Scott Walker Revisited BBC Proms

If I had to describe Scott Walker in three words...

-Dramatic.

-Dynamic.

-Shy.

-Deadly.

-Visionary.

-Unique.

-Gentle.

-Romantic.

-Godlike.

-How many of those guys used the word "genius"?

# The sun ain't gonna shine anymore

# The moon ain't gonna rise in the sky... #

When Scott Walker joined The Walker Brothers,

that thrust him into the limelight -

the screaming girls, Beatles-style thing.

The Walker Brothers were a big pop band.

# Baby, you don't have to tell me

# Baby... #

And at a certain point, it was clear for Scott, I think,

that he wanted to express himself in a much more personal way.

But I get the idea that he's always been quite shy

and kept himself to himself

and always wanted to kind of explore things.

With actually, I would imagine,

his first appearance on television on his own -

his name is Scott Walker.

# Mama, do you see what I see?

# On your knees and pray for me

# Mathilde, come back to me... #

I think the first time I ever really kind of became aware

of how incredibly special he was was actually round at Jarvis' house

and I'd just sit and listen to it

and it really went in like a missile

how incredibly complex and beautiful the music was, you know.

He is painting incredible oil paintings with his music

because they're so visceral and so visual.

He had this sound that you kind of recognised

from The Walker Brothers, but then the songwriting

was really somewhere else and it was still melodic,

but I had never really heard songs like that before.

They don't sound like songs from 50 years ago.

# You lose your way

# A boy child rides upon your back... #

Between '67 and '70,

he actually ended up recording a hell of a lot of material.

The Prom came together to present the solo albums of Scott

with orchestra, but with a series of sort of solo artists.

I was immediately drawn to the expansive,

cinematic-laden element of this music

and the fact that it wasn't like a band up front

with the kind of classic wallpaper orchestra at the back.

You've got this kind of real big,

almost like a Phil Spector approach to sound

and then you've got these Play For Today dramas.

# You've become a stranger... #

If you want to go further and get into the lyrics,

then you're in for a treat.

# Every night with the boys

# Got a new suit... #

His music has a lot of contradictions,

which I think is very interesting and beautiful.

# We'll melt away before we land

# Two teardrops for somebody's hand... #

His ability to wield his mother tongue in his lyrics

is so masterful and just awe-inspiring.

It just feels so incredible to sing such amazing music

and to just be part of it so I think I'll be terrified

-and really happy at the same time.

-SHE LAUGHS

It's a celebration of the music of one of the greatest singers

of the late 20th and 21st centuries,

one of the greatest artists of all time.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# You lose your way

