Watch how Jimi Hendrix started the rock revolution during the 60's by
changing the way blues music is played. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The
Rolling Stones, Jagger, The Who and all the 60's great are here in this
epic Seven Ages of Rock Video
Seven Ages of Rock Part 2 of 7 - British Rock
The story of how artistic and conceptual expression permeated rock. From
the pop-art multi-media experiments of Andy Warhol and the Velvet
Underground to the sinister gentility of Peter Gabriel's Genesis, White
Light, White Heat traces how rock became a vehicle for artistic ideas
and theatrical performance. We follow Pink Floyd from their beginnings
with the fated art school genius of Syd Barrett through to the global
success of 'Dark Side of the Moon' to the ultimate rock theatre show,
'The Wall'. Along the way, the film explores the retro-futurism of Roxy
Music and the protean world of David Bowie.
Seven Ages of Rock Part 3 of 7 - Blank Generation
Seven Ages of Rock Part 4 of 7 - Never Say Die
Performing bands: Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, and Metallica.
Seven Ages of Rock Part 5 of 7 - Never Say Die
Performing bands: Led Zeppelin, Queen, Kiss, Bruce Springsteen, The Police, Dire Straits, and U2
Seven Ages of Rock - Part 6 of 7 - Left of the Dial
Performing bands: Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Black Flag, Van Halen, REM, and Michael Stipes
Seven Ages of Rock - Part 7 (Final Episode)
Performing bands: The Smiths, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral, Carpets, Blur, Oasis, Suede, Coldplay, Stereophonics, Travis, The Verve, The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, and Kaiser Chiefs.
The
British Indie scene flourished in Manchester in the early 1980s.
Manchester was transformed by The Smiths, through Morrissey's lyrics
into a place of epic romance as part of a critique of the hard northern
working class life under Thatcher. The Indie scene was diverse and
contained bands such as The Cocteau Twins, The Fall and The Jesus and
Mary Chain. By 1986, The Smiths had become one of Britain's most
established band's, a record deal with label EMI had been agreed and
they began to play larger and larger venues in the U.S. However, this
brought its own pressures and eventually this contributed to The Smiths
splitting in the summer of 1987.
This split coincided with the
rise of house music and the development of a new wave of indie bands
giving the music "a psychedelic twist". The Stone Roses, combined indie,
house and a "west-coast" psychedelic feel, with rhythms at the
forefront of the music and instrumentals crossing into the world of
dance. In 1989, they played The Empress Ballroom in Blackpool,
popularising the new scene and led to the media spotlight falling on
"Madchester", containing groups such as Happy Mondays and Inspiral
Carpets. Blur were made to put out a record based around the Madchester
sound; this was not the band's own sound, however, but their record
company's wishes.
Oasis performing in 2005In the summer of
1993 Oasis signed to Creation Records and began gigging up and down the
country, then moving to London once they had an established fan base.
This was perfectly timed as the centre of Indie music had moved from
Manchester to London due mainly to the influence of Suede. Suede had an
image around dark glamour and sexual ambiguity, being declared the
leaders of Britpop. This section is where reductive shades into absurd.
Blur's second and third albums truly launched Britpop, going to the top
of the album charts crossing them to mainstream, this was soon followed
by Oasis' debut, creating a scene encompassing groups from Pulp to
Elastica. In August 1994, Blur and Oasis had a sales battle for the
number one spot with Blur getting to number one just. However, Oasis'
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? became one of the biggest selling
albums of all time, with them being called the "Voice of a generation".
They sold out football stadiums and indoor arenas making it hard for
them to find venues. In early 1996, they organised a festival at
Knebworth for 250,000 people to which one in 20 people in the UK applied
for tickets. However, this was as big as Indie music was going to get,
as many felt they could no longer be truly called Indie.
The
Libertines attempted to bring Indie music back down to earth. Like The
Smiths before them, their concerts focused around direct interaction
between band and audience. They also held spontaneous guerrilla gigs at
fans homes and pioneered the use of the internet for bands. However,
when Doherty's drug habit spun out of control, creating tension in the
band, it eventually lead to their split in 2005. Many new guitar bands
have risen to prominence in recent years, such as Franz Ferdinand and
Kaiser Chiefs, with some, such as Arctic Monkeys, displaying their
influence from the Libertines.
