Joanna Newsom "Sapokanikan" (Official Video)

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  • Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
  • Track from Joanna Newsom LP/CASS/CD “Divers”, available on October 23, 2015 on Drag City.
    Order now at: www.dragcity.co...
    iTunes: apple.co/Divers-iT
    Apple Music: apple.co/Divers
    VIDEO
    Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
    Produced by Sara Murphy, Albert Chi, Erica Frauman
    Edited by Andy Jurgensen
    Camera: Adam Kimmel, Aaron Tichenor
    Telecine Colorist: Gregg Garvin
    Production Company: Ghoulardi Film Company
    Crew:
    Jeff Kunkel, Robert Ellenberg, Aly Migliori, Louis Matta, Christian Gagnier, Nigel S. Clayton, Zander Fife, Dylan Tichenor, Cassandra Kulukundis
    MUSIC
    Joanna Newsom: Piano, Schiedmayer Celesta, Vocals
    Neal Morgan: Drums and Percussion
    Ryan Francesconi: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Bouzouki, Baglama
    Judith Linsenberg: Recorder
    Andy Strain: Trombone
    Produced & Mixed by Joanna Newsom & Noah Georgeson
    Recorded by Steve Albini & Noah Georgeson
    Written by Joanna Newsom
    Arrangement of Trombone, Recorder, Bouzouki, Baglama, and Guitars by Ryan Francesconi
    Arrangement of Drums & Percussion by Neal Morgan
    Follow us on:
    Instagram: / dragcityrecords
    Twitter: / dragcityrecords
    Facebook: / dragcityrecords
    #joannanewsom #divers #paulthomasanderson #dragcity

КОМЕНТАРІ • 2,7 тис.

  • @Simonlover17
    @Simonlover17 7 років тому +1999

    I can't believe Joanna Newsom inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous poem Ozymandias. What a legend

    • @Vinc90
      @Vinc90 6 років тому +25

      Why is this not at the top?

    • @micfrich8786
      @micfrich8786 4 роки тому +39

      @Kyle Knockaert Thanks to grade 9 English, I understand this joke

    • @pedrorian528
      @pedrorian528 4 роки тому +1

      Ikr

    • @davidroberts1702
      @davidroberts1702 4 роки тому +5

      I can't believe it either, and never will. ;D

    • @probablyalive.2665
      @probablyalive.2665 4 роки тому +11

      Is this comment sarcastic? I am genuinely asking (hope it didn't come across as rude but... PBS lived and died years before Joanna, so...)

  • @WonderfulLife08
    @WonderfulLife08 9 років тому +1576

    I looked up the lyrics because I could barely understand the whole poetic speech and WOW. I'm completely blown away. It has tons of references to history and literature, and there is a superb flow to the words. All combined with her showstopping performance and everything from the pretty melody to the gorgeous arrangements results in a song of titanic proportions. And to think her whole discography is quite of the same caliber... Joanna Newsom is a true gem. And this song is definitely one of the best of this year, hands down.

    • @jennpaul74
      @jennpaul74 6 років тому +29

      She is Brilliant. And it's ok for those who...well...just aren't to not get it. Peace

    • @kidsmoked
      @kidsmoked 5 років тому +16

      I hope you've had the chance to see her in concert. I cry at almost every song.

    • @halloumisticks5633
      @halloumisticks5633 5 років тому +2

      wow

    • @brianchase2598
      @brianchase2598 2 роки тому

      Please send

    • @cam5556
      @cam5556 2 роки тому +12

      The cause is Ozymandian
      The map of Sapokanikan
      Is sanded and beveled
      The land lone and levelled
      By some unrecorded and powerful hand
      Which plays along the monument
      And drums upon a plastic bag
      "The brave men and women", "so dear to God"
      And "famous to all of the ages rag"
      Sing, do you love me?
      Will you remember?
      The snow falls above me
      The renderer renders
      The event is in the hand of God
      Beneath a patch of grass
      Her bones the old Dutch master hid
      While elsewhere Tobias
      And the angel disguised
      What the scholars surmise was a mother and kid
      Interred with other daughters
      In dirt in other potter's fields
      Above them, parades
      Mark the passing of days
      Through parks where pale colonnades arch in marble and steel
      Where all of the twenty-thousand attending your footfall
      And the cause they died for are lost in the idling bird calls
      And the records they left are cryptic at best
      Lost in obsolescence
      The text will not yield, nor x-ray reveal
      With any fluorescence
      Where the hand of the master begins and ends
      I fell, I tried to do well but I won't be
      Will you tell the one that I love to remember and hold me?
      I call and call for the doctor
      But the snow swallows me whole with old Florry Walker
      The event lives only in print
      He said "it's alright"
      And "it's all over now" and boarded the plane
      His belt unfastened
      The boy was known to show unusual daring
      And called a "boy"
      This alderman, confounding Tammany Hall
      In whose employ King Tamanend himself preceded John's fall
      So we all raise a standard
      To which the wise and honest soul may repair
      To which a hunter
      A hundred years from now, may look and despair
      And see with wonder
      The tributes we have left to rust in the parks
      Swearing that our hair stood on end
      To see John Purroy Mitchel depart
      For the Western front where our work might count
      All exeunt, all go out
      Await the hunter to decipher the stone
      And what lies under now the city is gone
      Look, and despair
      Look, and despair

  • @dharmallars
    @dharmallars 8 років тому +659

    "look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair." - joanna newsom gesturing to her discography

    • @macarenagonzalez2379
      @macarenagonzalez2379 8 років тому +14

      you should read the rest of that poem, you boob.

