[Gradus]

"I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the window pane;
I was the smudge of ashen fluff - and I
Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky"

The 'brown bird' that produces 'a half-word heavy and hollow' against the picture window in Only Skin has a happier fate than the waxwing in Nabokov's Pale Fire. But 'brown bird' also brings to mind that passage in Speak Memory where a young Vladimir, on asking his governess to identify some avian species, is met with the response: "Just a brown bird, it has no special name." This to someone to whom detail, taxonomy, classification and language are everything . . .

A waxwing does appear in Autumn, where it 'froze and died.' Again one is minded of Pale Fire and Zembla, the 'crystal land' in Nabokov's exquisite hall of mirrors.

[doublewuzzy]

[teenagelightning]

[teenagelightning]

also,

“Don’t ever kid yourself about loving some one. It is just that most people are not lucky enough ever to have it. You never had it before and now you have it. What you have with Maria, whether it lasts just through tomorrow, or whether it lasts for a long life is the most important thing that can happen to a human being. There will always be people who say it does not exist because they cannot have it. But I tell you it is true and that you have it and that you are lucky even if you die tomorrow.”
— For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

why the long face?

[Flickering_Wasteland]

Does anyone know if Joanna is a fan of Ingmar Bergman? He has a film called Sawdust and Tinsel (connection should be obvious), and when I was watching Autumn Sonata last week there was mention of "groping blindly" (i.e. Groping blindly, hungry for anything from "Only Skin").

[rainbowdash]

[teenagelightning]

This is an interesting song to think of with 'in california' as a background, or vice versa:

[Ann]

[DMt.]

Go Long's

'man who will only speak in code/backing slowly, slowly down the road'

makes me think of Catch-22's Yossarian, getting so paranoid he's going everywhere around the camp backwards, with a gun in his hand.

[spanishsahara]

Not sure if that has been mentioned before, but John Donne has a considerable influence on Joanna (I think).

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee..

Sounds a lot like Sawdust and Diamonds!

[zygoticmynci]

I'm sure others have picked up on this, but it's probably still worth mentioning. Joanna mentions the Tulgey Wood in In California, which is in the Jabberwocky from Through the Looking-Glass. She also sings about a cuckoo clock; time being a theme in the Wonderland books.

[Adam]

Sorry for not picking up on the obvious here, but which song references "For Whom the Bell Tolls"? (The original poem, I mean.)

[Weirdelves]

Sawdust and diamonds, babes

[Adam]

Ah yes of course, thanks. :-)

[rainbowdash]

[andrewb]

I am happy and not surprised to find out that she's a Nabokov fan. Besides the references to Pale Fire above, there are one or two songs that reference the "network of hidden meaning" concept... I can't name them at the moment though, and it's not a provable reference, but it resonated with me. There's also "But I can’t with certainty say we survived" from Only Skin which reminded me of the key line "I'm reasonably sure that we survive" from Pale Fire.

[Jordan~]

I wish I could find more Eliot references. I've heard other people compare her lyrics to T S Eliot, too, so I'm sure I'm not just imagining things! Maybe there's no influence and that's just what the poetry of a genius looks like.

[sophie]

[Ann]

I hear that reference a lot, flowing with milk and honey, to suggest abundance. I don't think it's Joanna exclusive.

[Jordan~]

When I wrote an essay about Monkey & Bear in school, I suggested that it had special significance - it's absurdly prophetic (in a list of ridiculous claims Monkey makes to dupe Bear into following him and dancing), it emphasises the imbalance of power in their relationship (Monkey is God), it suggests a wandering in the desert (which is what they're about to do) and it's one of a number of promises of food, which is what Bear gets for herself when she swims off.