The lyrics appear on screen — or you can read them here. And if you prefer to hear John, listen here. The song is from 1970, when (Wikipedia tells us), John was "disillusioned with fame" and suffering from the effects of drug use. That is, he was talking about his personal situation and his psychological woes, which are nothing like the social distancing undertaken to fight the spread of the virus. How does this song affect you now? Does it help you endure the isolation or does it make you feel the urgency to reconnect with society?
People say we've got it madeTo me, the most striking line is "You're just a human/A victim of the insane."
Don't they know we're so afraid?
Isolation
We're afraid to be alone
Everybody got to have a home
Isolation
Just a boy and a little girl
Tryin' to change the whole wide world
Isolation
The world is just a little town
Everybody trying to put us down
Isolation
I don't expect you
To understand
After you've caused
So much pain
But then again
You're not to blame
You're just a human
A victim of the insane
We're afraid of everyone
Afraid of the sun
Isolation
The sun will never disappear
But the world may not have many years
Isolation
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71 comments:
Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp? WTF? Presumably not that Jeff Beck and that Johnny Depp.
“Since the dawn of time it has been mankind’s dream to blot out the sun.” – C. Montgomery Burns
“How does this song affect you now? Does it help you endure the isolation or does it make you feel the urgency to reconnect with society?”
Neither. ‘Cause I’m neither isolated nor disconnected. Nor in therapy.
Ann again worshiping at the temple of the celebrity.
speak for yourself grundewald, that was a terrible coda to a promising series, fantastic beasts by the way
"Ann again worshiping at the temple of the celebrity."
Is posting a video of a celebrity singing a song "worshipping at the temple of celebrity"? If so, how?
I just lost some respect for Jeff Beck. I didn't think that was possible.
You should be afraid of the sun. UV rays, man.
Depp’s singing is very good, despite whatever fake accent he’s using. Then again, he’s been using a fake accent, in movies and IRL, for so long that it’s become his real accent, just like Bob Zimmerman.
Beck is a wonder, better than Clapton, IMHO, and he plays circles around Page, yet he’s the Yardbird who didn’t make it big.
What a crock of Depp-Ola
Depp is a much better singer than Lennon. Then again, the Beatles weren’t really sbout singing, or music, after all.
Sometimes John Lennon's self pity had a kind of grandeur, as in Working Class Hero, but he missed the mark with this song.
More seriously, I'm too young to remember Jeff Beck from the '60's, but old enough to remember him from the '70's onwards. Is he really covering in fear? That's a sad ending.
As for Johnny Depp -- he should quit music and go back to acting. His Jack Sparrow character is more like what need.
@ bilwick In these trying times going to celebrities for meaning is juvenile.
Imagine John and Yoko, in their NY apartment. cocooned. forever.
On remedesivir:
I pointed out a few weeks ago that the synthesis of this drug was very problematic- highly linear and involved the formation of two new stereo centers, with neither reaction being selective- both give 1 to 1 mixtures of diastereomers- this required a separation of diastereomers in two separate steps, one on an intermediate, and then the final product itself. I suggested that there wasn't much of this drup actually available in the world, and it appears that I was right. I found this public statement by Gilead during a search for something else this morning. The long and short of it is this: Gilead expects to have only 140,000 treatment courses available by May. Hopefully, that will be a enough, but I couldn't find any updates since late March on whether or not Gilead will actually be able to achieve this result- 140,000 courses of treatment are 350 kilos according to the data I can find, and, according to Gilead's statement, it wasn't clear they can actually acquire all the intermediates involved since other countries may impound those reagents for their own use.
In truth, my routine hasn't changed much. I already worked from home, we already home-schooled. The bar I bought my kegs from closed, that was a shock. But they are now selling kegs again.
Jeff Kills it again. Thematically appropriate.
Sometimes John Lennon's self pity had a kind of grandeur, as in Working Class Hero, but he missed the mark with this song.
Agree that Working Class Hero was the best of Lennon's self-consciously activist songs. I particularly love Marianne Faithfull's cover on her album Broken English. I was never a big fan of Imagine, but now I'm more annoyed by the haters. Ben Shapiro's 10-minute long diatribe was probably when hating in "Imagine" jumped the shark. "Worst song ever written," "evil," "deeply immoral." But hearing Shapiro trash it as "pretentious" is an amazing moment of spectacular un-self-awareness.
I think "profound" ranks up there with "iconic" in abused adjectives.
Additionally, since you are losing half the mass of a key intermediate in the first resolution with no possibility I see of salvaging the unwanted isomer, plus losing half of the final product, you can see the problem. However, it might be possible to recycle the unwanted final product isomer by cleaving off the phosphate ester and reusing the ribose half of the molecule.
Althouse maintains the juvenile belief that popular music is profoundly meaningful, when, as 99 percent of everything else produced by humoans, it is simply pompous crap.
