The Serpent's Egg

The Serpent's Egg is the fourth album recorded by the Dead Can Dance duo, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. It was released in October 1988. It featured the song "The Host of Seraphim" which was later used in the film Baraka. Group performs "Echolalia" and "Mother Tongue" at 1992 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Albertville.

The album was the last produced during the time of Perry and Gerrard's amorous relationship. Much of the album was recorded in a multi-story apartment block in the Isle of Dogs area of London.

1 Track listing
2 The song "Ullyses"
3 Personnel
4 References

[edit] Track listing

"The Host of Seraphim" – 6:18
"Orbis de Ignis" – 1:35
"Severance" – 3:22
"The Writing on My Father's Hand" – 3:50
"In the Kingdom of the Blind the One-Eyed Are Kings" – 4:12
"Chant of the Paladin" – 3:48
"Song of Sophia" – 1:24
"Echolalia" – 1:17
"Mother Tongue" – 5:16
"Ullyses" [sic] – 5:09

All songs written by Dead Can Dance (Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry).

[edit] The song "Ullyses"

This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (April 2008)

Some factual points in the lyrics (and title) always generate interrogations:

" Just like Ullyses, on an open sea. / On an oddysey of self discovery. " [sic]: there is no known evidence that "Ullyses" and "oddysey" would be typos. One understanding is that "oddysey" would be a portmanteau word blending "odd" and "odyssey" by switching which letter is doubled, meaning "a strange adventure"; and because Ulysses is the latin name for Odysseus, writing "oddysey" would sort of imply writing "Ullyses".

" John Francis Dooley / wipe the sleep from your eyes / and embrace the light. ": there is no known evidence that "John Francis Dooley" would reference a real or literary character. According to Brendan Perry^[1], it was a name he made up, a metaphorical figure, an archetype which embodies everyone. (It could have been made up as an archaic-looking version of "John Doe".)

" For tonight we must leave / with the first gentle breeze / for the Isles of Ken we are assailling. ": there is no known evidence that the "Isles of Ken" would reference a real or literary place^[2]. One usual understanding is that it would symbolically represent the goal of a quest for knowledge, based on the noun ken (knowledge or perception), and the following lyrics ("On an oddysey of self discovery.").

Various literary works have sometimes been erroneously alleged as origins for those names, such as Tennyson's 1833 poem "Ulysses", or Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses: they may have been inspirations or not, but the above points aren't citations from them^[3].

[edit] Personnel

Musical

Lisa Gerrard - vocals
Brendan Perry - vocals, hurdy gurdy

With:

Andrew Beesley - viola
Sarah Buckley - viola
Tony Gamage - cello
Alison Harling - violin
Rebecca Jackson - violin
David Navarro Sust - vocals

Technical

John A. Rivers - co-production (tracks 1, 2, 7, 10)
Vaughan Oliver - sleeve design (with Brendan Perry)

[edit] References

Sourced consulted

The Serpent's Egg, CD version, Beggars Banquet/4AD, CAD 808 CD, lyrics and liner notes

Endnotes

^ Brendan Perry provided that answer during one of his percussion workshops at Quivvy Church, according to several Quivvy Workshops alumni and members in good standing of the Lisa Gerrard Message Board [1][2].
^ An odd connection with John Lennon can be factually reported: on the 1970 Beatles album Let It be, after the song "One After 909", John Lennon plays as an interlude the opening of folk song "Danny Boy"; the lyrics being mangled, some have heard "Oh, Danny Boy, the odes of Pan are calling" and others, including the authoritative book Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of the Beatles "Let it Be" Disaster, have documented "Oh, Danny Boy, the Isles of Ken are calling"[3][4]. -- But because it is unknown what Lennon meant, this possible source is of little further bearing: if true, it could only be speculated that Brendan Perry knew this song, had wondered like other people what that line meant, and later reused the expression with a meaning he made up himself; and if false, it's a coincidence; so in both cases, it doesn't provide special information for the meaning of the Dean Can Dance song. Only a Brendan Perry testimony could push this connection beyond a footnote.
^ wikisource:Ulysses (Tennyson), wikisource:Ulysses (Joyce)

v • d • e Dead Can Dance

Lisa Gerrard · Brendan Perry
Discography

Albums	Dead Can Dance · Spleen and Ideal · Within the Realm of a Dying Sun · The Serpent's Egg · Aion · Into the Labyrinth · Spiritchaser

Compilations	A Passage in Time · Dead Can Dance (1981-1998) · Wake · Memento

Live albums	Toward the Within