Observations placeholder
Judee Sill - The Donor
Identifier
029099
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Sunday 12 December 2004
The Observer - Barney Hoskyns
Heart Food is one of the great LA singer-songwriter albums of the era. The closing track, 'The Donor', is an extraordinary requiem of a song that employs the liturgical mantra 'Kyrie Eleison' in a web-like, multi-tracked chorus worthy of Arvo Part. These words, a summation of her musical life, could almost be Sill's last:
Now songs from so deep,
While I'm sleepin',
Seep in ...
Sweepin' over me.
Still the echo's achin':
"Leave us not forsaken."
[Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)]
It's strange how few people from that era appear to have any recall of Judee Sill. When I interviewed manager Ron Stone, who worked for Geffen throughout the formation of Asylum Records, the name apparently meant nothing to him. It made me wonder if there was some lingering guilt about Sill's fate - a conspiracy of silence around the fact that she had more talent than many of the Asylum artists who did make it.
A description of the experience
The Donor
Chasin' to the bottom
'Til I've finally caught 'em
Dreams fall deep
Where voices come a-chimin'
Moanin' and a-rhymin'
Warnin' me their words are
Ringin' and a-whinin'
Hear 'em weep
Songs from so deep
While I'm sleepin'
Seep in
Sweepin' over me
Still the echo's achin'
"Leave us not forsaken"
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison
Eleison, Eleison, eleison
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison
So sad, and so true
That even shadows come
And hum the requiem
Oh waters of the moon
Your vapors swirl and swoon
Your wake is wide
And sorrow's like an arrow
Shootin' straight and narrow
Aimin' true, its sting goes
Reachin' to the marrow
Silence cried
Now songs from so deep
While I'm sleepin'
Seep in
Sweepin' over me
Still the echo's achin'
"Leave us not forsaken"
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison
Eleison, eleison, eleison
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison
So sad, and so true
That even shadows come
And hum the requiem
Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison