For my Literary/Cultural Theory reading group this week, we're reading the chapter "Alienation Affects" from Owen Hatherley's book Militant Modernism. In the chapter on Brecht, he mentions the Threepenny Opera, and this song, "Pirate Jenny", in particular. I'd never really taken it in before, but now that I have, I think it's fascinating, and a triumphantly eerie, threatening song. As Hatherley puts it, it's "chilling (or thrilling, depending on where you stand)". I think it's both. Here are some versions of it:
Lotte Lenya (from the Pabst film)
Nina Simone
Angela Carole Brown
Showing posts with label songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label songs. Show all posts
1.12.09
30.10.09
20.10.09
7.6.09
The River
I keep coming back to this song.
So many associations and images run through my head when I listen to this song - this particular version, with Bruce's story before the harmonica comes in. Both in some romantic, general way and occasionally specific ways this song connects with me in a way that a whole lot don't. It's far more like a film than a song, I think.
So many associations and images run through my head when I listen to this song - this particular version, with Bruce's story before the harmonica comes in. Both in some romantic, general way and occasionally specific ways this song connects with me in a way that a whole lot don't. It's far more like a film than a song, I think.
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Me
- Mark
- I am writing a PhD at the University of Glasgow entitled "The Poetics of Time in Contemporary Literature". My writing has been published in Type Review, Dancehall, Puffin Review and TheState. I review books for Gutter and The List. I am also an editor and reviewer at the Glasgow Review of Books.