The broadcast of the VH1 episode
is different from the original broadcast. The discussion of the Smiths
is very reduced only mentioning their Top of the Pops performance, the
closeness to the Audience and their breakup and not featuring 'Heaven
Knows I'm Miserable Now'. There is also no mention of Indie bands from
the 1980s other than the Smiths and the Stone Roses. There is no
discussion or featuring of Live Forever. The section on Blur is very
reduced, only featuring For Tomorrow and Girls and Boys, with almost all
the discussion on the latter. Therefore, Blur Vs Oasis is not discussed
and "Roll with It" is not featured. Coldplay are the only one of the
'market chasing' bands to feature or be mentioned, although the album
covers in Tesco are still shown. The discussion of the Libertines is
also curtailed with no mention of the guerilla gigs, the internet,
tattoos or Can't Stand Me Now. The Kaiser Chiefs also do not feature.
Seven Ages of Rock - Part 7 of 7 - What the World Is Waiting For
In GLOBAL METAL, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn set out to
discover how the West's most maligned musical genre - heavy metal - has
impacted the world's cultures beyond Europe and North America. The film
follows metal fan and anthropologist Sam Dunn on a whirlwind journey
through Asia, South America and the Middle East as he explores the
underbelly of the world's emerging extreme music scenes; from Indonesian
death metal to Chinese black metal to Iranian thrash metal. GLOBAL
METAL reveals a worldwide community of metalheads who aren't just
absorbing metal from the West - they're transforming it - creating a new
form of cultural expression in societies dominated by conflict,
corruption and mass-consumerism.
Written by
Anonymous
The Feds Will Use A Crisis To Seize Farmland and Food Stocks - Oct 4, 2012
Food prices are set to increase this
year due to the droughts and world-wide unrest. Efoods Direct buys
directly from supplers and passes the savings on to you. http://alexjones.efoodsdirect.com/
Whole Foods Caught in False Advertising Scandal - Oct 5, 2012THElNFOWARRlOR
With GMO foods more prevalent and more
unpopular than ever, even "organic"-oriented grocery chains have been
scrambling to spin the sad truth that genetically-modified ingredients
have saturated the market and infiltrated virtually all food brands.
Such
is the case with Whole Foods, leader in the organic products market,,
who've made billions advertising their stores as all 'natural,'
wholesome and containing 'nothing artificial ever.'
In the below
report, Infowars Nightly News investigative team Melissa Melton and
Aaron Dykes uncover the ugly facts about the 'organic elite' cooperating
with Big Agra, the USDA and even Monsanto, all while deceptively
positioning themselves to customers under false premises.
Just take a look at this mural, painted on the side of one of Whole Foods' Austin locations:
It
brags, 'Nothing Artificial Ever,' but the admitted GMO ingredients sold
on store shelves could never be considered to be anything but manmade
frankenfoods.
These stores are perpetrating a blatant case of
false advertising, which Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law defines as,
"the crime or tort of publishing, broadcasting, or otherwise publicly
distributing an advertisement that contains an untrue, misleading, or
deceptive representation or statement which was made knowingly or
recklessly and with the intent to promote the sale of property, goods,
or services to the public."
Whole Foods has had to admit recently
that its shelves are packed with food that contain GMO ingredients,
going against their pure image as an all-organic grocer.
Customers
are drawn into the vast, attractive store aisles on the premise that
they are buying pure, wholesome foods for their families, while the
store charges premium 'organic' prices for many products that fall short
of expectations.
Numerous health advocates have exposed the
deception behind industry marketing under the term "natural," concocted
to sound like a synonym for organic foods, grown without pesticides or
artificial chemicals, but which actually contain ingredients derived
from food-experiments created in the labs of Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta
or other leading biotech firms. There are no regulatory standards for
the "natural" food products aimed at health conscious buyers, nor for
the hundreds of other unregulated foods containing potentially-deadly
GMOs.
If Whole Foods, a respected niche leader in the organic
movement, can get away with this massive and lucrative deception, anyone
can. Many of us at Infowars are Whole Foods customers, and this is all
the more reason why we are taking this issue personally.
We must
fight to stop the spread of GMO food products, not give into the massive
finance pressure in the biotech industry or false promises of
regulatory figureheads long ago bought out by Monsanto and their ilk.
