Songs The Plants Taught Us
Arcesia–Leaf, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 75.5” x 41”
Arcesia, Reachin’, 12″ record cover, 1972
A leaf, born in a world of joy and pain
Sun and rain, isn’t born in vain
On a tree that’s tenderly watered by someone’s hand
That understands it needs love to grow
Who can say what’s behind the curtain of a leaf?
If they could, what would they find?
Walking to a scene
Would it seem like a dream?
Or a serene reality?
All I know, it’s a precious thing
That Spring turns to green, Summer to gold
Autumn to brown
And the poor wind gently tumbles it down, down
…
Named after Luis Eduardo Luna’s recordings of Peruvian ayahuasceros’ healing songs, these Songs the Plants Taught Us vinyl record performances feature strange recordings inspired by plants, gardens and agricultural utopian thought like Charles Fourier’s: “A group of Maiden Strawberry-growers arrives at the end of the session. They have been cultivating a strawberry-ringed glade in the neighboring forest.” Selections are played from bizarre horticulturally-inspired records accompanied by paintings of corresponding song lyrics.
Post-punk selections include Rudimentary Peni’s “The Gardener,” 1981, a worryingly benign paean to gardening from Nick Blinko’s band, best known for anarcho-noise. Also featured are TV Personalities’ “In A Perfumed Garden,” 1982, and The Mud Hutters’ “Cultivation,” 1980, that includes the lines “Cultivation, cultivation / Hit it in the head / Culture, culture.”
Crooner Johnny Arcesi’s ode to a leaf, simply titled “Leaf,” was self-released as Arcesia on the remarkable 1971 LP Reachin’, an aberrant psych experiment. Rodd Keith, the greatest song-poem performer, sings “Stroll Through the Wildflowers,” from the late 1960s. Keith’s exceptional skill could turn any poetic drivel into astonishing music, but his misplaced commitment to pay-per-song work was supporting a serious drug habit. Still on the hallucinatory side of flower power is Pastor John Rydgren singing “Dark Side of the Flower,” 1968. The original hip priest with the sexy voice, a Lee Hazlewood for Christians, Rydgren’s lyrics include the presciently rhizomatic “Can love survive, clinging only in one small garden?…They feel their roots deep in the soil, their roots touching the roots of other flowers.”
It’s well-worth grappling with the incomprehensible work of enigmatic Dutch singer Harry Merry whose “Village Life in 1905,” 2005, may validate his claim to be influenced by The Beatles, Disney, Charles Dickens, Mozart, Beethoven, and Wagner: “Near the hay / I will stay, / Because I like it here / And now in the year 1905 / I feel so alive; cosy village-windmills; mud-hills / Tulips of large amount / Make me all think of thou / Lalalalalalala…”
Barrington Levy, Too Experienced, 12″ record cover, 1998
In my garden
Black, black roses in my garden
To keep and care it you got to water it
To keep and care it you got to water it
I’ve been travelin’ all over this world
I’ve never seen no other black rose in no other garden
So you see my garden is so special
Black, black roses in my garden
…
To keep and care it you got to water it
Got to keep the earth so cool
’Cause something special is in my garden
…
Barrington Levy–Black Rose, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on black theatre plastic, 84.5” x 41”
Ruth White, Flowers of Evil, 12″ record cover, 1969
Now is the time when, throbbing on its stem, each flower sheds its perfume like incense. Sounds and scents spiral in the evening air in a melancholy waltz, a slow sensual turning.
Each flower sheds its perfume like incense; the violin trembles like a wounded heart, in a melancholy waltz, a slow, sensual turning. The sky is sad and beautiful, like a vast altar.
The violin trembles like a wounded heart, a tender heart that hates the huge black void. The sky is sad and beautiful like a vast altar. The sun has drowned in its congealing blood.
A tender heart that hates the huge, black void, is gathering from the luminous past what dreams remain. The sun has drowned it its congealing blood, and like a glowing marvel, your memory shines in me.
