there's a bar where the boys have stopped talking
they've been sentenced to death by the blues
is a brilliant addition of Cohens, and relates to an anecdote about the night Lorca was introduced to fellow (doomed) gay poet Hart Crane by a mutual bilingual friend. Crane suggested they go out to this gay speakeasy he liked, and their friend walked along with them, translating as they chatted about their mutual love of Walt Whitman. When they got to the bar, their translating friend, who was straight, felt really uncomfortable so said he'd come back later to pick up Lorca. Unfortunately, Crane spoke no Spanish, and Lorca spoke no English, so they split up, and when their friend returned a few hours later, he found the crowd of sailors in the bar split fairly evenly with half surrounding Crane as he told dirty jokes, and half trying to follow Lorca as he played old flamenco songs on the piano and led (something of a) drunken sing-along.
Within a couple of years, both of them would be dead, indirectly "sentenced to death by the blues." Hart found the closet incredibly stressful and spiraled down into alcoholism and depression, eventually jumping overboard to his death following a brutal gay-bashing onboard a ship in the Caribbean, whereas Lorca's post-Dali depression led to a sense of drive and purpose in stretching the boundaries of theatre as a means of activism to better the lot of women and gays in profoundly misogynistic/homophobic Spain, which ultimately led to his assassination by the fascists (who it so happened wore blue uniforms).
dakini, I'm impressed by your knowledge of Lorca's personal history.
As a Spanish speaking Argentine, I've always been captivated by Lorca’s poetry. But I must admit I never really tried before to decipher the deep meaning of some of them. You seem to go a long way in helping understand Pequeño Vals Vienes.
Your reading of the blue boys as being sailors, for ex., makes lots of sense, as the Spanish word for ‘blue’ does not mean sad at all, contrary to what someone else has suggested here.
Was wondering if you’d be willing to share some more of your knowledge. Also: is...
dakini, I'm impressed by your knowledge of Lorca's personal history.
As a Spanish speaking Argentine, I've always been captivated by Lorca’s poetry. But I must admit I never really tried before to decipher the deep meaning of some of them. You seem to go a long way in helping understand Pequeño Vals Vienes.
Your reading of the blue boys as being sailors, for ex., makes lots of sense, as the Spanish word for ‘blue’ does not mean sad at all, contrary to what someone else has suggested here.
Was wondering if you’d be willing to share some more of your knowledge. Also: is there any bibliography/author you can recommend about it?
In this particular case, I find Cohen’s Take this Waltz of amazing beauty. True, he took some artistic licenses, but I think he absolutely grasped the overall meaning/feeling of Lorca’s poem.
Incidentally, the lines
there's a bar where the boys have stopped talking they've been sentenced to death by the blues
is a brilliant addition of Cohens, and relates to an anecdote about the night Lorca was introduced to fellow (doomed) gay poet Hart Crane by a mutual bilingual friend. Crane suggested they go out to this gay speakeasy he liked, and their friend walked along with them, translating as they chatted about their mutual love of Walt Whitman. When they got to the bar, their translating friend, who was straight, felt really uncomfortable so said he'd come back later to pick up Lorca. Unfortunately, Crane spoke no Spanish, and Lorca spoke no English, so they split up, and when their friend returned a few hours later, he found the crowd of sailors in the bar split fairly evenly with half surrounding Crane as he told dirty jokes, and half trying to follow Lorca as he played old flamenco songs on the piano and led (something of a) drunken sing-along.
Within a couple of years, both of them would be dead, indirectly "sentenced to death by the blues." Hart found the closet incredibly stressful and spiraled down into alcoholism and depression, eventually jumping overboard to his death following a brutal gay-bashing onboard a ship in the Caribbean, whereas Lorca's post-Dali depression led to a sense of drive and purpose in stretching the boundaries of theatre as a means of activism to better the lot of women and gays in profoundly misogynistic/homophobic Spain, which ultimately led to his assassination by the fascists (who it so happened wore blue uniforms).
dakini, I'm impressed by your knowledge of Lorca's personal history. As a Spanish speaking Argentine, I've always been captivated by Lorca’s poetry. But I must admit I never really tried before to decipher the deep meaning of some of them. You seem to go a long way in helping understand Pequeño Vals Vienes. Your reading of the blue boys as being sailors, for ex., makes lots of sense, as the Spanish word for ‘blue’ does not mean sad at all, contrary to what someone else has suggested here. Was wondering if you’d be willing to share some more of your knowledge. Also: is...
dakini, I'm impressed by your knowledge of Lorca's personal history. As a Spanish speaking Argentine, I've always been captivated by Lorca’s poetry. But I must admit I never really tried before to decipher the deep meaning of some of them. You seem to go a long way in helping understand Pequeño Vals Vienes. Your reading of the blue boys as being sailors, for ex., makes lots of sense, as the Spanish word for ‘blue’ does not mean sad at all, contrary to what someone else has suggested here. Was wondering if you’d be willing to share some more of your knowledge. Also: is there any bibliography/author you can recommend about it? In this particular case, I find Cohen’s Take this Waltz of amazing beauty. True, he took some artistic licenses, but I think he absolutely grasped the overall meaning/feeling of Lorca’s poem.