Animator Jeff Bigman has done it again.
Enjoy his funny and revealing 1 minute piece, "A Rat's Tale", from our
Non-GMO Theater series. Jeff Bigman was also the chief animator for the
movie, Genetic Roulette - The Gamble of Our Lives, which is available
online this week for free. http://geneticroulettemovie.com
Just Label It - the GMO labeling song by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger - Oct 8, 2012 by TheHealthRanger
This is the song about GMO labeling, with lyrics by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, editor of NaturalNews.com.Music by Dan Gautreau from Shockwave-Sound.com
Here are the lyrics:
I don't wanna eat GMO
Cuz If I take a bite I want to know
I always read the ingredients list
There might be something that I accidentally missed
Cuz when I feed my family I insist
That we first get handle on this
Just Label it - all the GMO
Just Label it - so we all can know
Just Label it - let the people see
Just Label it - label it - it's time to honor the seed
Our food is sacred can't argue with that
The future's up to us and now we're takin' it back
The labels need to start stating the facts
So we know if it has GMO, oh oh
Just Label it - all the GMO
Just Label it - so we really know
Just Label it - let the people see
Just Label it - label it - it's time we honor the seed
Honor the seed
Just Label it - all the GMO
Just Label it - so we all can know
Just Label it - let the people see
Just Label it - label it - I know you wanna be free
Just label it
It's gonna get better when we
Just label it
And the food keeps growin' when we
Just label it
We gonna get it goin' when we
Label it, label it
It's time to honor the seed
Just Label It - the GMO labeling song by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
"Right To Know" - Yes On California Prop 37 - No GMO - EVeryman & Boyz In The Wood
Jesse Ventura "For All Ron Paul People And I'm One Of Them"
Jesse Ventura : Democrips and Rebloodicans, Politic Street Gangs and WWE Wrestling
Former
Governor, Frogman, Pro Wrestler, Actor, Biker Jesse Ventura on His
Latest Book: Democrips and Rebloodicans; Supports Former New Mexico
Governor Gary Johnson's Libertarian Presidential Bid; Talks Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, His Relationship with Vince McMahon
After Not Endorsing Linda, Expendables II, Ron Paul More.
Full Show 9/14/12: Gov. Ventura Vs. Gang Gov't
Thom talks with Governor Jesse Ventura about America's troubled
political system and his new book "Democrips and Rebloodlicans."
Tonight's "Big Picture Rumble" panel discusses Romney's handling of the
unrest in the Middle East, the Fed's new stimulus plan and the latest
from the Chicago Teacher's strike. In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom
explains what's really going on in the Middle East.
Bruce Springsteen Feat. Tom Morello - Ghost Of Tom Joad RNR HOF 2009
This is a compilation of all the celebrities claiming they sold their souls or channeled spirits to perform, and the celebrities whose coworkers or family members claim they do.Each compilation has a general theme, though celebrities who are on one compilation do not get repeated in another one:
1. General info: Sell souling and channeling
2. What makes channeling easier and what's channeled through
3. Sealing the deal such as meeting at the crossroads or sacrificing someone
4. Celebrities who get possessed on stage or while performing
5. Celebrities who open themselves up to dozens of spirits
6. Celebrities who open themselves up to one or a few spirits
Legal Disclaimer:
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 states that such materials must be made available in an open forum where there is critical discussion or advancement of knowledge. The purpose of showing these materials are to analyze the changes of cultural values, a modern decline in religious values such as Christianity, and to offer sociocultural evidence for an emerging philosophy in the media. This video's webpage is an open forum for anyone to comment on the presented viewpoint and to offer their own viewpoints. Therefore, the video poster, the commenters, and the owners of the materials do not share the same viewpoints and it is not the purpose of this video to misrepresent viewpoints. This video has parts from materials that are out of order, superimposed by original creative work, or simply presented. A simple presentation is packaged by title, description, annotations, etc under the nature that it is presenting a social commentary. I encourage only discussion. I do not attempt to deter viewers from finding the full original productions if they would like to enjoy them. At the time of posting, the poster to the best of his ability sees that this video has no finding of violation under the factors listed in Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.
Expose Celebrities who sold their souls and channel spirits
Part 1
Why the Illuminati killed Michael Jackson - Part 9 of 11
Eminem's Depression - Part 10 of 11
Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert CIA human research program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continuing at least through the late 1960s, and it used U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects.