Ruth White–Baudelaire–Evening Harmony, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 67” x 41”
Donovan, A Gift From A Flower To A Garden, 12″ record cover, 1967
In the golden garden Bird of Peace
Stands the silver girl the Wild Jewels niece
Paints in pretty colors Children’s drawings on the wall
Look of Doubt I cast you out begone your ragged call
In the forest thick a trick of light
Makes an image magnet to my sight
Gown of purple velvet enchanted glazed eye
The sound of wings and sparkling rings behold a crimson sky
…
Donovan–Voyage into the Golden Screen, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 86″x41″
Junior Murvin, Bad Weed, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and friends, Open The Gate, 12″ box set cover, 1989
Come yah, come yah, come yah,
Mek we go reason now
Give the thief a long road
and then we ketch him
These roach and flies
are things a man dislike
You shut up your mouth
and listen to what I am talking about
Stealing, stealing to get bigger
Too much bad weed is in the garden
I and I a go weed them out
I and I a go weed them out
Come yah, come yah, come yah,
Mek we go reason now
Come yah, come yah, come yah,
It’s high season now
…
Junior Murvin–Bad Weed, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 86” x 41”
Moondog, Moondog and his Friends, 10″ record cover, 1953
Voices of Spring were in chorus
Each voice was singing a song
I could not sing in that chorus
Until I wrote me a song
I wrote my song
And joined the throng
Moondog–Voices of Spring, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 88.5” x 41”
Robert Wyatt, Nothing Can Stop Us, 12″ record cover, 1982
Go and sit upon the grass
And I shall come and sit beside you
Go and sit upon the grass
And I shall come and sit beside you
And we shall talk
And while we talk I’ll hit your head with a nail to make you understand me
While we talk I’ll hit your head with a nail to make you understand me
…
And do not mind if I thump you when I’m talking to you
Do not mind if I thump you when I’m talking to you
I’ve something important to say
…
And when I’m gone you can feel the lumps upon your head
And think about what I said
And think about what I said
Go and sit upon the grass
And feel your lumps
…
Robert Wyatt–Grass, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on gold foil, 90” x 41”
The Mud Hutters, Factory Farming, 12″ record cover, 1981
Creating the heritage for all of us to live in
That’s very nice if you like that type of thing
Adding and subtracting
Pruning and improving
Slice all the vegetables, there’s nothing else to do
With cultivation, cultivation
Flogging it to death
Culture, culture
Cultivation, cultivation
Hit it in the head
Culture, culture
…
The Mud Hutters–Cultivation, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 60″x41″
Pastor John Rydgren, Silhouette Segments, 12″ record cover, 2001
In the garden grows the flower
Bending low to the earth
It’s face in the dust
I can see the dark side of the flower
Painted face
Can you see the dark side of the flower?
The blossom has wearied of the plastic flowers in the garden
The blossom has wearied of bruises
The gardeners first came and planted the flowers to grow free in the chemistry of the earth
But the flowers might grow beyond the reach of all the plants in every fenced garden
And every fenced land
…
Pastor John Rydgren–Dark Side of the Flower, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 86” x 41”
Rodd Keith, Black Phoenix Blues, 12″ record cover, 2013
My darling, I’m so lonely since you left me
I don’t what I’m gonna do
So I think I’ll stroll through the wildflowers
And I’ll pick the one that reminds me of you
Our love for each other has fallen apart
And I can’t stand the sinking of my broken heart
I know I’ll pick the pink wild rose
Because it would remind me so of you
…
Rodd Keith–Stroll Through the Wildflowers, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 86” x 41”
Rudimentary Peni, Rudimentary Peni EP, 7″ record cover, 1981
In the garden, the roses have no thorns.
The growth is steady and quite natural, no parasites
No harm, immortal existence, perpetual motion,
Perpetual motion, forever peace—and charm.