    • @dharmallars
      @dharmallars 8 років тому +120

      Its 14 lines long it's not the fucking Odyssey. It's called a joke you uppity piece of shit.

    • @BrettChungus
      @BrettChungus 7 років тому +12

      I don't get your joke. Ozymandias was about how everything you make slowly fades into time.
      PS: I only even know about that poem because of Perfect Dark.

    • @aryasuri9421
      @aryasuri9421 6 років тому +25

      He was simply repurposing the statement. It's not more so a joke than a simple reference. It doesn't bare the same meaning as the original.

    • @georginakaye1021
      @georginakaye1021 6 років тому +10

      lol, 10/10.

  • @riverperson
    @riverperson 4 роки тому +327

    This song makes me bawl. The passage of time is unforgiving and humans are so small.

    • @ChuckBeans61
      @ChuckBeans61 4 роки тому +10

      I think it's her best work, in a sea of excellence. All of it, the good, the bad, the daring, the corrections, will all be gone soon enough.

    • @elyy0345
      @elyy0345 3 роки тому +10

      The whole album really puts things in perspective

    • @oriana8700
      @oriana8700 Рік тому

      Very well-said. ❤

  • @RohitKoshyv
    @RohitKoshyv 4 роки тому +3801

    Joanna Newsom is the reason why I close Spotify and open UA-cam once in a while

    • @db23out48
      @db23out48 4 роки тому +3

      Rohit Koshy exactly

    • @internetsummoner
      @internetsummoner 4 роки тому +1

      FAYE! Great advice my dude !

    • @TomPonce14
      @TomPonce14 4 роки тому +2

      same here

    • @mpfmax0
      @mpfmax0 4 роки тому +62

      Oh hello there random person describing my exact thoughts in the current moment, so wonderful the internet is!

    • @lovelala6861
      @lovelala6861 4 роки тому +20

      That’s what I just did

  • @Gallagore1000
    @Gallagore1000 9 років тому +1919

    I'd say she was psyched when she realised Ozymondian rhymes with Sapokanikan

    • @beansidhe7582
      @beansidhe7582 9 років тому +3

      ***** No she isn't

    • @NIMRODakaNIMROD
      @NIMRODakaNIMROD 9 років тому +112

      +Gallagore1000
      0:09 "Ozymandian - Sapokanikan ... oh dear, will that work out?"
      0:13 "Yayyy, it does!"

    • @polishpunk911
      @polishpunk911 9 років тому +36

      +NIMRODakaNIMROD Haha oh my god, that's totally her reaction. "Heeey it worked out! :D"

    • @GrahamNificent
      @GrahamNificent 9 років тому +45

      +calisongbird wtf are you talking about, that's the truest sign of finding joy in the artistic process lol those are the kind of moments that you live for

    • @TheForgottenKing22
      @TheForgottenKing22 9 років тому

      +calisongbird
      Heh. You suck, dude!

  • @yozora7850
    @yozora7850 3 роки тому +458

    around 4:30, when she's passed by the emergency vehicles, and she looks like she has tears in her eyes, i'm always reminded of one of the interviews she did regarding Ys. where she talks about how she went home an emotional wreck after fasting by a river for a couple days. she said she would pick up a newspaper and read about someone who died in a car crash, and just be totally inconsolable, because she couldn't stop thinking about how afraid and in pain they must've been when leaving this earth

    • @rebeccagarcia9197
      @rebeccagarcia9197 3 роки тому +12

      oh my god, do you happen to remember the title of the interview? i'd love to watch it.

    • @AM-kn4mc
      @AM-kn4mc 3 роки тому +12

      Sounds like she might be an empath?

    • @abigaileldritch
      @abigaileldritch 3 роки тому +103

      @@AM-kn4mc no…those aren’t a thing, she just has emotional empathy because her brain is wired properly…

    • @minukarodrigo
      @minukarodrigo 3 роки тому +6

      Would u mind sharing the link if possible?

    • @carlah6234
      @carlah6234 2 роки тому +4

      @@abigaileldritchempath is just a word for that "wiring". is the feeling of hunger not a thing either just because there's a word for it? dumbass

  • @GenerousPalmstroke1
    @GenerousPalmstroke1 9 років тому +359

    Can we take a moment to think about how many historical and literary references she put into these lyrics? 5 beautiful minutes singing (in her own words) about remembrance, forgetting, accretion, concealment, amendment, erasure, distortion, canonization, obsolescence and immortality. All of this accompanied by the beautiful sounds of not-so-known instruments to the general public, such as celestas, bouzoukis and baglamas, while flaunting her smile through the streets of New York City.
    This woman is an utter genius!

