MANIFESTO, song and album.
Roxy Music have had their share of accolades for their music, but are vastly underrated as lyricists.
I'm starting with "Manifesto" for the sole reason that I believe it did not have the critical acclaim it deserves.
MANIFESTO ( Ferry/Manzanera) title track and album.
I was a Roxy fan from the outset, and even into the "crooning years" but initially could not get along with "Manifesto". But persistence has its rewards. The title track "Manifesto", which critics dismiss as too long, is in fact a perfect example of form reflecting content. The insistent drum beat in the long preamble, overlaid by a discordant guitar is ominous and tells us we are not about to hear about some boy meets girl thing.
The whole song ( and indeed album) is an examination of opposites, a juxtaposition of determinism/free will. A "life around the corner, that takes you by surprise" is pitted against a "life and time by numbers". A safe life following societal norms is pushed against the man "who will not be tied down"
In the conclusion we have,
"I am that I am from out of nowhere
to fight without a cause,"
the absolute essence of the human condition- we know not how we came to this life, yet there is the compulsion to question and to strain to break our chains. If there is a deity, then according to the song it is not a beneficent one:
"I am for the man who drives the hammer
To rock you 'til the grave
His power drill shocks
A million miles away,"
Ultimately there are no answers to these questions. There is just the compulsion to ask them:
"Question what you see
And when you find an answer
Bring it home to me."
And so it is for much of the remainder of the album. "Trash" is the next track, immediately followed by "Angel Eyes", two very differing interpretations of women, one idealised, one outright rebellious. ( "Trash" is harsh and grating, the overly smooth "Angel Eyes" is harmonious- content dictating form yet again.)
To return to "Trash" we have the dichotomy yet again:
"Are you customised or ready made?" ,
which I take to mean are people born with a certain destiny which predicts their behaviour, or are our actions a result of our experiences?
(Interestingly, Bowie in "Rebel Rebel" embraces the woman described in "Trash", whereas Ferry has neither encouragement nor judgement)
And so to the final song in this "trilogy"- "My little girl"- a melodious, almost elegiac sound. But we are tricked because "my little girl" is possibly "a woman of the world"- the angel/ whore dichotomy yet again.
I am aware that "Manifesto" had lukewarm critical reception, but I would urge everyone to give it another try.
@jill102096
["I am that I am from out of nowhere / to fight without a cause,"
@jill102096
["I am that I am from out of nowhere / to fight without a cause,"
>
the absolute essence of the human condition- we know not how we came to this life, yet there is the compulsion to question and to strain to break our chains. If there is a deity, then according to the song it is not a beneficent one...]
Bryan Ferry's spirituality is intriguing. How do you contrast these lyrics to 'Triptych" from Country Life? I often wonder if he has real faith or simply enjoys adopting personas.
>
the absolute essence of the human condition- we know not how we came to this life, yet there is the compulsion to question and to strain to break our chains. If there is a deity, then according to the song it is not a beneficent one...]
Bryan Ferry's spirituality is intriguing. How do you contrast these lyrics to 'Triptych" from Country Life? I often wonder if he has real faith or simply enjoys adopting personas.
@NomadMonad, I wrote this interpretation before I changed my username. I need to comment on "Tryptych". I think it is difficult to discern whether Ferry has faith, but he certainly is searching for spirituality, yet his songs do not speak of a belief in a beneficent deity. He seems preoccupied with the question of free will versus predetermination.
@NomadMonad, I wrote this interpretation before I changed my username. I need to comment on "Tryptych". I think it is difficult to discern whether Ferry has faith, but he certainly is searching for spirituality, yet his songs do not speak of a belief in a beneficent deity. He seems preoccupied with the question of free will versus predetermination.
This is very apparent in the above song, and also in "More than This" where essentially the same questions are asked but "there is no way of knowing". Of COURSE there's no way of knowing, but endemic in the human condition is the struggle to know the unknowable.
