| "Song to the Siren" | ||||||||||||||
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| Song by Tim Buckley from the album Starsailor | ||||||||||||||
| Released | February 1970 | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 1969 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Folk | |||||||||||||
| Length | 4:36 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Straight | |||||||||||||
| Writer | Larry Beckett, Tim Buckley | |||||||||||||
| Composer | Tim Buckley | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Tim Buckley Executive producer: Herb Cohen |
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| Starsailor track listing | ||||||||||||||
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"Song to the Siren" is a song written by Tim Buckley and his writing partner Larry Beckett and was first released on Buckley's 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 TV show which aired on March 25, 1968.
Pat Boone was the first to release a version of the song when it was featured on his 1969 album Departure, predating Buckley's Starsailor release. However, the song has become perhaps Buckley's most famous due to a number of artists covering the song after his death in 1975, most notably This Mortal Coil. It has featured as a cover on many artists' studio albums.
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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.[1] The Monkees TV show version featured the song in its original folk song style, with Buckley playing solo with a 12 string guitar. This stands in contrast to the lusher, reverb-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 and high pitched background vocals. In comparison, the live version is more lo-fi, 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 new born child" in the album version. This was reportedly because when Buckley played the song to Judy Henske, wife of then producer Jerry Yester, she responded to the line with laughter.[2][3]
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."[1]
The song's reference to the sirens tempting sailors at sea stems from Greek mythology. This lyrical style is an example of Larry Beckett's literary inspirations, and stands in direct contrast to Buckley's own more personal writing style.
The most prominent recording of "Song to the Siren" is by This Mortal Coil. It was released as a single in September 1983 and spent 3 weeks on the UK Charts where it peaked at #66 on October 23, 1983.[4] More impressive, however, was the sustained demand for the track, the record-buying public helping the single to spend 101 weeks on the UK Indie Charts, a run that ranked 4th in the 1980s after 3 classic long-selling records: Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus (131 weeks), Blue Monday by New Order (186 weeks) and Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division (195 weeks). Song to the Siren was included on This Mortal Coil's 1984 album It'll End in Tears which was released a year after the single. This Mortal Coil was a collective name for a number of artists on the 4AD Records label, with Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins performing the song.
Following the release of the single by This Mortal Coil, Buckley's work experienced a reappraisal in the mid-1980s.[5] 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 Buckley.[5]
The version by This Mortal Coil featured on David Lynch's 1997 film Lost Highway but did not appear on the film's soundtrack album. Lynch has stated that This Mortal Coil's version of the song inspired the first two albums by Julee Cruise. Also, he had previously intended to use the original version of the song on Blue Velvet but was prevented from doing so due to legal issues or budget limitations.[6] It was also used in the trailer for the 2003 Michael Bay produced The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and in the The Lovely Bones. The cover by Israeli singer Ivri Lider was featured in Eytan Fox's film HaBuah.[7] The original Tim Buckley version also appeared in the 2006 Australian movie Candy featuring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish.
The song was given new life in the form of a trance remix by Lost Witness — "Did I Dream (Song to the Siren)" peaked at #28 in the UK singles chart in 2002.[8] Similarly, a sample of This Mortal Coil's version was featured prominently in Messiah's techno single "Temple of Dreams".[9]
It was also sampled by Ratty in their trance track "Sunrise".
In 2005 Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley, a tribute album of songs by both Tim Buckley and his son, Jeff Buckley, featured a version of "Song to the Siren" by Engineers. This cover was based upon This Mortal Coil's version of the song.
A cover of the song was the title track of Song of the Siren: Live in San Sebastian (Sub Pop #SP592), a 2002 live album by Damon and Naomi with Kurihara, guitarist for the band Ghost.
Song to the Siren has also been covered by Robert Plant, on 2002 release Dreamland, and as with Robert Plant as a duet with English tenor Alfie Boe on his 2011 album "Alfie", Mercury Prize nominee Susheela Raman on her album Salt Rain, John Frusciante on The Empyrean, former Two Nice Girls member Laurie Freelove on her 1991 album Smells Like Truth, Post-punk band Half Man Half Biscuit for the Peel Sessions,[10] Sinéad O'Connor on Music of Ireland: Welcome Home and Alex Cooke on his 2010 release "Song to the Siren." The track was also covered by John Grant of The Czars. This track was also covered by Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music on his 2010 solo album, Olympia.
Not solely confined to the recorded format, Song to the Siren has been performed live by numerous artists, including George Michael[11] and David Gray[12] amongst others. Brendan Perry, formerly of Dead Can Dance, covered the song accompanied by Robin Guthrie, formerly of the Cocteau Twins on Perry's 2011 tour.
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