# A boy child rides upon your back

# Take him away

# Through mirrors dark and blessed with cracks

# Through forgotten courtyards

# Where you used to search for youth

# Old gets a new life

# Reach out, you can touch It's true

# He's not a shadow

# Of shadows like you, you see

# Hearts hold on holding

# If you stay one, you'll stay free

# Go seek the lady

# Who will give, not take away

# Naked with stillness

# On the edge of dawn, she strays

# Night starts to empty

# That's when her song begins

# She'll make you happy

# She'll take you deep within

# Window lights for wanderers

# Hide hard in your swollen eyes

# Echoes of laughter

# Hide in the city's thighs... #

# Love, catch these fragments

# Swirling through the winds of night

# What can it cost

# To give a boy child back his sight?

# Extensions through dimensions

# Leave you feeling cold and lame

# Boy child mustn't tremble

# Cos he came without a name. #

# Over the rooftops sails Billy

# A string tied to his underwear

# Through cobblestone streets

# A child races

# And shouts "Billy, come down from there"

# "My mother's calling," his voice whimpers

# A string clutched in his tiny hand

# Not till I've seen the sky's not lit up

# In tears Child, try and understand

# Don't pull the string

# Don't bring me down

# Don't make me land... #

# Plastic palace people

# Sing silent songs

# They dream too long

# Their memories just stare

# Plastic palace Alice

# She steals her cards tomorrow deals

# With deafening despair

# Hurry, you've got to get in line

# Your nose might start to shine

# And sweat it out and dance about

# The horizontal line

# A harvest of stars surrounds Billy

# The night clings to his happy eyes

# A sleeping town square

# Beneath a fountain

# A child murmurs a weary sigh

# My mother weeps

# And weaves her hair

# With worries "Please, come down from there"

# Plastic palace people

# Through fields of clay

# And granite grey

# They play without a sound

# Plastic palace Alice

# Blows gaping holes to store her fears

# Inside her lover's head

# Listen

# They're laughing in the halls

# They rip your face with lies

# Two buzzing eyes, you cry for help

# Like God, they bark replies

# Over the rooftops bursts Billy Balloon

# Sadly, the string descends

# Searching its way

# Down through blue submarine air

# The polka-dot underwear

# To meet the trees

# In the morning square

# Just hanging there

# Just hanging there. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Wasn't it a good year?

# Wasn't filled with talking

# It still moves through my heart

# From time to time

# City after city

# Granite grey as morning

# Heroes died in subways left behind

# Far behind like our love

# You're on your own again

# And you're your best again

# That's what you tell yourself

# I've seen it all the way

# As far as anyone can see

# Except when it began

# I was so happy

# I didn't feel like me. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# The angels of ashes

# Will give back your passions

# Again and again

# Their light shafts will reach through the darkness

# And touch you, my friend

# They'll fly in a mind dance

# And blind you with wings wrapped in flame

# If you're down to an echo

# They just might remember your name

# In the unbroken darkness

# Where emptiness empties

# Alone

# There is no starting or stopping

# There is no right or no wrong

# Well, that's all right

# For some who can hang the absurd

# On their wall

# If your blind hands can't grope

# Through these measureless waters

# You'll fall

# You've been following patterns

# And fleeting sensations

# Too long

# And the fullness that fills up

# The pulse of durations

# Is gone

# Let the great constellations

# Of flickering ashes

# Be heard

# Let them burn with a fire

# All it takes to confess

# Is a word

# I can recommend angels

# I've watched as they made a man strong

# If your humbleness shows

# Then I'm sure that they'll take you

# Along

# You can tell them who sent you

# It might help to get you

# Above

# You can say that he laughed

# And he walked like St Francis

# With love. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Voices from a photograph

# Laughed from your wall

# Screamed through your dreams

# Wake up, Rosemary

# And wipe your teary eyes

# Rise and cross the cold bare floor

# And watch the moon through frosted glass

# Damn that photograph

# I'll have to take it down

# She hears the boats

# As they move down the river

# She sees a dog straining hard on its leash

# To get away

# She hears the clock

# And it strikes like a hammer

# Pounding the nails one day further

# In the coffin of her youth

# Evenings with your mother's friends

# Pregnant eyes

# Sagging chins

# Swollen fingertips

# Pour antique cups of tea

# Who are you and where have you been?

# Suspended in a weightless wind

# Watching trains go by

# From platforms in the rain

# Look at the photograph

# Dream back last summer

# Dream back the lips

# On that travelling salesman Mr Jim

# He smelled of miracles

# With stained-glass whispers

# You loved his laughter

# You tremble beneath him once again

# That's what I want

# A new shot at life

# But my coat's too thin

# My feet won't fly

# And I watch the wind

# And I see another dream

# Blowing by. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

# As the morning turned my way

# Seabirds flying through this hazy face

# And I came back here

# To replace your place in my life

# And didn't you know

# That I'm not the world's strongest man

# When it comes to you

# And your world, I'm lost

# Can't you see the towers of mine?

# They could shine like a dime

# Take me back again

# To your warm desire

# And again, again, again

# Longing for belongings here again

# And I need your love

# You know, I just can't pretend any more

# And didn't you know

# That I'm not the world's strongest man

# When it comes to you

# And your world, I'm lost

# Can't you see the towers of mine?

# They could shine like a dime

# Take me back again

# To your warm desire

# Da-da, da-da

# Da-da, da-da

# Da-da, da-da-da-da-da

# Da-da

# Da-da-da-da, da-da

# Da-da-da, da-da-da-da

# Da-da-da-da, da-da

# Da-da-da-da

# Da-da, da-da

# Da-da, da-da

# Da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da-da

# Da-da-da-da-da, da-da

# Da-da-da-da, da-da-da

# Da-da-da-da-da, da-da

# Da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# It's raining today

# I'm just about to forget

# The train window girl

# That wonderful day we met

# She smiles through the smoke

# From my cigarette

# It's raining today

# But once there was summer and you

# And dark little rooms

# And sleep in late afternoons

# Those moments descend

# On my windowpane

# I've hung around too long

# Listening to the old landlady's hard-luck stories

# You out of me

# Me out of you

# We go like lovers

# To replace the empty space

# Repeat our dreams to someone new

# It's raining today

# And I watch the cellophane streets

# No hang-ups for me

# Cos hang-ups need company

# The street corner girl

# A cold trembling leaf

# It's raining today

# It's raining today. #

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Thank you.

Not a dry seat in the house.

