Manafonistas

On his last album before retirement, FOR THE GHOSTS WITHIN, Robert Wyatt performed (on the last track) a heartbreaking version of WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD. Darker than you might think. On his last album before his death, David Bowie chose, as the closer, the song EVERYTHING AWAY. On the last track of  his forthcoming album THE SHIP, Brian Eno delivers an outstanding performance of the Velvet Underground-track SET ME FREE: decades later  bleak existenzialism turns into a gospel-tinged „evergreen“ with a twist. The last song of the last album by Mark Hollis (which will probably be his last album ever and dates back to 1998), is titled A NEW JERUSALEM, and these are the verses: „And I’m home again / But alone my child / For the emptiness of war remains / One among five / But I’m dead to love / A pawn the same / And I’m home again / Run along my child / For the water’s blood / And so the sea / Summer unwinds / But no longer kind / Heaven burn me / Should I swear to fight once more / D’you see / Wise words / Wild words“. Now, dear reader, in early May, create a little mix-tape with this sequence: „A New Jerusalem“ / „What A Wonderful World“ / „Set Me Free“ / „Everything Away“. And then add, as a closer, the last track of P.J. Harvey’s album LET ENGLAND SHAKE. Install silences between the five tracks, five till nearly ten minutes long – and listen in the dark! The last verses of the last song on that mix-tape evoke a memory about the color of the earth on a faraway day. It’s the color of blood. Good night.