Neko Case — Halls of Sarah
Album: Hell-OnAvg rating:
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Total ratings: 1318
Length: 3:47
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A childless widow of a nation
You cry like guns across the water
Yet we expect you to bring springtime, it isn't fair
Searchlights wither in your hair
You are a silent movie, Sarah
Men build their industries around you
Gathered in withers of your hair
They're looking farther on reflection
You're left to die of exposure, Sarah
Sarah with the beating heart
Sarah with the mouth of stone
Sarah with the -
You are a silent movie, Sarah
Let her go, the light is fading
I cry like guns across the water
She didn't ask to be your remake or your muse
The parasites inside of booze
Sarah with the beaten heart
Sarah with the mouth of stone
I call but there is no one home
Sarah with the beaten heart
Sarah with the mouth of stone
I call but there is only echo
From a recording machine
Screaming [?] my dreams
You see our poets (poets)
Do an odious business
Loving womankind (womankind)
As lions love Christians
So who are you to deny
Who are you to deny them, Sarah?
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Echo, echo)
Round and round and round and round and round
You cry like guns across the water
Yet we expect you to bring springtime, it isn't fair
Searchlights wither in your hair
You are a silent movie, Sarah
Men build their industries around you
Gathered in withers of your hair
They're looking farther on reflection
You're left to die of exposure, Sarah
Sarah with the beating heart
Sarah with the mouth of stone
Sarah with the -
You are a silent movie, Sarah
Let her go, the light is fading
I cry like guns across the water
She didn't ask to be your remake or your muse
The parasites inside of booze
Sarah with the beaten heart
Sarah with the mouth of stone
I call but there is no one home
Sarah with the beaten heart
Sarah with the mouth of stone
I call but there is only echo
From a recording machine
Screaming [?] my dreams
You see our poets (poets)
Do an odious business
Loving womankind (womankind)
As lions love Christians
So who are you to deny
Who are you to deny them, Sarah?
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Sarah)
(Echo, echo)
Round and round and round and round and round
Comments (44)add comment
Wow, hearing this now after not hearing it for awhile really knocks me out! Her voice perfectly projects her heart-fire!
Sarah Branch Sweet perhaps?
Sarah Blanche Sweet (June 18, 1896[1][2][3] – September 6, 1986) was an American silent film actress who began her career in the earliest days of the Hollywood motion picture film industry.
Neko is eccentric!
ipestell wrote:
Do you really understand all Joni Mitchell's lyrics "I want to knit you a sweater"?
I think I agree with easmann
Mitchell is yearning for something that she can't have - a life of ordinary domesticity.
Do you really understand all Joni Mitchell's lyrics "I want to knit you a sweater"?
I think I agree with easmann
Mitchell is yearning for something that she can't have - a life of ordinary domesticity.
ipestell wrote:
Do you really understand all Joni Mitchell's lyrics "I want to knit you a sweater"?
I think I agree with easmann
No I certainly don't understand all of JM's lyrics, but usually when I don't understand what the words are meant to convey I still feel something on an emotional level. Neither happens for me with Neko Cases's music.
Do you really understand all Joni Mitchell's lyrics "I want to knit you a sweater"?
I think I agree with easmann
No I certainly don't understand all of JM's lyrics, but usually when I don't understand what the words are meant to convey I still feel something on an emotional level. Neither happens for me with Neko Cases's music.
bluematrix wrote:
Sure makes a point though, don't it?
Nice tune, but that cover art...
Sure makes a point though, don't it?
easmann wrote:
I quite like Neko Case, but she does not belong in the same league as Joni Mitchell.
Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan get accolades for their songwriting and that's not wrong. But Neko and Joni Mitchell, and others, have done as well, perhaps better, to far less recognition. Odd.
I quite like Neko Case, but she does not belong in the same league as Joni Mitchell.
gottclay wrote:
I get Joni Mitchell. But for me, I never understand either on a logical or emotional level Neko Cases' lyrics. They just seem very random.
Do you really understand all Joni Mitchell's lyrics "I want to knit you a sweater"?
I think I agree with easmann
I get Joni Mitchell. But for me, I never understand either on a logical or emotional level Neko Cases' lyrics. They just seem very random.