LAUGHTER

# They spoke transparent phrases

# To looking-glass women

# And they took the detours

# That scattered the way

# They departed from summer

# Like two ragged soldiers

# Dragging their heels

# Through their fantasies

# There were meals in the missions

# For two frozen statues

# And long draughty sermons

# Devouring their knees

# Sometimes passions in winter

# Turn to cold soundless moments

# That teared in the eyes of their fantasies

# There were nights on park benches

# Stale bread for the pigeons

# Good mornings to faces

# Who just turned away

# And on one road, confusion

# The other, desire

# So they took to the road of their fantasies

# One would speak of a lake

# Where he used to go swimming

# The other had no memories left for his mind

# With their arms round each other

# The two ragged soldiers

# Laughed through a war that they couldn't see

# Laughed for a world

# Filled with fantasy. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Everything still

# Everything silent

# As after the rain

# We lie here listening

# To night close down

# Stare like a child

# Wait for the signs

# To decide once again

# Just when they looked here to stay

# We're to leave our world

# Our air

# It really isn't fair

# Outside, they sing

# The war is over

# Raise your blinds

# The war is over

# Tell your deepest dark

# Goodbye

# A distant waltz

# Turns in the head of an old lady's night

# Waiting hands unfold within the dark

# Lighting a lamp

# Seeing Prince Albert

# Recalling the sight

# They waltz again

# Through the park

# Floorboards creak

# Beneath the moon

# The room below just sighs

# Outside, they say

# The war is over

# Raise your blinds

# The war is over

# So let me get some sleep

# Tonight

# Everything still

# Everything silent

# As after the rain

# Still we are

# After the rain. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Hope for me

# I hope for you

# We're snowdrops falling through the night

# We'll melt away before we land

# Two teardrops for somebody's hand

# Follow me into

# Just one more spring

# Copenhagen, you're the end

# Gone and made me a child again

# Warmed my feet beneath cold sheets

# Dyed my hair with your sunny streets

# Children aren't afraid to love and laugh

# When life amuses them

# And our love is an antique song

# For children's carousels. #

# Hello, Mr Big Shot

# Say, you're looking smart

# I've had a tiring day

# I took the kids along to the park

# You've become a stranger

# Every night with the boys

# Got a new suit

# That old smile's come back

# And I kiss the children goodnight

# And I slip away on the newly waxed floor

# I've become a giant

# I fill every street

# I dwarf the rooftops

# I hunchback the moon

# Stars dance at my feet

# Leave it all behind me

# Screaming kids on my knee

# And the telly is swallowing me

# And the neighbour shouting next door

# And the subway trembling the roller-skate floor

# I seek the buildings blazing with moonlight

# In Channing Way

# Their very eyes seem to suck you in with their laughter

# They seem to say

# You are all right now

# So stop a while behind our smile

# In Channing Way

# Oh, to die of kisses

# Ecstasies and charms

# Pavements of poets will write that I died

# In nine angels' arms

# And they all were smiling

# Still seductive as sin in their eyes

# The man I had been

# No more hard-luck stories to wear

# Nothing left to give

# Why the hell should I care?

# Ann owns my smile and Mary's my shadow

# In Channing Way

# And with her cellophane sighs

# Celina the candle

# Begs me to stay

# You're all right now

# So stop a while behind our smile

# In Channing Way. #

APPLAUSE

How we doing?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# The little clock's stopped ticking now

