Lyrics:
You're so pretty in a,
Pretty haggard way.
Like the cliche tiger,
In his tiny cage,
Like a China doll who's,
Dark around his eyes,
Never meant to grow up,
In this vicious life.
I want to wrap my arms,
Around your heavy breath,
Be your plank of wood from,
Some boats shattered deck,
In the open ocean,
Float for you though broken,
I will float for you,
Although I'm broken too.
You're so pretty in a,
Pretty haggard way.
And though you are jaded,
I am not afraid.
I know it's your forte,
To push girls away,
When late turns to early,
In the hazy rays.
Alright, we've had a pretty pithy response to our little "noise pop" video's use of a children's lullaby for an adult song. Specifically, "it's pretentious and it sucks". The critic (for lack of a better word) later changed his mind, but I want to take the opportunity to respond to the retracted criticism. The choice grew out of research into music F. Scott Fitzgerald referenced in "Tender Is The Night," specifically my stumbling across an interesting description. It's in the scene where Nicole waits in the darkness for a rendezvous with Dick, a phonograph stashed to play him records (Fitzgerald 154). When he arrives, his impressions of the waiting young woman use the words "clear moonlight". I thought this referenced "Au Clair de la Lune," the sentence structured as an allusion to the lullaby. The song parallels Dick's impression of Nicole for two ephemeral sentences before (unarticulated by either character or the narrator) vanishing for, chronologically in the text, another ten years.
Dick sees Nicole waiting, looking "as if this were the exact moment when she was coming from a wood into clear moonlight". The key to the context here is the etymological relationship between English "clear" and French "clair". They share a common ancestor in clarus—the Latin word meaning both "clear" and "bright" (Merriam-Webster, 2010, clear). So ten years later, when the Diver children (at the commencement of the party that Dick hopes will bring "a brawl and seductions and people going home with their feelings hurt") are asked to sing about "Mon Ami Pierrot," they begin: Au clair de la lune. The clair in the first line of the folk song is translated by various sources as "bright," (Davidson & Surette, 1922, p. 9) "light," (Silberg & Schiller, 2002, p. 33) "moonlight" (Victor Talking Machine Company, 1920, p. 55) etc. These translations (though more functionally appropriate for their use for children) fail to indicate the connotation of clair's nuanced definition. As clarus would suggest, clair also means "clear" (Merriam-Webster French Dictionary, 2000, p. 65). A transliteration of the words "au clair de la lune" reads: in clear/light of the moon. Which of course translates to "in clear moonlight." The words used to describe Nicole as Dick sees her are essentially a transliteration of the first line of the children's song. Dick's fantasy of Nicole as the protagonist of Au Clair de la Lune extends—the view in concert with the song—for another sentence. "Dick wished she had no background, that she was just a girl lost with no address save the night from which she had come." The narrator from the children's song is just that. All that listeners learn about the protagonists' life throughout the verse of the song which the Diver children sing is that he or she (the verse remains gender neutral since it is narrated entirely in the first and second person) is outside Pierrot's door in the moonlight (his or her candle having gone out) asking for a pen to write and for Pierrot to open the door. The song that haunts the night of Dick and Nicole's meeting jibes with the hyphenations used by Haberer and Paccaud-Hugeut (1997): Pierrot-Dick and Columbine-Nicole (p. 159). In this tradition of Pedrolino's development from slapstick country bumpkin to romantically tragic Pierrot, as textured by Fitzgerald's evocation of him in the complex and emotionally fecund space of overlapping childhood and adulthood, I chose that lullaby melody for this adult's lullaby.
-Caru Cadoc, Lyricist
Works Cited:
Davison, A., & Surette, T. (1922) 140 Folk-Songs With Piano Accompaniment. Boston: E.C. Shrimer Music Co.
Haberer, A., Paccaud-Hugeut, J. (1997) De La Littérature À La Lettre: Poésie, Fiction, Arts: Domaine Anglophone. Lyon: Presses Universitaires De Lyon.
Herder, R., (1998). 500 Best Loved Song Lyrics. Mineola: Dover Publications.
Merriam-Webster. (2010). Clear. Retrieved October 12, 2010, from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clear
Merriam-Webster. (2000). French-English Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Silberg, J., & Schiller, P. (2002). The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays, and Chants. Beltsville: Gryphon House, Inc.
Victor Talking Machine Company. (1920). Music Appreciation for Little Children. Camden: Victor Talking Machine Company.
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Snowman's Waltzby CaruCadoc4,821 views
Whats music ?
Teufelgott12 1 month ago
Interesting....
onewink 1 month ago
genial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
orangedualterror 1 month ago
サイケなことやってますね！世界観がツボです。
oreore1017 1 month ago
I've got the sweetest mother. What would you give me for a basket of kisses?
nauort23 1 month ago
Love this...I feel kinship with Van Gogh...;-) since i was little,,,, wonderful thoughtful composing and art vid...altogether wonderful. I'm a fan.
cinderellalifestyle 1 month ago in playlist More videos from CaruCadoc
Stunning music and video
lightworkerdaz 1 month ago
cool...
getOccupiedtheMovie 1 month ago
very cool and new to art
donottawaguitar 1 month ago
Raw and soothing - I'm sure Van Gogh would approve - he'd know where this is coming from. An angel singing, accompanied by a chainsaw - something like that anyway - interesting video.
headcleaner63 2 months ago