    • @Photosynthesislove
      @Photosynthesislove 3 роки тому +6

      U so smart

    • @tetryst
      @tetryst 3 роки тому +18

      to me, beyond all that, the most impressive thing newsom does in this song is repeat the line "look and despair." Like, unironically, with everything that came before, the weight of that repetition as it vacillates between sincerity and irony, between awe and despair, in a way that I think the listener will feel even if they don't grok it consciously I believe is 100% intentional and 100% effective. As a writer, to distill so much information into something so direct, a zen koan for all of western history, is more impressive than any number of references or emotions.

    • @kvedwards1971
      @kvedwards1971 8 місяців тому

      LMAO, this song and video is a complete shit show

  • @randoms2226
    @randoms2226 4 роки тому +396

    I legit went from _"Lucky girl married Andy Samberg"_ to _"Damn Andy! You got lucky!!!"_

    • @alexlight4178
      @alexlight4178 3 роки тому +6

      Yup

    • @kc476
      @kc476 3 роки тому +10

      So true!

    • @streetcrimesouffle1668
      @streetcrimesouffle1668 8 місяців тому +3

      Surely they are both winners with eachother. But what a wrangler, that's a catch one hopes to snag every life with live on this planet. Ultimately, they are both extremely lucky to have their beautiful family.

    • @sugarush1476
      @sugarush1476 3 місяці тому +1

      Same. Came like: let's see the lucky woman who got to marry Andy Samberg. Left being like: Andy who? Oh the lucky bastard that got to marry this woman?

  • @RO-py2xh
    @RO-py2xh 4 роки тому +179

    My beautiful cat just passed. She always purred when I played or hummed this song. Funny thing. Listening in her honour. Thanks Joanna

  • @CacaCruz
    @CacaCruz 9 років тому +425

    The climax broke me, didn't expect that.

    • @kayla.jeanson
      @kayla.jeanson 9 років тому

      TRMIZZERE Me neither

    • @dustykenny9208
      @dustykenny9208 9 років тому +48

      TRMIZZERE DEVASTATING! This is one of the best things shes done and with her catalog I can't believe I just typed that.

    • @nistarok123
      @nistarok123 9 років тому +48

      +TRMIZZERE That's what she said.

    • @thesovgc
      @thesovgc 6 місяців тому

      Look and despair 🙏

  • @CrunchyFreak
    @CrunchyFreak 9 років тому +357

    Thank you mother for this sweet gift

    • @ThatChampion
      @ThatChampion 9 років тому +13

      PoopSteve420 literally what are you doing here

    • @CrunchyFreak
      @CrunchyFreak 9 років тому +40

      Shane Walsh Joannas music got me through some tough times my friend, only albums I own physical copies of are hers :)

    • @стрелок-ч7р
      @стрелок-ч7р 9 років тому

      +PoopSteve420 could you tell me which album to start with if Im trying to get into this stuff (yeah I'm a dirty pleb and I'm late)

    • @CrunchyFreak
      @CrunchyFreak 9 років тому +9

      Soviet Potato I started with the milk eyed mender, ys took me a long time to appreciate and have one on me came out after I was already smitten, but is probably my favourite and the most accessible.

    • @TobiasMelonik
      @TobiasMelonik 9 років тому +1

      Soviet Potato Yup, start with HOOM and for now skip the title track

  • @tolmorris
    @tolmorris Рік тому +56

    Imagine being this good at something.

  • @justinberg9903
    @justinberg9903 4 роки тому +210

    Fun fact: Sapokanikan was a Native American trading station which later became the Meatpacking District of New York City - I'd bet that's where she's walking!

    • @devoutburrito
      @devoutburrito 4 роки тому +6

      West Village

    • @larkermouse
      @larkermouse 4 роки тому +46

      It is where she's walking! It's also where the dutch settled, and where there was a graveyard (known as a Potter's Field) there for a while, where about 20,000 are buried (attending your footfall), and there's a statue of John Purroy Mitchell, the Boy Mayor of New York. She's going over all the layers of history that are each covering up the one before it, until nothing much remains.

    • @anomieminalminds
      @anomieminalminds Місяць тому

      @@larkermouse I love that so much

    • @markus808808
      @markus808808 24 дні тому +1

      I love the trivia, not an American, never been to NY, but because of this song I got more interested in the "vibe" and whatnot of NY.
      It's one of the most beautiful tributes to a city, history and the relationship between a person and the place. It's like a witches song about haunted forest. But this is about NY.
      A mastermasterpiece❤

  • @ba-donkindonutz5172
    @ba-donkindonutz5172 5 років тому +607

    I must admit that I just now stumbled across Joanna Newsom because of Andy Samberg. This is the first song I've heard of hers. Halfway through the music video I thought to myself "this is the kind of artist that makes you feel smarter just for knowing them. A true and respectable artist." I had to look up the lyrics and shortly thereafter the meaning. It's 2am and I have put that aside to unpack tomorrow. I most definitely will listen to another song or two!

    • @miriam4951
      @miriam4951 4 роки тому +1

      Did you end up doing so? :))

    • @qf6922
      @qf6922 4 роки тому +3

      Same haha

    • @lordbuddybear
      @lordbuddybear 4 роки тому +4

      Haha I just did exactly that and it's 2am now that I read your comment... well what does my comment matter anyway

    • @catazanoni1455
      @catazanoni1455 3 роки тому +1

      Same
      It's been 4 days and I can't stop listening

    • @strangenessandcharms
      @strangenessandcharms 3 роки тому +2

      Two will not be enough. Welcome to the Joanna universe.