Do you really understand all Joni Mitchell's lyrics "I want to knit you a sweater"?
I think I agree with easmann
easmann wrote:
I get Joni Mitchell. But for me, I never understand either on a logical or emotional level Neko Cases' lyrics. They just seem very random.
Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan get accolades for their songwriting and that's not wrong. But Neko and Joni Mitchell, and others, have done as well, perhaps better, to far less recognition. Odd.
I get Joni Mitchell. But for me, I never understand either on a logical or emotional level Neko Cases' lyrics. They just seem very random.
Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan get accolades for their songwriting and that's not wrong. But Neko and Joni Mitchell, and others, have done as well, perhaps better, to far less recognition. Odd.
Neko is the same age as me, but I feel she's lived twice as long as me.
WHAT?
bluematrix wrote:
I had to figure it out
From Wiki:
"Fans and critics have speculated that the fire in the album's cover art represents the fire that destroyed Case's Vermont home, but she has said it's actually completely coincidental. Inspired by the popular HBO series Game of Thrones, she wanted to craft a family sigil. "I decided that my background was so trashy that my family crest would probably have a cigarette butt on it. But I was also obsessed with fake Hollywood cigarettes, so I thought it would be funny to make a costume out of what looked like burning cigarettes", she said of the cover art.[1]"
Nice tune, but that cover art...
I had to figure it out
From Wiki:
"Fans and critics have speculated that the fire in the album's cover art represents the fire that destroyed Case's Vermont home, but she has said it's actually completely coincidental. Inspired by the popular HBO series Game of Thrones, she wanted to craft a family sigil. "I decided that my background was so trashy that my family crest would probably have a cigarette butt on it. But I was also obsessed with fake Hollywood cigarettes, so I thought it would be funny to make a costume out of what looked like burning cigarettes", she said of the cover art.[1]"
Found Neko Case's explanation of this song in an interview posted on theringer.com May 30, 2018 -- Neko Case Is Still Fighting . Excerpt:
“Halls of Sarah” pulls you in with delicate acoustic guitars, but the lyrics are gorgeously harsh: “Men build their industries around you / Gathered in withers of your hair / They’re looking for their own reflection / You’re left to die of exposure, Sarah.”
Basically, it’s a song about the perils of someone writing a song about you. “I chose the name Sarah because it is a name people like to sing,” Case says. “It’s a very melodic-sounding name. It’s about people being someone’s muse without their permission. And I also chose the name Sarah because the Fleetwood Mac example, the song ‘Sara’ that they wrote, is the opposite of exploitive. It is a celebration of a Sarah without selling out the Sarah. Do you know what I’m saying? That’s the beautiful end of that.”
The far uglier end of that, however, is buried deep in Case’s song: “You see our poets / Do an odious business / Loving womankind / As lions love Christians.” Case has a great deal of recent personal trauma to unpack, in song and in interviews. Last month, she told Pitchfork that in the immediate aftermath of her house fire, she initially publicly denied the property was hers due to ongoing issues with a stalker. But another dark line from that interview has much broader implications: “When in history did we start hating women? When the fuck did this happen?”
Basically, it’s a song about the perils of someone writing a song about you. “I chose the name Sarah because it is a name people like to sing,” Case says. “It’s a very melodic-sounding name. It’s about people being someone’s muse without their permission. And I also chose the name Sarah because the Fleetwood Mac example, the song ‘Sara’ that they wrote, is the opposite of exploitive. It is a celebration of a Sarah without selling out the Sarah. Do you know what I’m saying? That’s the beautiful end of that.”
The far uglier end of that, however, is buried deep in Case’s song: “You see our poets / Do an odious business / Loving womankind / As lions love Christians.” Case has a great deal of recent personal trauma to unpack, in song and in interviews. Last month, she told Pitchfork that in the immediate aftermath of her house fire, she initially publicly denied the property was hers due to ongoing issues with a stalker. But another dark line from that interview has much broader implications: “When in history did we start hating women? When the fuck did this happen?”
Is Sarah a personification of (Mother) Nature?
Sarahhhhhhhh
What?
Sarahhhhhh
What??
Sarahhhhhhh
Oh cmon now
If Sarah was there the conversation would go something like that
What?
Sarahhhhhh
What??
Sarahhhhhhh
Oh cmon now
If Sarah was there the conversation would go something like that
bluematrix wrote:
Maybe a not so subtle reaction to all the people commenting on her other album cover art with drooling...
Nice tune, but that cover art...
Maybe a not so subtle reaction to all the people commenting on her other album cover art with drooling...
This is excellent :-)
Neko Case - what a song and what a talent!
bluematrix wrote:
Gets your attention doesn't it? I think she's gotten sick of people seeing her as beautiful.
Nice tune, but that cover art...
Gets your attention doesn't it? I think she's gotten sick of people seeing her as beautiful.
FourFortyEight wrote:
Good instinct. It's really good live.
Her voice is amazing. I would love to hear this live.
Good instinct. It's really good live.
FourFortyEight wrote:
Absolutely. But I've never known an artist with a worse ratio of musical quality/album cover quality.
Her voice is amazing. I would love to hear this live.
Absolutely. But I've never known an artist with a worse ratio of musical quality/album cover quality.
bluematrix wrote:
Nice tune, but that cover art...
She described her last art cover as "who doesn't like a chick on the hood of a hot car?" so perhaps this in keeping.Her voice is amazing. I would love to hear this live.
hate this song only because it makes a miserable earworm for me every time i hear it so skip skip skip.
Please ,a cigarette. 😳
She looks a lot like Celine Dion on this cover.
This entire album is on unusually high rotation this month. It’s too bad it’s not better.
ExploitingChaos wrote:
Me??
I hate this song but I love you
Me??
bluematrix wrote:
Sure can't NOT notice it. Quite like it, though.
Nice tune, but that cover art...
Sure can't NOT notice it. Quite like it, though.
I hate this song but I love you
Grayson wrote:
We need to be hearing way more of this album on RP... It's her best since Fox Confessor.
As for best track, this is up there. But (while I know it's a cover) I really like Sleep All Summer too...
How long has it been since this record was released? 6-weeks or thereabouts. Long enough for me to declare Halls of Sarah the best cut on this LP. Notched my number up to a 9 too.
We need to be hearing way more of this album on RP... It's her best since Fox Confessor.
As for best track, this is up there. But (while I know it's a cover) I really like Sleep All Summer too...
LOVE ME SOME NEKO!!!!!!
Another unexpected gem from the expected from RP. Thanks, Bill.
Webfoot wrote:
Hair fire (hot.hot)...quick put it out.
Neko is hot!
Hair fire (hot.hot)...quick put it out.
Neko is hot!
Grayson wrote:
Agree. Just not sure I find the whole album to be among Neko's best work.
How long has it been since this record was released? 6-weeks or thereabouts. Long enough for me to declare Halls of Sarah the best cut on this LP. Notched my number up to a 9 too.
Agree. Just not sure I find the whole album to be among Neko's best work.
That is one wild album cover.
How long has it been since this record was released? 6-weeks or thereabouts. Long enough for me to declare Halls of Sarah the best cut on this LP. Notched my number up to a 9 too.
Neko in the NY Times late last month:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/arts/music/neko-case-interview-hell-on.html .
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/arts/music/neko-case-interview-hell-on.html .
New Neko, like a 3-pack of sunscreen from Target, is a summertime requisite. Bring it all on.
Nice tune, but that cover art...
Sweet! New Neko.
Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan get accolades for their songwriting and that's not wrong. But Neko and Joni Mitchell, and others, have done as well, perhaps better, to far less recognition. Odd.
Not so odd at all. Those 3 artists you mention were gaining recognition when Neko was born... (Yes ALL three got HUGE recognition for their songwriting, so it's not a male/female thing.) Neko was still in diapers when music journals covered pioneering musicians and those musicians performed in smaller more accessible venues. It was also a time when people still READ the liner notes, the lyrics, the magazine features... Long before MTV and Much Music took over the attention of generations. Musicians who were rocking (or folking) out in the 50's, 60's and 70's will ALWAYS be Foundational Legends - in ways that NO group or Solo Artist can ever be from the 80's and beyond.
Technology - has its Consequences.