("Jeff" is Jeff Beck.)
I thought it was Epstein.
And, no, he didn't kill himself in "isolation".
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was popular music.
Althouse maintains the juvenile belief that popular music is profoundly meaningful, when, as 99 percent of everything else produced by humoans, it is simply pompous crap.
Speaking of pompous.
Huh...Depp's not a bad vocalist at all! Surprising. He's better than some who make a living at it.
"Neither. ‘Cause I’m neither isolated nor disconnected."
#ustoo. The main difference is that we have some friends who live on the rez, and they actually are sort-of quarantined.
Working Class Hero
Never really liked any post-Beatle songs of any of the Beatles, so here's a version by bat-biting Ozzy.
I think I'd like this song better with different lyrics. It took Lorenz Hart three tries to nail the proper lyrics to Blue Moon.....I never liked progressive jazz. Miles Davis and Coltrane's music seemed to be about the joys and pains of drug addiction. The lyrics to this Lennon song are too druggy.
"I think "profound" ranks up there with "iconic" in abused adjectives."
"Exponential" has risen up the ranks there exponentially.
More profound lyrics courtesy of a 4th order Markov chain
After you've caused
So much pain
But then again
You're just a little town
Just a little girl
Trying to put us down
I- Isolation
The sun will neveryone
Afraid of the insane
Afraid of everyone
Afraid of the sun will never disappear
But the world is just a little town
A victim of the world
Isolation
The sun will never disappear
But they know we're so afraid of the insane
Just a human
A victim of everyone
After you've caused
So much pain
You're so afraid?
Isolation
"Exponential" has risen up the ranks there exponentially.
Tangenitally, speaking, sure, "sun will never disappear".
Jeff Beck and the Wild Women
I’ll put up a song tomorrow on the see-hitch-chi-a-shun.
I prefer the Joy Division song "Isolation."
"We're afraid of everyone..." What's so surprising about this largely SJW concocted political meme. Everywhere in life: school, home, work, public places, etc., are all being invaded by propagandists for politic gain. We call the government corrupt, it lies and betrays its citizens - but are willing to give them more power over us. Therefore, what did you expect a miracle. If we don't stop putting in crappy Politicos our 'Constitutional Rights' will be gone in a few decades.
"We're afraid of everyone"
Who dat we?
Of course, the alarmists have done their level best to make it so.
But most people don't need to be afraid of most people.
"it’s become his real accent, just like Bob Zimmerman."
Hey, couldn't Depp play Bob in a biopic? He'd have to sing worse than he does in reality, but then, anyone would.
Never really liked any post-Beatle songs of any of the Beatles, so here's a version by bat-biting Ozzy.
George Harrison's My Sweet Lord is my favorite in that category.
Harrison lost a ridiculous copyright infringement lawsuit over My Sweet Lord, which I’ve read led him to a long term bout of depression.
The suit was an obscenity. Everything from the very minimal chords to the repetitive chant tune had been stolen hundreds of time over decades by just about everybody.
Nobody owned it. It belonged to the gods.
Big Johnny Depp fan. It's a generational thing. And the more he screws up his life the more endearing he is. It's sad, though. He seems to be committed to ending up like one of those aging, stoned rock stars that Bill Nighy usually plays.
Song is depressing.
I wonder if this will change the obession our US culture has with living alone. Don't get me wrong - I think it is a good thing to prove you can take care of all your shit as an adult, but not necessary to live that way your whole life. With housing so expensive in many cities - I am surprised it is so prevalent and so many urban dwellers insist on it to the point of financial instability. Now with so many holed up by themselves...will solitary living be as attractive? We'll see....
The suit was an obscenity. Everything from the very minimal chords to the repetitive chant tune had been stolen hundreds of time over decades by just about everybody.
I agree. That case inspired a slew of copyright infringement cases and made publishers more willing to settle and offer co-writing credits to avoid legal hassle. The lawsuit Marvin Gaye's estate brought against Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines had a similar impact.
Honestly? I would rather have the drugs. A day of arthritic carpentry would go better with some nice opioids. Mmmmm....opioids. What were were supposed to be dying of before Covid-19.
Smells like, teenager depressed, sulking in his room. Rock n' rollers can never escape teenage attitude, even long after it's just a ridiculous pose. The Who who sang "hope I die before I get old," but Lennon lived the lyrics. Or to keep within the Beatle oeuvre, John, not Paul, was the Walrus.
What were were supposed to be dying of before Covid-19.
Climate change!! You denier!!
yet he’s the Yardbird who didn’t make it big.
Did you read the part where he's covering old Beatle songs with Johnny Depp?
Forty comments in, and no one has brought up what we now know was going on in Depp's life while he was recording this?
You know, the whole "my career and life are in ruins because my wife has accused me of beating her repeatedly and the outrage mob has called for my head" except we now know it was Heard who was physically and mentally abusive in the relationship instead?