  • @Fate2024
    @Fate2024 5 років тому +119

    Lyrics
    The cause is Ozymandian
    The map of Sapokanikan
    Is sanded and bevelled
    The land lorn and levelled
    By some unrecorded and powerful hand
    Which plays along the monument
    And drums upon a plastic bag
    The brave-men-and-women-so-dear-to-God-
    And-famous-to-all-of-the-ages rag
    Sang: Do you love me?
    Will you remember?
    The snow falls above me
    The renderer renders:
    The event is in the hand of God
    Beneath a patch of grass, her
    Bones the old Dutch master hid
    While elsewhere Tobias
    And the angel disguise
    What the scholars surmise was a mother and kid
    Interred with other daughters
    In dirt in other potters' fields
    Above them, parades
    Mark the passing of days
    Through parks where pale colonnades arch in marble and steel
    Where all of the twenty-thousand attending your footfall
    And the causes they died for are lost in the idling bird calls
    And the records they left are cryptic at best
    Lost in obsolescence
    The text will not yield, nor x-ray reveal
    With any fluorescence
    Where the hand of the master beginsand ends
    I fell, I tried to do well but I won't be
    Will you tell the one that I love to remember and hold me
    I call and call for the doctor
    But the snow swallows me whole with ol' Florry Walker
    And the event lives only in print
    He said:
    "It's alright"
    And "It's all over now"
    And boarded the plane
    His belt unfastened
    The boy was known to show unusual daring
    And, called a "boy"
    This alderman, confounding Tammany Hall
    In whose employ King Tamanend himself preceeded John's fall
    So we all raise a standard
    To which the wise and honest soul may repair
    To which a hunter
    A hundred years from now, may look and despair
    And see with wonder
    The tributes we have left to rust in the parks
    Swearing that our hair stood on end
    To see John Purroy Mitchel depart
    For the Western front where our work might count
    O mercy! O God!
    Go out, await the hunter to decipher the stone
    And what lies under the city is gone
    Look and despair
    Look and despair

    • @stephen200005945
      @stephen200005945 Рік тому +6

      "O mercy! O God!" versus "All exeunt! All go out!" is interesting!

  • @pirateg3cko
    @pirateg3cko 6 років тому +2494

    Joanna Newsom's work makes me realize what a beautiful person Andy Samberg must be.

    • @supaninjavegan
      @supaninjavegan 5 років тому +304

      SAME. I love her music, I find him hilarious and relevant, they must be an hilariously creative and funny couple

    • @KekeeBlack
      @KekeeBlack 5 років тому +146

      I bet he's a really fun dude and Joanna deserves only the best.

    • @christianlesurfmusic
      @christianlesurfmusic 5 років тому +270

      What's amazing is that Andy Samberg was already a superfan of Joanna before they even met.

    • @lillyblue1903
      @lillyblue1903 5 років тому +66

      Agreed, and I dont get It when people say its weird them together. They are both great person, shouldnt It makes sense?

    • @kelb6073
      @kelb6073 5 років тому +82

      Eh..he seems like the type that would be a fan of her music. He's got the indie/nerd thing going on. But I was surprised to find that SHE agreed to marry him lol

  • @psmith1843
    @psmith1843 7 років тому +594

    This is an unnervingly deep song. About monuments of the past, referencing Shelley, Flory Walker! Tamanend to Tamany Hall to John Purroy Mitchel!!!!!! These are legitimate and profound contrasts in history. The connection spans centuries. The song is about remnants and preservation and reverence of the past! Good lord. It is so complex. My goodness. I may sleep with the light on tonight. gosh. Yesterday I had never even heard of Joanna Newsom. Now this.

    • @sk1llerdrag
      @sk1llerdrag 7 років тому +26

      you're in for a treat if you enjoy this
      a lot of joanna's lyricism is very complex and has historical, mythological, folklore references. listen to her other songs and albums!

    • @lordbuddybear
      @lordbuddybear 4 роки тому +1

      Same, man, same

    • @mattbuszko
      @mattbuszko 3 роки тому +3

      seriously? You all can understand the words? I thought she was singing in a different language. Reminds me of when I was a kid and heard Dave Matthews for the first time - couldn't understand sh*t. Is there something wrong with my ears? I feel like I'm listening to one of those bits of Beatles songs where they play, like, snippets in reverse lol

    • @VitorBrauer
      @VitorBrauer 3 роки тому +9

      I don't believe it is "about remnants and preservation and reverence of the past". As a matter of fact is quite the opposite. To me Sapokanikan is a song about how all life and even the buildings we build will all be forgotten eventually and will be dust and dirt. What lies under the city will be gone too, as will the tributes we have left to rust in the parks. It's really sad that all these lives will eventually be forgotten as will our works.

    • @tetryst
      @tetryst 3 роки тому

      @@mattbuszko I think it just means you should read more. People who read know more words, and are better capable of discerning new words and working out their meaning through context if necessary.

  • @CosmosTheCreator
    @CosmosTheCreator 8 років тому +238

    The song is based on the poem "Ozymandias" writ here:
    "I met a traveller from an antique land
    Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
    Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
    And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
    Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
    And on the pedestal these words appear:
    "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
    Nothing beside remains: round the decay
    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
    The lone and level sands stretch far away."

    • @CosmosTheCreator
      @CosmosTheCreator 8 років тому +4

      Same!

    • @Fuhgl
      @Fuhgl 8 років тому +47

      +Cosmos That's true, but this is only Shelly's version.
      Smith's version:
      In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
      Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
      The only shadow that the Desert knows:-
      "I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
      "The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
      "The wonders of my hand."- The City's gone,-
      Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
      The site of this forgotten Babylon.
      We wonder,-and some Hunter may express
      Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
      Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
      He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
      What powerful but unrecorded race
      Once dwelt in that annihilated place.
      So "look and despair" from the song is from Shelly, while "unrecorded and powerful hand", "the city is gone", the hunter deciphering the stone, and "see with wonder" are from Smith.

    • @tetryst
      @tetryst 5 років тому +13

      yeah, it's based on two different poems called Ozymandias, but that barely scratches the surface of the works of art and history that this song is based on.

  • @martingiannini1439
    @martingiannini1439 7 років тому +906

    My God the *density* of this song. You could teach a graduate course on the number of references alone. And a masterpiece besides.

    • @elizabethsmith9624
      @elizabethsmith9624 4 роки тому +6

      Martin Giannini she’s completely pretentious. The only writer she’s ever read is Nabokov

    • @bigfat4172
      @bigfat4172 4 роки тому +121

      @@elizabethsmith9624 "she's so pretentious. She hasnt read as many books as me."

    • @elizabethsmith9624
      @elizabethsmith9624 4 роки тому

      @@bigfat4172 She's the one who lords it over people. "Oh goodness me, look how deep my fairytale rhymes are! They sound like Nabokov or something. Let me talk about Nabokov again so people think I'm smart."

    • @bigfat4172
      @bigfat4172 4 роки тому +63

      @@elizabethsmith9624 lol how does she lord it over people? She makes a particular type of music. Listen to it or don't, it's not her fault her music offends you in this way.

    • @elizabethsmith9624
      @elizabethsmith9624 4 роки тому

      @@bigfat4172 I'm allowed to share my thoughts. It's strange you're so defensive of her. If you love her music then my opinion shouldn't matter!

  • @Travmann777
    @Travmann777 9 років тому +167

    God this is actually such a sad song. Looking at the cultures and peoples who have passed upon Manhattan. Opening with a reference to Ozymandias' kingdom, all are fated to disappear, even our own 100 years from now. And ending upon the despair the future hunter found upon uncovering that only a monument or some lost artifact is all that is left of a place/time/people, coupled likely with the self realization that their culture and society will too one day be just a stone or a statue left in a desert.
    Joanna's starting out the album REAL STRONG.

    • @joelfanner9091
      @joelfanner9091 5 років тому +5

      Shit man. When you put it as plainly as that... shit got real for me right now

  • @stenna9274
    @stenna9274 2 роки тому +137

    The instrumentation in this masterpiece is like a wild river. Constantly changing, restless, flowing forward while expanding and retracting with the terrain. Truly remarkable!

    • @minukarodrigo
      @minukarodrigo 2 роки тому +3

      Finally somebody said it!!!! And all the folk instruments she used in this masterpiece!!!!

    • @chiaralinnea4335
      @chiaralinnea4335 Рік тому +2

      the piano sounds incredible. It's addictive!

  • @nolitimeremessorem
    @nolitimeremessorem 6 років тому +210

    What I love about this song is the fact that your enjoyment of it is equal to the amount of effort you put in understanding it. In a world where instant gratification is the norm, art like this is a beautiful rarity.

    • @dorian4404
      @dorian4404 Рік тому +10

      I agree but will add that without trying to understand it, musically and sonically it is very powerful and I feel like it gets the substance across as much as the lyrics. English isn't my first language and when this song came out, my english was worse than now but it totaly took me by surprise and wrecked me. After a few listens, I picked up things here and there lyrically which prompted me to look up as much as I could. I felt like I discovered a whole world within that song. But what still touches me deeply is what happens musically, sonicaly, vocaly. I think there is something for everyone in there.

    • @podunkest
      @podunkest 10 місяців тому +1

      ​​@@dorian4404yes, completely. The second sonic movement in this song is so powerful. Plus, just picking up on the names of people and places and the ending, "look and despair" just... *chef's kiss* - I love the contrast and depth when accompanied by such powerful music and the ambiguity of interpretation. I almost don't want to understand music completely when it's this outstanding. Being cryptic but not too cryptic is an art in itself and nothing is worse than being too direct. She manages to show without telling with music and poetry and I'm glad there are other people on this planet who see her art as I do for the gift that it is to all of us. She literally makes me happy to have lived.

  • @constructingadditionalpylo8597
    @constructingadditionalpylo8597 3 роки тому +80

    I used to listen to this song whenever I was having a panic attack because it calms me down. No idea why this song in particular did it for me but there you go.