"More than This" is a later song, complemented by a video which reinforces my interpretation of the song, but we have no conclusion, so I'd say the writer's position remains unchanged. Agnostic but not optimistic.
Ferry reminds me of Samuel Beckett:-
"Nothing to express, no power with which to express, together with the obligation to express."
MANIFESTO
MANIFESTO, song and album. Roxy Music have had their share of accolades for their music, but are vastly underrated as lyricists.
I'm starting with "Manifesto" for the sole reason that I believe it did not have the critical acclaim it deserves.
MANIFESTO ( Ferry/Manzanera) title track and album.
I was a Roxy fan from the outset, and even into the "crooning years" but initially could not get along with "Manifesto". But persistence has its rewards. The title track "Manifesto", which critics dismiss as too long, is in fact a perfect example of form reflecting content. The insistent drum beat in the long preamble, overlaid by a discordant guitar is ominous and tells us we are not about to hear about some boy meets girl thing.
The whole song ( and indeed album) is an examination of opposites, a juxtaposition of determinism/free will. A "life around the corner, that takes you by surprise" is pitted against a "life and time by numbers". A safe life following societal norms is pushed against the man "who will not be tied down"
In the conclusion we have, "I am that I am from out of nowhere to fight without a cause,"
Ultimately there are no answers to these questions. There is just the compulsion to ask them: "Question what you see And when you find an answer Bring it home to me."
And so it is for much of the remainder of the album. "Trash" is the next track, immediately followed by "Angel Eyes", two very differing interpretations of women, one idealised, one outright rebellious. ( "Trash" is harsh and grating, the overly smooth "Angel Eyes" is harmonious- content dictating form yet again.)
To return to "Trash" we have the dichotomy yet again: "Are you customised or ready made?" , which I take to mean are people born with a certain destiny which predicts their behaviour, or are our actions a result of our experiences? (Interestingly, Bowie in "Rebel Rebel" embraces the woman described in "Trash", whereas Ferry has neither encouragement nor judgement)
And so to the final song in this "trilogy"- "My little girl"- a melodious, almost elegiac sound. But we are tricked because "my little girl" is possibly "a woman of the world"- the angel/ whore dichotomy yet again. I am aware that "Manifesto" had lukewarm critical reception, but I would urge everyone to give it another try.
@jill102096 ["I am that I am from out of nowhere / to fight without a cause,"
@jill102096 ["I am that I am from out of nowhere / to fight without a cause,"
>
Bryan Ferry's spirituality is intriguing. How do you contrast these lyrics to 'Triptych" from Country Life? I often wonder if he has real faith or simply enjoys adopting personas.
>
Bryan Ferry's spirituality is intriguing. How do you contrast these lyrics to 'Triptych" from Country Life? I often wonder if he has real faith or simply enjoys adopting personas.
@NomadMonad, I wrote this interpretation before I changed my username. I need to comment on "Tryptych". I think it is difficult to discern whether Ferry has faith, but he certainly is searching for spirituality, yet his songs do not speak of a belief in a beneficent deity. He seems preoccupied with the question of free will versus predetermination.
@NomadMonad, I wrote this interpretation before I changed my username. I need to comment on "Tryptych". I think it is difficult to discern whether Ferry has faith, but he certainly is searching for spirituality, yet his songs do not speak of a belief in a beneficent deity. He seems preoccupied with the question of free will versus predetermination.
This is very apparent in the above song, and also in "More than This" where essentially the same questions are asked but "there is no way of knowing". Of COURSE there's no way of knowing, but endemic in the human condition is the struggle to know the unknowable.
"More than This" is a later song, complemented by a video which reinforces my interpretation of the song, but we have no conclusion, so I'd say the writer's position remains unchanged. Agnostic but not optimistic.
Ferry reminds me of Samuel Beckett:- "Nothing to express, no power with which to express, together with the obligation to express."