"Song to the Siren" is a song written by
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ja ...
to a poem by his writing partner
Larry Beckett
Larry Beckett (born April 4, 1947) is an American poet, songwriter, musician, and literary critic. As a songwriter and music arranger, Beckett collaborated with Tim Buckley in the late 1960s and early 1970s on several songs and albums, including ...
, released by Buckley on his 1970 album ''
Starsailor''. It was also later released on ''
Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology'', the album featuring a performance of the song taken from the final episode of ''
The Monkees
The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...
'' TV show which aired on March 25, 1968.
Pat Boone
Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...
was the first to release a recording of the song when it was featured on his 1969 album ''Departure'', predating Buckley's album. However, the song has become perhaps Buckley's most famous due to a number of artists covering the song after his death in 1975, notably the British ensemble
This Mortal Coil
This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating ...
in 1983.
The cover by This Mortal Coil is featured prominently in
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
's 1997 film ''
Lost Highway''. The 2021 director's cut, ''
Zack Snyder's Justice League
''Zack Snyder's Justice League'' (colloquially referred to as the Snyder Cut) is the 2021 director's cut of the 2017 American superhero film ''Justice League'', the fifth film set within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) based on the team of ...
'', includes a recording of "Song to the Siren" by UK singer/songwriter Rose Betts.
Background
The song was written in 1967, but Buckley was dissatisfied with the early attempts at recording it. It would finally appear on ''Starsailor'' three years later.
In 1968, Buckley first performed the song in its original
folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
style, with Buckley playing solo with a
12 string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
, as a guest star on the
series finale
A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...
of ''
The Monkees
The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...
''. This stands in contrast to the lusher,
reverb
Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...
-filled version present on the ''Starsailor'' album. ''The Monkees'' television spot features the song in the key of E while the later album version is played in Bb. The album version also features heavy reverb on the
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
and high pitched
background vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
. In comparison, the live version is more
lo-fi
Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
, with no effects, and Buckley's voice is accompanied only by his guitar. The 1968 performance also features different lyrics with the phrase "I am puzzled as the oyster" later being changed to "I'm as puzzled as the newborn child" in the album version. This was reportedly because when Buckley played the song to
Judy Henske
Judith Anne "Judy" Henske (December 20, 1936 – April 27, 2022) was an American singer and songwriter, dubbed "the Queen of the Beatniks" by producer Jack Nitzsche. Initially performing in folk clubs in the early 1960s, her performances and r ...
, wife of then producer
Jerry Yester
Jerome Alan Yester (born January 9, 1943) is an American folk rock musician, record producer, and arranger.
Biography
Yester was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and grew up in Burbank, California. He formed a duo with brother ...
, she responded to the line with laughter.
Despite this, Buckley and Beckett regarded this song as their greatest collaboration effort, with Beckett later stating "It's a perfect match of melody and lyrics. There was some kind of uncanny connection between us."
[
The song's reference to the ]sirens
Siren or sirens may refer to:
Common meanings
* Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies
* Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology
Places
* Siren (town), Wisconsin
* Siren, Wisco ...
tempting sailors at sea stems from Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
. This lyrical style is an example of Larry Beckett
Larry Beckett (born April 4, 1947) is an American poet, songwriter, musician, and literary critic. As a songwriter and music arranger, Beckett collaborated with Tim Buckley in the late 1960s and early 1970s on several songs and albums, including ...
's literary inspirations, and stands in direct contrast to Buckley's own more personal writing style.
Larry Beckett
Beckett wrote the lyrics to "Song to the Siren" as part of his ongoing collaboration and friendship with Buckley throughout their high school years. Beckett has been working alongside the English musician, vocalist, and songwriter Stuart Anthony in a number of guises. The collaboration with Anthony began with the Lancaster-based band The Long Lost Band in 2014 when Beckett began contributing lyrics to their work. "Song to the Siren" formed part of their collaboration when Beckett visited the UK for two tour dates in 2015 - Liverpool and Lancaster. The live version of the song featured a spoken word part by Beckett explaining the origin of the lyrics, which was previously included in documentary footage with the author. Subsequently, a studio version of the song was recorded in 2016 to reflect the live rendition, making this recording somewhat special as (amongst the raft of cover versions) this is the first time the lyricist has appeared on the track
The Larry Beckett and The Long Lost Band
version was released online on 21 October 2016. The song was also performed live by Stuart Anthony on the boat ''Odysseia'', a replica Ancient Greek ship, setting sail from Lefkada. This rendition denotes a spiritual "home coming" for the song; the surroundings being thought to be Homer's Ithaca.
This Mortal Coil version
This Mortal Coil
This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating ...
recorded a version of "Song to the Siren" that was released as a single in September 1983. The single spent three weeks on the UK Charts where it peaked at no. 66 on October 23, 1983. Eventually, the single appeared for 101 weeks on the UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...
s, a run that ranked fourth in the 1980s after three classic long-selling records: "Bela Lugosi's Dead
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" is a song by the English post-punk band Bauhaus. It was the band's first single, released on 6 August 1979 by record label Small Wonder. It is often considered the first gothic rock record.
History
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" was ...
" by Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
(131 weeks), " Blue Monday" by New Order (186 weeks) and "Love Will Tear Us Apart
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a song by English rock band Joy Division, released in June 1980 as a non-album single. Its lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis's marital problems and struggles with epilepsy. The single was released the m ...
" by Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...
(195 weeks). "Song to the Siren" was included on the group's 1984 album ''It'll End in Tears
''It'll End in Tears'' is the first album released by 4AD collective This Mortal Coil, an umbrella title for a loose grouping of guest musicians and vocalists brought together by label boss Ivo Watts-Russell. The album was released on 1 Octobe ...
'' which was released a year after the single.
This Mortal Coil was a loose collective of musicians under the leadership of producer Ivo Watts-Russell
Ivo Watts-Russell (born 1954) is a British music producer and record label executive. He was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the indie record label 4AD. He has produced several records, although he prefers to use the term "musical director".
Ea ...
, and most of whom had recorded for the 4AD label. Singer Elizabeth Fraser
Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born 29 August 1963), is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician. Hailing from Grangemouth, Scotland, she is best known as the vocalist for the pioneering dream pop band Cocteau Twins who achieved international ...
and guitarist Robin Guthrie
Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has performed ...
of the Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...
performed the new version of Buckley's song. Fraser also recorded a duet with Tim's son, Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
, developing an intense personal relationship with him.
Following the release of the single by This Mortal Coil, Buckley's work experienced a reappraisal in the mid-1980s. This revival of interest in the artist would be one of the greatest factors in the increase of his posthumous sales, falling second only to the publicity generated by the success of his son, Jeff
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
.[
In 2009, the This Mortal Coil version of the song was featured in the supernatural fantasy film '']The Lovely Bones
''The Lovely Bones'' is a 2002 novel by American writer Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she ...
'', to critical acclaim, having been chosen for the 1970s period piece story to reflect a passage of time from the film's 1973 initial setting in rural America to a 1980s era that had arrived over the years since main character Susie Salmon's murder.
In 2012 Dawn French
Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...
selected this song on ''Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...
'' as, in her words, "The song that made me fall in love again". In 2021, the song featured on an episode of ''Soul Music'', a music documentary series on BBC Radio 4.
References
External links
Official Tim Buckley site
Song to the Siren on YouTube
List of Song to the Siren covers
{{Authority control
1960s ballads
1969 songs
4AD singles
Folk ballads
Songs written by Tim Buckley
Songs written by Larry Beckett
Classical mythology in music