  • @PaulThePuppetier
    @PaulThePuppetier 4 роки тому +89

    The second part is so powerful. Sometimes I'm listening to Joanna while doing something else, but whenever the second part of Sapokonikan starts I just have to stop whatever I'm doing and listen closely, sometimes sing along. I just can't ignore it.

  • @eastcliffmusic
    @eastcliffmusic 8 років тому +427

    The first time I heard Joanna I was like "Why do people like this?!" And after that there was a gap missing in my musical pallet. It just has to grow on you. It's so unique, otherworldly, you don't know what to cling onto. It truly is beautiful.

    • @adamfawcett1119
      @adamfawcett1119 8 років тому +3

      I had the exact same experience.

    • @Martial-Mat
      @Martial-Mat 8 років тому +9

      Check out Kate Bush - almost exactly the same sound. Ariel is a great album to start with.

    • @eastcliffmusic
      @eastcliffmusic 8 років тому +3

      Thank you for the suggestion! Didnt know where to start with Kate bush, If you havent, check out Gene Clarks no other band. Its an Allstar lineup featuring Robin Pecknold, Daniel Rossen and a few others just going through the album live. Its really great.

    • @giapponerosso
      @giapponerosso 8 років тому

      +Louise Healy me too, I couldn't believe I finally found something like this!

    • @animalloverabh
      @animalloverabh 8 років тому +8

      It took me months of forcing myself to listen to her albums on repeat for me to finally 'get' her

  • @AlexCo008
    @AlexCo008 9 років тому +354

    This is the most beautiful song I've ever heard. I don't feel like I deserve it. I feel honored to have heard this song.

    • @calisongbird
      @calisongbird 9 років тому +22

      What a weird reaction.

    • @juniwilliams
      @juniwilliams 8 років тому

      dont really like it, but as a pianist, I love it

    • @abewilson6830
      @abewilson6830 5 років тому +8

      Exactly how i feel exactly! She is such a blessing to the world of music, especially nowadays

    • @michellerogers6566
      @michellerogers6566 2 роки тому

      I know what you mean Alex. I feel SO lucky to have discovered her stunning music and lyrics - and I'm not a fan girl type!

    • @unstartedartist
      @unstartedartist 2 роки тому

      relax

  • @kris242
    @kris242 3 роки тому +54

    I don’t know why but I always really love her little subtle interaction with the lil kid on the scooter near the beginning. It’s just kinda heartwarming.

    • @kickasskeenan
      @kickasskeenan 3 роки тому +11

      dam just sorted the comments to newest and have been listening to this song through this music video for 5 years now but just noticed that, thanks for the comment and totally heart warmed !

    • @kris242
      @kris242 3 роки тому +8

      @@kickasskeenan lolol honestly I’ve been watching this video for years too and for some reason it was always one of the first things I noticed 😂

    • @kylestanfield4903
      @kylestanfield4903 2 роки тому +1

      It looks like they cut it right before she waves to the kid

  • @alex-ue1xi
    @alex-ue1xi 7 років тому +672

    I don't understand what she said but I'm so sad now

    • @lauderdale77
      @lauderdale77 4 роки тому +6

      Noah Stewart exactly 😢

    • @visualspark6308
      @visualspark6308 4 роки тому +50

      Sapokanikan is a reference to a village a Native American Lenape tribe used to inhabit on Manhattan Island. The Native American tribe lived there until driven off their land and forgotten about as time went on. Over time the land developed and changed. Other people inhabited it. However, the tribe became another obscure piece of American history. The song is all about commemorating their loss but also presenting the question of what kind of impact modern individuals will make on history. Will we be remembered or will we suffer the same fate as the Lenape tribe?

    • @eatdikz
      @eatdikz 4 роки тому +65

      Basically comparing New York City to the civilization of Ozymandias. One day all of this will be buried, and overran by nature. The middle of the song I don’t understand at all

    • @calebault8077
      @calebault8077 4 роки тому +73

      Kyle S. I just looked up the lyrics on Genius and boy howdy this song requires a whole education in literature, art history and the specific history and geography of Manhattan. Someone did an amazing job of explaining it all, though!

    • @ballzinferno9793
      @ballzinferno9793 3 роки тому +12

      @@calebault8077 the fact that she decided to reference a painting being found under a painting was mind blowing when I read about that part.

  • @srijanagrawal255
    @srijanagrawal255 3 роки тому +19

    I feel like she was genuinely in tears by the end of the video

  • @childsoIdier
    @childsoIdier 9 років тому +31

    she's the greatest musician of our time. thank you joanna.

  • @saraeli8626
    @saraeli8626 8 років тому +799

    walking through washington park like "wow there are so many dead bodies here and i will be forgotten"

    • @Iiuoypline
      @Iiuoypline 8 років тому +26

      Spot on 😂

    • @wrinkleintime4257
      @wrinkleintime4257 6 років тому +3

      As one does :’D

    • @yanstein8464
      @yanstein8464 4 роки тому +6

      the park in my hometown is basically a graveyard for a couple hundred of german ww2 soldiers, so... yeah

    • @VitorBrauer
      @VitorBrauer 3 роки тому

      yes!