What must have been going through this man's mind, what must have been his emotional state? To know that not only was he the victim of her abuse and lies, but the people he lived and worked with abandoned him. They can give Polanski an Oscar, but no one can stand up for Depp? In fact the only people who stood behind him were some women he had formerly been in a relationship with. (who were ignored by everyone)
Doesn't Depp deserve your feelings?
If I felt alone and depressed, why the fuck listen to depressing music? Why not listen to the "Ode To Joy" or what the fuck "Cinnamon Girl"?
The Beatles suck.
Solitary confinement in the Virus Gulag is torture.
Isolation Street suck.
I rather go with The Cure Fascination Street.
Oh it's opening time
Down on Fascination Street
So let's cut the conversation
And get out for a bit
Because I feel it all fading and paling
And I'm begging
To drag you down with me
To kick the last nail in
Yeah I like you in that
Like I like you to scream
But if you open your mouth
Then I can't be responsible
For quite what goes in
Or to care what comes out
So just pull on your hair
Just pull on your pout
And let's move to the beat
Like we know that it's over
If you slip going under
Slip over my shoulder
So just pull on your face
Just pull on your feet
And let's hit opening time
Down on Fascination Street
“ More profound lyrics courtesy of a 4th order Markov chain...”
I like!
@Gahrie:
Doesn't Depp deserve your feelings?
Theoretically, yes. But practically, not too much. Depp made the classic mistake of getting involved with a crazy woman. I imagine the fights were epic, and the makeup sex even more so. Looks like the allegations were first publicized as part of a divorce lawyer tactic. But trying to parlay it into a #MeToo activist career was extremely cynical on Heard's part.
@Lem:
Isolation Street suck.
I rather go with The Cure Fascination Street.
I definitely get some "Desolation Row" vibes off The Cure's Disintegration album. It's my favorite of theirs.
"Nobody owned it. It belonged to the gods."
Nonsense. It belonged to Black People and Harrison white-privileged it. Same with Blurred Lines. Black People own all the music.
The guy who tried to steal Stairway To Heaven fucked up by being a White Christian. No jury is going to give Stairway To Heaven to some White Christian.
The sun, the condition of all seeing, forbids you to look at it, after having the nerve to appear in the world at all. h/t Francis Ponge
Don't be afraid!
Harrison simply rewrote the lyrics to "He's so Fine", changed the name of the song, and added some New Age spiritualism and a sitar.
He did add a sitar, didn't he? I just assume.
Jeff Beck is The GOAT.
"Did you read the part where he's covering old Beatle songs with Johnny Depp?"
Beck finally mastered the hit-making savvy of Jimmy Page.
The guy who tried to steal Stairway To Heaven fucked up by being a White Christian.
I thought it was the other way around: Led Zeppelin was sued by the estate of Randy Wolfe (a Jew, aka Randy California)for stealing the opening riff of "Taurus," recorded by his group Spirit. The court threw out the suit.
What's curious about "My Sweet Lord" is that nobody in Harrison's circle of friends and acquaintances pulled him aside to tell him that his song was a nearly exact copy of "He's so fine" but with different lyrics.
Or, maybe they did, and he simply ignored them.
What's curious about "My Sweet Lord" is that nobody in Harrison's circle of friends and acquaintances pulled him aside to tell him that his song was a nearly exact copy of "He's so fine" but with different lyrics.
Or, maybe they did, and he simply ignored them.
"Friends", heck. Mr. Girl Group, Phil Spector, was producing. If anyone should have known, he should have.
Good point. What's up with dat?
Also, it was a lot more loosey-goosey back then, and this was one of the first pushbacks against that.
Probably three other people had ripped off Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" before he called Brian Wilson on it. Bob Dylan ripped off "Norwegian Wood". Homer & Jethro ripped off The Battle of New Orleans.
"With housing so expensive in many cities - I am surprised it is so prevalent and so many urban dwellers insist on it to the point of financial instability."
Cities have a lot that attracts people to move to them, (jobs, freedom from small-town traditions and mores, art and culture, privacy, a chance to meet people who are unlike those one grew up with, etc.), but there also many who are born and raised in cities. They often don't have the desire to leave, as is true with so many in other areas who prefer to stay in their hometown, but many don't have the means to move elsewhere. Leaving may entail expenses greater than they can afford, greater than the expenses they must pay to stay in the city.
Robert Cook: I was referring to the resistance to roommates - not to leaving the city.
@AJP:
Robert Cook: I was referring to the resistance to roommates - not to leaving the city.
The percent of people living in doubled-up households is actually at an all-time high. It's more than 40% in places like NYC and LA.
Joy Division's "Isolation" would've been the cool choice.
Go away, Grandpa.
"I thought it was the other way around:"
I think you're right. I'm probably confusing it with the Katy Perry thing.
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