# We're swallowed in the stomached rue

# The only sound to tear the night

# Comes from the man upstairs

# His bloated, belching figure stomps

# He may crash through the ceiling soon

# The window sees trees cry from cold

# And they claw the moon

# But we know, don't we

# And we'll dream, won't we

# Of Montague Terrace in blue

# The girl across the hall makes love

# Her thoughts lay cold like shattered stone

# Her thighs are full of tales to tell

# Of all the nights she's known

# Your eyes ignite like cold blue fire

# The scent of secrets everywhere

# A fist filled with illusions

# Clutches all our cares

# But we know, don't we

# And we'll dream, won't we

# Of Montague Terrace in blue

# Oh, in blue

# But we know, don't we

# And we'll dream, won't we

# Of Montague Terrace in blue

# Oh, in blue. #

APPLAUSE

# It's on days like these

# When your brother falls

# You can read it all in the Times

# How a moving car

# Stole a movie star

# Little things that keep us together

# While the war's going on

# It's on days like these

# When your childhood cries

# And you see it all on the news

# Little children starve

# Growing tired of born

# Little things that keep us all close and warm

# While the war's going on

# Find a place you can hide

# And take what you can

# The time will arrive

# When you need a friend

# Stop looking at us

# We're waving goodbye

# There's a man

# Shouting he's with me

# When that morning comes

# I can't wait to see

# Just how high his eagle

# On colour screens

# Is gonna fly

# Going to fly

# It's on nights like these

# That your neighbour dies

# Cos he put a gun to his head

# He was so alone

# He had nothing left

# Little things that call for a drink

# That bury a soldier's death

# It's on days like these

# When your sister cries

# And your brother falls from your hands

# Jumbo jets can die

# Killing 81

# Little things that help us get by the why

# Why the war's going on

# Why the war's going on

# Why the war's going on

# Why the war's going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war is going on

# Why the war's going on

-# Why the war is going on

-Why the war's going on

# Why the war is going on.

# Why the war is going on. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Anybody seen a knight pass this way?

# I saw him playing chess with Death yesterday

# His crusade was a search for God and they say

# It's been a long way to carry on

# Anybody hear of plague in this town?

# The town I've left behind was burned to the ground

# A young girl on a stake, her face framed in flames cried

# "I'm not a witch, God knows my name"

# The knight, he watched with fear

# He needed to know

# He ran where he might feel God's breath

# And in the misty church

# He knelt to confess

# The face within the booth was Mr Death

# My life's a meaningless pursuit of meaningless smiles

# Why can't God touch me with a sign?

# "Perhaps there's no-one there," answered the booth

# And Death hid within his cloak and smiled

# "This morning I played chess with Death," said the knight

# "We played that he might grant me time

# "My bishop and my knight will shatter his flanks

# "And still I might feel God's heart in mine"

# And through confession's grille Death's laughter was heard

# The knight cried, "No, you've cheated me!

# "But still I'll find a way

# "We'll meet once again and once again

# "Continue to play"

# They met within the woods

# The knight, his squire and friends

# And Death said "Now the game shall end"

# The final move was made

# The knight hung his head

# And said, "You've won, I've nothing left to play"

# The minstrel filled with visions sang to his love

# To look against the stormy sky

# The knight, his squire and friends

# Their hands held as one

# Solemnly danced toward the dawn

# His hourglass in his hand

# His scythe by his side

# The master Death, he leads them on

# The rain will wash away the tears from their faces

# And as the thunder cracked

# They were gone. #

APPLAUSE