  • @MelloMusician
    @MelloMusician 7 місяців тому +4

    This orbital piece transcends time.

  • @elizabethrollo7827
    @elizabethrollo7827 22 дні тому +2

    This might be my most favourite thing ever

  • @MasDouc
    @MasDouc Рік тому +12

    2:54 onward is absolutely magical. I bet the director was even like "damn this shot is perfect."

  • @emilytownsend4983
    @emilytownsend4983 3 роки тому +26

    I’ve always loved the ending of this song. It somehow has always made me feel as though the melody would continue after the song ends. Like it just plays on forever.

  • @streetcrimesouffle1668
    @streetcrimesouffle1668 8 місяців тому +3

    I've been waiting to listen to this album since it came out. Ive been digesting Joanna's music for about 13 years now. It's about time to start studying "Divers"

  • @Martial-Mat
    @Martial-Mat 8 років тому +294

    I love this quote from Wikipedia
    _Newsom's early work was strongly influenced by polyrhythms. After Ys, Newsom said she had lost interest in polyrhythms. They "stopped being fascinating to me and started feeling wanky."_

    • @Ignore14
      @Ignore14 6 років тому +18

      I really love the polyrhythms in her first 2 albums

    • @m_crowley6674
      @m_crowley6674 4 роки тому +12

      joanna bout to drag don caballero's ass

  • @TheNukeGeneral
    @TheNukeGeneral 6 років тому +20

    The tempo and instrumental change at 2:50 will forever haunt me. It's pure unfiltered beauty.

  • @rainbo1475
    @rainbo1475 8 років тому +35

    Gives me so much hope as a musician to see that someone like Joanna Newsom to get over 1.5 million views on her song. She has inspired me for a long time

  • @juliocervantes8523
    @juliocervantes8523 6 років тому +45

    Damn, Joanna is the One True Master of juxtaposition. Forgetting and remembering, despair and hope, she's always playing on themes and counter themes. Thanks for your music, you're my favorite artist!

  • @AndySunshine1291
    @AndySunshine1291 9 років тому +65

    Joanna Newsom has a knack for creating art that puts on a faux sense of simplicity while holding immeasurable depth (see the cover of Ys/ any of her songs ever).
    This being her first music video I think it's important to keep this context, I mean how many times did you guys listen to Only Skin before you actually heard it?
    We're following her through New York after she laughingly refers to "The map of Sapokanikan". Important context: Sapokanikan is the name of the first village wihin the area of Greenwich (a place that is still considered by many to be a crucial contribution to the culture of New York). She tells us that this land is now leveled from "Ozymandian" causes. Ozymandian here meaning unimportant. It doesn't matter what caused the land to become so devoid of its original charm and nature, all that matters is that it happened.
    As we follow her through different areas of Manhattan we see her skipping along and telling us a story involving the story of Tobias and the Angel (from the Orthodox biblical canon, also fascinating considering her celestial obsessions and love for religious allegory, she obviously isn't afraid to source from places not taught in modern churches nor is she identifying as Gentile) and mentions Florry Walker (not sure of the context exactly but here is a cool article: www.cbc.ca/news/arts/artist-s-secret-love-notes-revealed-after-restoration-project-1.643417 ).
    We eventually hit the "breaking point" (every Newsom song has one God Bless) and the camera stops its sporadic editing and change of location and turns into one fluid final shot. We learn that our current repairs and renovations are "improvements" that in a century will be frowned upon (think: The Library of Alexandria). As she walks we see fire trucks, a parade of lights, a man in a business suit, and a walking way showing off all of our modern technology, but learning that because of it when the hunter must find the origins of the culture (Sapokanikan) he will be unable to find the stone and will be able to do nothing but despair.
    The video is fascinating right off the bat because we are seeing Newsom's facial reactions to her own music. Her voice does the trick as far as conveying is concerned, but it is nice to see a more visual reaction. It's important to remember this is directed by Paul T. Anderson, Newsom's character in his film Inherent Vice is obsessed with the stars and the origins of L.A. and wishes for a way to harken back to the original culture before it became a pot of filth. Here they move their message to New York together. Newsom cries because she discovers that even with a fellow scavenger there is no way to discover the original Greenwich, Paul Anderson's camera finally lets her depart and walk out of the shot as he also realizes their journey has come to an end.
    I fucking loved this video ya'll.

    • @bornofthorn
      @bornofthorn 9 років тому +4

      AndySunshine1291 it's not her first music video, there's a video for sprout and the bean, and one that was never released (bar a short teaser) for good intentions paving company.

    • @OAnIncurableHumanist
      @OAnIncurableHumanist 9 років тому +5

      AndySunshine1291 Some more points: "Beneath a patch of grass, her bones the old Dutch master hid." In 2008, European scientists used synchrotron radiation to reconstruct the portrait of a peasant woman painted by Vincent van Gogh that the artist had then painted over when he created 1887′s “Patch of Grass.”
      Then the line about Tobias and the angel references a painting by Titian, believed to be of Tobias and the Angel, but actually an image of a woman and child later altered by a pupil of the artist.
      The “hidden” mother and child, as well as the hidden Van Gogh portrait of the peasant woman are symbols of the forgotten dead and point towards the actual 20,000 dead buried under Washington Square Park referenced later in the song. In other words, these artistically “buried dead” are symbolic of those actual 20000 dead referenced later. (got all this from the genius.com lyrics annotations for this song)

    • @JC-mm9tq
      @JC-mm9tq 9 років тому

      AndySunshine1291 beautiful review!

