Song to the Siren
Song to the Siren is the title of a song by Tim Buckley from 1967. Buckley wrote the piece with the songwriter Larry Beckett.
Pat Boone released the piece on his 1969 album Departure ; In 1970 it appeared on Buckley's album Starsailor . Buckley had already played the song unaccompanied on the acoustic guitar in March 1968 on the television program The Monkees . This version appeared on the album Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology in 2001 after Buckley's death .
The ballad is supposed to put you in a mystical mood. Accompanying instruments are used sparingly on the album version, with the voice in the foreground. The motif of the piece refers to the mythical creature of the siren from Greek mythology , who with her beguiling song lured sailors to kill them.
Cover versions
The song was re-enacted by many artists. The version of This Mortal Coil (starring Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie) was released in September 1983, hit the UK singles chart for three weeks and peaked at 66 in October. It stayed 101 weeks on the UK independent charts and was one in the 1980s of the songs that stayed on these charts the longest. This Mortal Coil also released the piece on their album It'll End in Tears in 1984 . This version was used in the 1997 film Lost Highway by David Lynch , but is not included on the accompanying soundtrack album. Peter Jackson also used this version in his 2009 film In My Heaven . The trance remix Did I Dream (Song to the Siren) by Lost Witness reached number 28 in the British singles charts in 2002.
- More cover versions
- Half Man Half Biscuit for Peel Sessions 1986, unreleased
- Sally Oldfield on the album Secret Songs (1996)
- The King on the 1998 album Gravelands
- Ratty on the single Sunrise (Here I am) , 2000
- Susheela Raman on the album Salt Rain , 2001
- Robert Plant on the album Dreamland , 2002
- John Frusciante on the album Empyrean , 2009
- Bryan Ferry on the album Olympia , 2010
- Sinéad O'Connor on the album Music of Ireland: Welcome Home , 2010
- George Michael on the Symphonica tour, 2011
- Dead Can Dance on the album In Concert , 2013
- Amen Dunes on the album Cowboy Worship , 2015
In 1992 The Chemical Brothers released another song with the same title on the album Exit Planet Dust under their second band name The Dust Brothers .
Web links
- Video of Tim Buckley appearing on Monkees TV Show 1968 on youtube.com, accessed February 9, 2012
- Video of This Mortal Coil on youtube.com, accessed February 9, 2012
Individual evidence
- ↑ HMHB: Unreleased Session Songs. Retrieved January 4, 2012 .