# He's a hero of the war

# All the neighbourhood is talkin' 'bout your son

# Mrs Reiley, get his medals

# Hand them 'round to everyone

# Show his gun to all the children in the street

# It's too bad he can't shake hands or move his feet

# He's a hero of the war

# You can see his picture in the local news

# Mrs Reiley, seems the girl next door is nowhere to be found

# Once you couldn't keep that boy from hangin' 'round

# Never mind, dear, you're with your mum once more

# He's a hero of the war

# Like his dad, he gave his life the war before

# It was tragic how you almost died of pain when he was born

# With no husband there beside you through it all

# Ring the bell if you get hungry or you fall

# You're a hero of the war

# Why those teardrops on your cheek? It's so absurd

# Feelin' empty, it's the emptiness of heroes like your son

# And what made him leave his mother for a gun

# Driven forward, driven back and nothing more

# He's a hero of the war. #

SHE VOCALISES

APPLAUSE

# I seen a hand

# I seen a vision

# It was reaching through the clouds

# To risk a dream

# The shadow crossed the sky

# And it crushed into the ground

# Just like a beast

# The old man's back again

# I can see him back again

# I seen a woman

# Standing in the snow

# She was silent as she watched them take her man

# Teardrops burned her cheeks

# For she thought that she'd heard

# The shadow had left this land

# The old man's back again

# I can see him back again

# The crowds just gathered

# Their faces turned away

# And they queue all day

# Like dragons of disgust

# All the women whispering

# Wondering just what these hot-heads want of us

# And "entres vie" he cries

# With eyes that ring like chimes

# His anti-worlds go spinning through his head

# He burns them in his dreams

# For half awake they may as well be dead

# The old man's back again

# The old man's back again

# I see a soldier

# He's standing in the rain

# For him there's no old man to walk behind

# Devoured by his pain

# Bewildered by the faces who pass him by

# He'd like another name

# The one he's got's a curse

# These people cried

# Why can't they understand

# His mother called him Ivan

# Then she died

# The old man's back again

# The old man's back again

# The old man's back again

# I can see him back again. #

THEY VOCALISE

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming to this event

and supporting it. Thank you to the BBC Proms,

the Heritage Orchestra,

London Contemporary Voices,

Jules Buckley,

Susanne Sundfor,

Jarvis Cocker,

John Grant.

Goodnight from me.

My name is Susanne.

And a massive round of applause for the mighty Scott Walker.

APPLAUSE

Come on.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Goodnight, folks. Thanks very much.

# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# It's the signs as we see them

# There's no thresholds at all

# There's no vows to be broken

# As we rise, or we fall

# There's no noise high above us

# As the moon turns in space

# Just the face of a lady

# Who we loved for her grace

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Won't you bend my ear again?

# I really need a friend

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Remind me to remind me

# Not to go back there again

# When the threads of dark moments

# Start to tremble with sound

# And an almost formed whisper dies

# The boundaries surround

# We keep reaching beyond us

# Through the shape-shifting clouds

# Why ain't I like you, brother?

# So electric, so proud

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Won't you bend my ear again?

# I really need a friend

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Remind me to remind me

# Not to go back there again

# Set us free of this feeling

# So we'll be once again

# So we won't feel the gravity of time

# And the face in the faces

# Of the loves we move through

# Reappears in original design

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Won't you bend my ear again?

# I really need a friend

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Remind me to remind me

# Not to go back there again

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Won't you bend my ear again?

# I really need a friend

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me

# Remind me to remind me

# Not to go back there again

-ALL:

-# Get behind me

# Get behind me. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE