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pornographer's dream

Last post Fri, Jan 04 2008, 12:39 PM by fatima. 3 replies.
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  • pornographer's dream
    20392

    Top 25 Contributor
    Female
    Joined on 08-28-2006
    gaia, portugal
     Thu, Sep 20 2007, 3:02 PM
    a song which poses a question: "if someone is surrounded by something don't they long for something else?" a song about desire that's beyond immediate and easy reach. contrary to "caramel", one of the "9 objects of desire", this desire is "out of his/our hands".
     
    my favorite part of this song is when it gets to the "us" part. just like the pornographer we are surrounded by so many images nowadays but we very scarcely see anything that matters, anything we really desire, because the real thing is between what's revealed & what's concealed. and there's the '&' again, the line that marks the gap where real desire lives, "under this real life".
     
    "it's out of our hands, over our heads, out of our reach, under this real life"
     

    chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
  • Re: pornographer's dream
    21045 in reply to 20392

    Top 25 Contributor
    Female
    Joined on 08-28-2006
    gaia, portugal
     Thu, Oct 18 2007, 12:23 PM

    the nature of desire is a theme suzanne has addressed throughout her songs. desire of the body (''caramel''), desire of the soul ("penitent" & "bound"), and spiritual desire, something not tangible, not of this world but of the world of the spirit, imagination and wonder, an interior landscape where this kind of desire might become real ("pornographer's dream").

    it was so interesting that, at the berlin show, after performing "pornographer's dream", suzanne did "some journey" and "in liverpool", also songs about desire of this nature. 

     


    chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
  • Re: pornographer's dream
    21049 in reply to 21045

    Top 75 Contributor
    Male
    Joined on 06-22-2007
     Thu, Oct 18 2007, 6:00 PM
    The dream of the pornographer shows the fatal side of desire: as soon as it gets what it wants, the desire is gone. It may even discover that it never really wanted what it wished for - not the actual possession was the point, but getting something that is out of reach.

    I always thought of the boy in the belfry as a tragic person, missing something or someone, being lonely. Maybe that is not the case: Maybe the image in his head is better than the reality. You could interpret "some journey" the same way: the what-ifs hold many possibilities, but in reality, there are no shadows here.
  • Re: pornographer's dream
    22158 in reply to 21049

    Top 25 Contributor
    Female
    Joined on 08-28-2006
    gaia, portugal
     Fri, Jan 04 2008, 12:39 PM

    suzanne's words about "pornographer's dream": "It's the deeper longing underneath it, what it is they're really longing for underneath it. The pornographer here longs for a more spiritual experience. [...] Most people want what's good, they don't want what's bad. They fall into having an addiction but I think ultimately what you're striving for is some kind of goodness and I can't help but believe in that."

    it's very interesting that suzanne uses the word "addiction" here since the compulsive behavior of the pornographer can really be seen as an expression of a lack or of the means to fulfill it. as suzanne also says about this song: "It's about the idea that you are always looking for what you don't have."

    "compulsion makes you listen" here as well, listen to the mystery of what's underneath it, to the longing of it. even if it's "hidden in veils, covered in silk, we're dreaming of what might be".

     


    chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
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