]

the more i listen to this, the more i think I'm guna shit myself. I like this

[HALFSQUASHED]

Some songs on The Drift are shite but this is fantastic.

If anyone has ever heard of a PS3 game called Little Big Planet i designed a level inspired by this song.

[OliverMohawk]

i like to watch a video with the level you designed

[swampman]

Mindblowing.

[bluekarma]

i heard this was about Jesse Presley(Elvis's stillborn twin brother) witnessing the 9/11 attacks and the towers falling. Very eery and sad.

[UnityExplorer]

Strange yet compelling. This one is hitting a string with me... Thanks for sharing!

[rubberting]

Thank you for directing me the documentary. I've just bought Scott III now, so that'll keep me occupied for a while though :P.

[0mniron]

you should see a documentary film called "30th century man" in order to understand more fully this artist who has influenced the likes of Bowie and eno. if you are willing to alow yourself into it you might find it extremly rewarding intelectually. if you are a musician you'll appreciate it even more. the man is a pioneer and no one else does what he does.

[krank027]

beyong any critisism....eh???

[exinexi]

He wrote it all on the drift as far as I know. You should also see 30 Century Man. By the time he was a pop star in the 60s-70s he used other people's songs (like Jaque Brell's ) or arrangements.

[rubberting]

i'm new to mr walker's music. I know hes since as a genius and innovator (as this song tells my ears).. but i was just wondering: does he write the strings on this or is his duty just vocals?

[0mniron]

He uses orchestrators but they follow his exact direction.

[Joshywuff]

This....  is kinda creepy.... Seriously, creepier than that Foliage stuff....

[DukeOfPrunes23]

I can definitely see the Tears For Fears and Queen influences in this song, I walked down the aisle to this classic! The Drift is the only album the kids will listen to from my collection in the car!

[quejidolucas]

You anglosaxons have a problem: can't see what's real even if it's in front of your noses. This sincere and honest piece of music don't deserve any kind of comparison because the rest is just rubbish matter for the slaughter.

[ymazzy]

Astonishing, hypnotic

Mizz

[johnwsmoke]

Taste is such a personal thing. And the fact that some of you dont like it, doesnt mean no one else should, or indeed that its not good.

If all we had was trash like Brittney/Kelly/Christina and those talentless, plastic sl#ts, the musical world would be a dull place

[EnoSwinnen]

I bet Kurt Cobain was a fucking fan if he'd still be alive

[tanates777]

beautiful... magnificent desolation!!!

[gayspoon]

depressing? Are you serious?

[thetruthfulliar]

This sounds like a heroin-induced 60ies beat singing to an interpretive dance routine... The guy might be an oldie, and I do enjoy some of his previous work way back when, but that doesn't make it good now. I do not think this is challenging my musical ears (if it was a race, radiohead is beating music right now), as I become less curious about the song itself as it progresses. I find it quite unimaginative actually, and the paired video does not match well to the song.

[louvelasco]

I agree that Radiohead is nowadays three bodies ahead of anyother band, Nevertheless Scott Walker recent stuff works based on other patterns. It gives response to the precess to abstract the pure emotion, like outstanding painters or sculpturers did in their last works. The drift is a mature work, that withdraw the figure of a painting. It Is definetely figurative art, not abstract work... the essence of a human being.

[Brianjonestown]

Fuck off, you indie Pitchfork douchebag. Learn to spell before you start waxing hipster poesy trying to define Scott Walker's art. It stands alone just fine thanks, so shut the fuck up and go hang your worthless ass from a white belt.

[denizbugat]

i really like this- there is a nice documentary about scott walker, it is called 30th Century Man, Scott Walker, catch it up!

[countryblockhead]

Beautiful song.

I´m listening to it in my garden and there is a bunch of sheep around and strangly it even sounds better with these" määhs".

kind of magic

[clearviewmind]

Crikey, I love the weird, but this is taking the piss!!

[sallyann1951]

Been a Scott fan since 1964,god this is so moving,. All of a sudden that Voice! I'm the only one alive!

[CANARVONKID]

Yes, it made me want to use the toilet too!

If shit had a name this song is definately it!

Garbage wrapped in cellaphane!

[CANARVONKID]

I have no doubt you would be the only one alive, after listening to this piece of crap!

Everyone else would be fast asleep, or contemplating suicide!

Boredom works everytime!

[rherrick123]

SO intense.

A masterpiece.

[ascent7]

Did scott walker write the string parts too?

[CANARVONKID]

How do you think he strung it together?

[bluekarma]

I heard it is the first strums of Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley. Since the song IS about Elvises twin brother Jesse who was stillborn. Scott slowed it down quitea bit.Almost Bealtesque in its creativity. Very desolate and hauntind. It is more art than music but great nevertheless.

[Xephon212]

More art than music?

Isnt that redundant? lawl

[bluekarma]

not everyone who makes music is an artist(see Kanye West). Just because I use a paint and a brush doesn't mean I am artist, eh?

[InnerRise]

Amen! Hallelujah! Jesus Christ! and his kids!

[Nelahblue]

I simply cant get enough of this song or kill my desperation for listen to the whole album. I am so grateful to be getting it in a few weeks. Dam good music. Powerful.

[CANARVONKID]

Now thats what I call desperate!

Listening to the whole C.D?

Now that's very similar to receiving electro-shock therapy or a lobotomy!

Bring on mindlessness!

[Nelahblue]

I said I cant wait to listen to the CD. If u dont like the song or the guy's music u dont have to be disrespectful. Go and watch something else if u dont like it.

[CANARVONKID]

My point exactly!:)

[GenericInsect1979]

Scariest track I've ever heard

[FallenGrace2905]

Surely one of the most talked about scott walker pieces. an imagined conversation between Elvis and his stillborn twin brother Jesse about 9/11. Likening the twin towers to one of the most famous dead? celebrities and his long gone twin is ingenious. The World Trade Center towers can be seen as both Elvis, something famous and iconic, yet now gone or is it?, and as Jesse, a haunting reminder of what could have been, or even as both.