The published evidence indicates that Project MKULTRA involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate individual mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, and verbal and sexual abuse.
Project MKULTRA was first brought to wide public attention in 1975 by the U.S. Congress, through investigations by the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission. Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKULTRA files destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms' destruction order.
In 1977, a FOIA request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKULTRA, which led to the Senate Hearings of 1977. In recent times most information regarding MKULTRA has been officially declassified.
Although the CIA insists that MKULTRA-type experiments have been abandoned, 14-year CIA veteran Victor Marchetti has stated in various interviews that the CIA routinely conducts disinformation campaigns and that CIA mind control research continued. In a 1977 interview, Marchetti specifically called the CIA claim that MKULTRA was abandoned a "cover story."
On the Senate floor in 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said:
The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens "at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations." At least one death, that of Dr. Olson, resulted from these activities. The Agency itself acknowledged that these tests made little scientific sense. The agents doing the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers.
William Blake (28 November 1757–12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry has led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". Although he lived in London his entire life except for three years spent in Felpham he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".
Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of both the Romantic movement and "Pre-Romantic", for its large appearance in the 18th century.
Early Life William Blake was born on 28 November 1757 at 28 Broad Street (now Broadwick St) in the Soho district of London. He was the third of seven children, two of whom died in infancy. Blake's father, James, was a hosier. William did not attend school, and was educated at home by his mother Catherine Wright Armitage Blake. The Blakes were Dissenters, and are believed to have belonged to the Moravian Church. The Bible was an early and profound influence on Blake, and would remain a source of inspiration throughout his life.
Blake started engraving copies of drawings of Greek antiquities purchased for him by his father, a practice that was then preferred to actual drawing. Within these drawings Blake found his first exposure to classical forms through the work of Raphael, Michelangelo, Marten Heemskerk and Albrecht Dürer. His parents knew enough of his headstrong temperament that he was not sent to school but was instead enrolled in drawing classes. He read avidly on subjects of his own choosing. During this period, Blake was also making explorations into poetry; his early work displays knowledge of Ben Jonson and Edmund Spenser.
Apprenticeship to Basire On 4 August 1772, Blake became apprenticed to engraver James Basire of Great Queen Street, for the term of seven years. At the end of this period, at the age of 21, he was to become a professional engraver. No record survives of any serious disagreement or conflict between the two during the period of Blake's apprenticeship. However, Peter Ackroyd's biography notes that Blake was later to add Basire's name to a list of artistic adversaries—and then cross it out. This aside, Basire's style of engraving was of a kind held to be old-fashioned at the time, and Blake's instruction in this outmoded form may have been detrimental to his acquiring of work or recognition in later life.
Royal Academy On 8 October 1779, Blake became a student at the Royal Academy in Old Somerset House, near the Strand. While the terms of his study required no payment, he was expected to supply his own materials throughout the six-year period.
Marriage In 1782, Blake met John Flaxman, who was to become his patron, and Catherine Boucher, who was to become his wife. At the time, Blake was recovering from a relationship that had culminated in a refusal of his marriage proposal. He recounted the story of his heartbreak for Catherine and her parents, after which he asked Catherine, "Do you pity me?" When she responded affirmatively, he declared, "Then I love you." Blake married Catherine – who was five years his junior – on 18 August 1782 in St. Mary's Church, Battersea. Illiterate, Catherine signed her wedding contract with an 'X'. The original wedding certificate may still be viewed at the church, where a commemorative stained-glass window was installed between 1976 and 1982. Later, in addition to teaching Catherine to read and write, Blake trained her as an engraver. Throughout his life she would prove an invaluable aid to him, helping to print his illuminated works and maintaining his spirits throughout numerous misfortunes.
A very quick look at the history and work of William Blake. A short by Stephen Barker, Chu Ya Hwang, and Margarita Romanenko, produced in Flash and Final Cut Pro, 2005.
Multimedia Artist - Part 1 of 2
Multimedia Artist - Part 2 of 2
Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Sketches of William Blake's Inner World from His Pictures and Poems with Anne Baxter as Catherine Blake and George Rose as William Blake
London, 1827 For 45 years, William Blake wrote, illustrated, & printed his books of visionary poems, assisted by his wife, Catherine.
He is now in his final days ...
Dramatized sketches based on the poems and paintings of William Blake illuminate his visionary world of mythological beings. Like a one-act play, the film suggests what life was like for the Blakes, William and Catherine, while they worked together printing and painting a copy of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in William's last days. A portrayal of artist/poet William Blake's effort to capture "an eternal world of the permanent realities of everything we see reflected in the vegetable glass of nature." Winner of the Columbus Film Festival "Chris" and the Cine Golden Eagle. With Academy Award-winner Anne Baxter and Tony Award-winner George Rose. New York, NY : Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., 1987. (30 min.) Visionary dimensions series Writers: Harvey F. Bellin, Tom Kieffer.
Marriage of Heaven and Hell 1 of 3
Marriage of Heaven and Hell 2 of 3
Marriage of Heaven and Hell 3 of 3
Here is a virtual movie of the great William Blake reading his much loved poem "The Tiger"
"The Tiger" is a famous poem by the English poet William Blake. The poem was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794. It is one of Blake's best known and most analyzed poems.
William Blake (November 28, 1757 -- August 12, 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake's work is now considered seminal in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.
The poem is read superbly by Marius Goring........ All rights are reseserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2009
The Tiger TIGER, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? What dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears, And water'd heaven with their tears, Did He smile His work to see? Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tiger, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The Tiger
Auguries of Innocence To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.
A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons Shudders hell thro' all its regions. A dog starv'd at his master's gate Predicts the ruin of the state.
A horse misused upon the road Calls to heaven for human blood. Each outcry of the hunted hare A fibre from the brain does tear.
A skylark wounded in the wing, A cherubim does cease to sing. The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight Does the rising sun affright.
Every wolf's and lion's howl Raises from hell a human soul.
The wild deer, wand'ring here and there, Keeps the human soul from care. The lamb misus'd breeds public strife, And yet forgives the butcher's knife.
The bat that flits at close of eve Has left the brain that won't believe. The owl that calls upon the night Speaks the unbeliever's fright.
He who shall hurt the little wren Shall never be belov'd by men. He who the ox to wrath has mov'd Shall never be by woman lov'd.
The wanton boy that kills the fly Shall feel the spider's enmity. He who torments the chafer's sprite Weaves a bower in endless night.
The caterpillar on the leaf Repeats to thee thy mother's grief. Kill not the moth nor butterfly, For the last judgement draweth nigh.
He who shall train the horse to war Shall never pass the polar bar. The beggar's dog and widow's cat, Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.
The gnat that sings his summer's song Poison gets from slander's tongue. The poison of the snake and newt Is the sweat of envy's foot.
The poison of the honey bee Is the artist's jealousy.
The prince's robes and beggar's rags Are toadstools on the miser's bags. A truth that's told with bad intent Beats all the lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so; Man was made for joy and woe; And when this we rightly know, Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine, A clothing for the soul divine. Under every grief and pine Runs a joy with silken twine.
The babe is more than swaddling bands; Every farmer understands. Every tear from every eye Becomes a babe in eternity;
This is caught by females bright, And return'd to its own delight. The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar, Are waves that beat on heaven's shore.
The babe that weeps the rod beneath Writes revenge in realms of death. The beggar's rags, fluttering in air, Does to rags the heavens tear.
The soldier, arm'd with sword and gun, Palsied strikes the summer's sun. The poor man's farthing is worth more Than all the gold on Afric's shore.
One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands Shall buy and sell the miser's lands; Or, if protected from on high, Does that whole nation sell and buy.
He who mocks the infant's faith Shall be mock'd in age and death. He who shall teach the child to doubt The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.
He who respects the infant's faith Triumphs over hell and death. The child's toys and the old man's reasons Are the fruits of the two seasons.
The questioner, who sits so sly, Shall never know how to reply. He who replies to words of doubt Doth put the light of knowledge out.
The strongest poison ever known Came from Caesar's laurel crown. Nought can deform the human race Like to the armour's iron brace.
When gold and gems adorn the plow, To peaceful arts shall envy bow. A riddle, or the cricket's cry, Is to doubt a fit reply.
The emmet's inch and eagle's mile Make lame philosophy to smile. He who doubts from what he sees Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt, They'd immediately go out. To be in a passion you good may do, But no good if a passion is in you.
The whore and gambler, by the state Licensed, build that nation's fate. The harlot's cry from street to street Shall weave old England's winding-sheet.
The winner's shout, the loser's curse, Dance before dead England's hearse.
Every night and every morn Some to misery are born, Every morn and every night Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.
We are led to believe a lie When we see not thro' the eye, Which was born in a night to perish in a night, When the soul slept in beams of light.
God appears, and God is light, To those poor souls who dwell in night; But does a human form display To those who dwell in realms of day.
Auguries of Innocence
The meaning and purpose of blackness according to William Blake presented by Samuel Godfrey George.
The Little Black Boy My mother bore me in the southern wild, And I am black, but oh my soul is white! White as an angel is the English child, But I am black, as if bereaved of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree, And, sitting down before the heat of day, She took me on her lap and kissed me, And, pointed to the east, began to say:
"Look on the rising sun: there God does live, And gives His light, and gives His heat away, And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.
"And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love And these black bodies and this sunburnt face Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
"For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear, The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice, Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice',"
Thus did my mother say, and kissed me; And thus I say to little English boy. When I from black and he from white cloud free, And round the tent of God like lambs we joy
I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear To lean in joy upon our Father's knee; And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair, And be like him, and he will then love me.
The Little Black Boy
One of the twelve songs from the CD Blake Songs. Twelve William Blake poems set to music by Paul Howard and Jo Clack.
London
Words written by William Blake
Music by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
Jerusalem And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green And was the holy lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen
And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark Satanic mills
Bring me my bow of burning gold Bring me my arrows of desire Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold Bring me my chariot of fire
I will not cease from mental fight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand 'Til we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land 'Til we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land
Jerusalem
Blake poured his whole being into his work. The lack of public recognition sent him into a severe depression which lasted from 1810-1817, and even his close friends thought him insane.
Unlike painters like Gainsborough, Blake worked on a small scale; most of his engravings are little more than inches in height, yet the detailed rendering is superb and exact. Blake's work received far more public acclaim after his death, and an excerpt from his poem Milton was set to music, becoming a sort of unofficial Christian anthem of English nationalism in the 20th century.
The Divine Image
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of of delight Return their thankfulness. For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form, In heathen, turk, or jew; Where Mercy, Love, & Pity dwell There God is dwelling too.
The Divine Image
Voice of the Devil (performed by Ulver)
God is The Imagination
Visions of the Daughters of Albion
The Lamb
As a nineteenth century English poet Blake depicts the concept of child just after the industrial revolution.
Chimney Sweeper
The Garden of Love
William Blake Meets Thomas Paine Gnostic Drama - Part 1
Gnostic Drama - Part 2
Gnostic Drama - Part 3
Gnostic Drama - Part 4
Gnostic Drama - Part 5
Many attempts have been made to set Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" to music, including classical composers, William Bolcom (1984), Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and folk singers Greg Brown (1987), and Finn Coren." The attempt I am most familiar with is by hip poet, Allen Ginsberg, who accompanied himself on harmonium on his 1970 recording.
As a lover of Blake's poetry I decided to try recording the complete collection of poems, set partly to original music and partly to adaptations of folk tunes. It is presented here in eight videos, with some assistance from my sister, Annette, also a lover of Blake, and my nephew, Lachlan.
William Blake (1757-1827), now famous for his unique poetic and artistic vision, was not recognised in his own lifetime. His incredibly rich and imaginative poetry expresses a romantic and mystical view of the world, and, though he loved the Bible, an extreme hostility to established religion and the conventional view of marriage, which earned him a reputation for madness or at least eccentricity.
Blake believed Innocence and Experience were the two contrary states of the human soul, and both essential for life. The poems in "Songs of Innocence" either express a child's point of view or are about children. Many have a matching poem in "Songs of Experience", giving a different and darker perspective.Though Blake believed children needed to become experienced, he blamed social exploitation, such as child labour, and dogmatic religion for their loss of innocence.
Part One 1. Introduction - Songs of Innocence (with Annette and Lachlan) 2. The Shepherd - Songs of Innocence 3. Introduction - Songs of Experience 4. Earth's Answer - Songs of Experience 5. The Echoing Green - Songs of Innocence 6. The Garden of Love - Songs of Experience
Blake was very much aware of the irony of presenting songs, basically ephemeral because of their oral nature, not only in written form, but elaborately engraved. His "Introduction" to "The Songs of Innocence" seems to cast doubt on the Romantic notion that the spoken voice could be truly captured in writing. The three instructions given by the child to the piper - to play his pipe, to sing his songs, and to write them down - implies a descent from the pure essence of music, through singing, still spontaneous but restricted by language, to the written word, which, once created, can exist on its own without the need for a human being to bring it to life. The act of writing itself, it is suggested, leads us away from nature to "experience".
The song of "The Shepherd" is a simple description of the shepherd's joyful relationship with his flock, obviously a reference to the love of God in the eyes of an innocent child. The image of people or animals guarding their children is a major motif in these songs.
Whereas the Introduction to "Songs of Innocence" presents the song-writer as a piper, the Introduction to "Songs of Experience" shows him as an ancient bard, asking the sinful earth to return to God. Whether he is a benevolent prophet weeping for the fallen world or a jealous tyrant, he does not represent Blake, who values the world of experience as an essential part of life. Rather, he is Urizen, a figure who turns up many times in Blake's works.
The Introduction is followed by the complex song, "Earth's Answer." Earth perhaps represents the world of experience. Whether she should take the bard's advice or try to remain free in her fallen state depends on our interpretation of the bard's motives in the Introduction. She seems to see herself as imprisoned by his jealousy in a world of darkness.
"The Echoing Green" presents a day in the life of a group of children playing, beginning with the rising sun and ending with its descent. The cyclic nature of the song is reinforced by the "old folk" who watch the children and remember playing on the Green themselves as children, so the daily cycle is a metaphor for the cycle of life from birth to death. The image of the children returning to their mothers at the end of the day on the "darkening green" suggests the joyful return to God when life is over.
"The Garden of Love" shows that the natural Eden-like setting for the childrens innocent play has now been destroyed by the institutions of organised religion, with its rules and restrictions. We find that "the gates of the chapel were shut / And 'Thou Shalt Not' writ over the door," and the final lines beautifully express this restrictiveness not only in the imagery, but also In the tight internal rhymes: "Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds / And binding with briars my joys and desires". The priests have turned the Garden of Love, "where I used to play on the green," into a garden of punishment and death, where the flowers have been replaced by graves.
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.
Active Evil is better than Passive Good.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.
Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.
As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.
Better murder an infant in its cradle than nurse an unacted desire.
Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.
Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?
Christ's crucifix shall be made an excuse for executing criminals.
Do what you will, this world's a fiction and is made up of contradiction.
Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.
Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
Every harlot was a virgin once.
Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.
Exuberance is beauty.
For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life.
Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise.
He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.
He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.
He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love.
I have no name: I am but two days old. What shall I call thee? I happy am, Joy is my name. Sweet joy befall thee!
I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.
If a thing loves, it is infinite.
If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out.
Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only.
Lives in eternity's sun rise.
Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.
Man has no Body distinct from his Soul; for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
One thought fills immensity.
Opposition is true friendship.
Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.
Prisons are built with stones of Law. Brothels with the bricks of religion.
Prudence is a rich, ugly, old maid courted by incapacity.
That the Jews assumed a right exclusively to the benefits of God will be a lasting witness against them and the same will it be against Christians.
The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.
The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.
The eye altering, alters all.
The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more. Empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose.
The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.
The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.
The man who never in his mind and thoughts travel'd to heaven is no artist.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled.
The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
The true method of knowledge is experiment.
The weak in courage is strong in cunning.
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.
Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
To generalize is to be an idiot.
To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.
To the eyes of a miser a guinea is more beautiful than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes.
Travelers repose and dream among my leaves.
Want of money and the distress of a thief can never be alleged as the cause of his thieving, for many honest people endure greater hardships with fortitude. We must therefore seek the cause elsewhere than in want of money, for that is the miser's passion, not the thief s.
What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? are they two and not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride!
What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.
What is now proved was once only imagined.
What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.
When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.
Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.
Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.
You cannot have Liberty in this world without what you call Moral Virtue, and you cannot have Moral Virtue without the slavery of that half of the human race who hate what you call Moral Virtue.
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