Rudimentary Peni–The Gardener, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 75.5” x 41”
Harry Merry, Village Life in 1905, 7″ record cover, 2005
Near the hay
I will stay,
Because I like it here
And now in the year 1905
I feel so alive; cosy village-windmills; mud-hills
Tulips of large amount
Make me all think of thou
Lalalalalalala…
A farmer and his wife
Rake their field to cultivate their stake
Another farmer’s white sheep
Graze grass or fall asleep
In pasture-land
The children either stand
Or pursue mischief’s blend
…
Harry Merry–Village Life in 1905, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 86” x 41”
Stevie Wonder, Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants, 12″ record cover, 1979
La-La-La-La
La-La-La La-La-La
La-La-La La-La
Much has been written about
The world and all its kind of loves
But the sweetest of them all
You seldom will find stories of, oh oh oh oh
My love lives outside my window
Clouds burst to give water
So her love can grow, oh
My love smiles to me each morning
Says she’ll never leave me and I know it’s so
…
Stevie Wonder–Outside My Window, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 86” x 41”
Television Personalities, They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles, 12″ record cover, 1982
I could happily spend
The rest of my life
In a perfumed garden
With you, with you
I’d invite all my friends
To stay a weekend
In a perfumed garden
With you, with you
That’s too easy
That’s too easy
Let me stay
Let me stay
In the Summer I’d stay
In your garden all day
In a perfumed garden
With you, with you
…
Television Personalities–In A Perfumed Garden, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 88.5” x 38.5”
Archie Shepp, Attica Blues, 12″ record cover, 1972
I would rather be a plant
Than a man in this land
I would rather be a plant on this land
You can transplant a plant
Where it can grow free
But a man that’s been transplanted can’t
So you can see where I would rather be a tree
With branches and leaves I can grow free
If man had a choice before he’s exploited
Then his offspring would do more than dream
Isn’t that a shame.
Archie Shepp–Invocation–Ballad For A Child, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 60″x41″
The Fugs, The Village Fugs Sing Songs of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction 12″ record cover, 1965
Ah, Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done.
Where the Youth pined away with desire
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:
Arise from their graves and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go
Ah, Sun-flower! weary of time
Who countest the steps of the Sun
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done.
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:
Arise from their graves and aspire,
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.
The Fugs–Ah! Sunflower, Weary Of Time, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 90” x 41”
Crass, 10 Notes On A Summer’s Day, 12″ record cover, 1986
Petulance is a pretty girl
Dabbling on the river’s bank.
Alice holds posies,
Sensual rosaries,
The daisy chain,
The daisy chain,
Hunger child and lazy brain.
Petulance is a pretty girl,
Dawdling by the river’s bank
She squashes cold matter from the head of a tiny newt.
What is that if it is not grey?
Crass–10 Notes on a Summer’s Day, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on black theatre plastic, 84.5” x 41”
The (Very Nice) Plants, Plant Chant, 7″ record cover, 1983
We were hoppin’ and boppin’ along
Be a very nice plant
Sing sing singing a song
Be a very nice plant
And you can sing it too…Hey
Come along and sing our song
Be a very nice plant
Meet Tim, Andy, John, Joe and all the gang
Be a very nice plant
Come on with us and you’ll have big bang
Be a very nice plant
And you can be one too…Hey
Come along and sing our song
Be a very nice plant
All you have to do to be one of us
Is to give us lots of money, peace, love and trust
Be a very nice plant
And you can be one too…if you try Hey
Be a very nice plant
The (Very Nice) Plants–Plant Chant, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 90” x 41”
The Very Things, The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes, 12″ record cover, 1984
Pruning, pruning, pruning
Daddy walks the lawn the grass is getting long
the trees are looking crooked and bushes seem wrong
he never noticed until now how untidy it seemed
he frowns thinking how his garden looked in dreams.
The pale sun flickers through the twitching trees
and the wind fills the town with milling leaves.
In the shed daddy sharpens up his secateur blades
and the wind picks up
and the sunlight fades.
The bushes scream while my daddy prunes
In the morning daddy wears his plastic mac
takes the cutters from the pocket and starts to prune
hard back where there’s nothing left but stumps
he stops to take a rest
But daddy’s angry he still thinks it looks a mess.
The bushes scream while my daddy prunes.
…
The Very Things–The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes, 2019, acrylic paint and acrylic spray paint on paper, 89.5” x 41”