    • @AndySunshine1291
      @AndySunshine1291 9 років тому +1

      OAnIncurableHumanist Fascinating! So she's referencing other works of art that have been altered for "improvements"! Making comparisons to Sapokanikan itself. So in love with this song.

    • @AndySunshine1291
      @AndySunshine1291 9 років тому

      jorge cino Hey thanks! :)

  • @catherine52525
    @catherine52525 8 років тому +45

    she has one of the most addictive sounds. i find myself constantly coming back to her. i cant get enough.

  • @AkyvashaAuhm
    @AkyvashaAuhm 8 років тому +54

  • @xjmmjbnqfstjdijoj2044
    @xjmmjbnqfstjdijoj2044 8 місяців тому +2

    The beauty and depth of the lyrics, the mystical and ethereal atmosphere and the unpredictability of the melody all make this song a true masterpiece!

  • @anboojz
    @anboojz 3 місяці тому +3

    Feeling very nostalgic omg ❤️

  • @retnaraj
    @retnaraj 8 років тому +229

    this video is awesome...watching her be in her world as she walks in ours

    • @ThingsWeSaidToday
      @ThingsWeSaidToday 8 років тому +33

      wow dude, so poetic xD

    • @retnaraj
      @retnaraj 8 років тому +17

      hahaha, based on the videos you're into I'm assuming you're quite a poetry enthusiast and so shall take it as a compliment! :)

    • @musicsavedme3534
      @musicsavedme3534 7 років тому +11

      Alwin Retnaraj Soloman that was such a pretty comment

    • @wilsonsiregar5463
      @wilsonsiregar5463 7 років тому +2

      Paul Thomas Anderson directed this video clip, you know

  • @chim-choo-ree
    @chim-choo-ree 3 роки тому +53

    Paul Thomas Anderson has directed all of my favorite movies: Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, and Sapokanikan.

    • @anierrn6935
      @anierrn6935 2 роки тому

      I love that she has worked with PTA while Andy Samberg has worked with Maya Rudolph

    • @chim-choo-ree
      @chim-choo-ree 2 роки тому +1

      @@anierrn6935 Wouldn't you just love to have dinner with the four of them?

    • @anierrn6935
      @anierrn6935 2 роки тому +1

      @@chim-choo-ree oh definitely

    • @andrewwilliams4283
      @andrewwilliams4283 2 роки тому +1

      Have you seen Licorice Pizza yet? its lush.

    • @thesovgc
      @thesovgc 6 місяців тому

      Also Fast as You Can

  • @michaelparness2896
    @michaelparness2896 4 місяці тому +2

    I love how she lingers on specific words and extends and stresses vowels. So incredibly powerful

  • @poupoulechou8591
    @poupoulechou8591 8 років тому +593

    This was the first song I heard from her, at first I found her voice terrible but once you get used to it it's beautiful, and by the end of the song I was a fan ahah

    • @janitorscrambo8362
      @janitorscrambo8362 7 років тому

      Poupou le chou sammmeeee

    • @snaggle_tooth6829
      @snaggle_tooth6829 7 років тому +82

      yeah it's weird how sometimes their's a thin line between ugly and beautiful

    • @user-kh9ki3kq8m
      @user-kh9ki3kq8m 7 років тому +15

      I thought she sounded like Miranda sings tbh and now I absolutely love her voice

    • @user-kh9ki3kq8m
      @user-kh9ki3kq8m 7 років тому +9

      I thought she sounded like Miranda sings tbh and now I absolutely love her voice

    • @zuperduperboi
      @zuperduperboi 7 років тому +59

      bruh done got newsom'd

  • @bigbadslimee
    @bigbadslimee 9 років тому +72

    2015 is the greatest year for music of all time, I'm sure of it.

    • @genderegg
      @genderegg 9 років тому +1

      Suq Madiq Which other ones in the list? Tell me!

    • @poopyscoopy7065
      @poopyscoopy7065 9 років тому +4

      Suq Madiq It's been a great year but 2010 is still my favorite year for music so far this decade.

    • @alexmontenegromusic
      @alexmontenegromusic 9 років тому +1

      Thiago Vidotto father john misty - I love you honey bear, tallest man on earth - dark bird is home, sufjan stevens - carrie and lowell... beach house is releasing this year and so is beirut and now Joanna :')

    • @matthewneale8171
      @matthewneale8171 9 років тому +3

      Bruce Wayne Couldn't agree more. Have One On Me, The Age of Adz, Fang Island, and Heartland alone are pretty much four of my favourite albums of all time. (And that's not to mention The ArchAndroid, Teen Dream, Learning....)

    • @DierWolf87
      @DierWolf87 9 років тому

      alexmontenegromusic and Kurt Vile, Grimes, DIIV, all coming up. 2015 rules.

  • @jamese.ferrell6218
    @jamese.ferrell6218 4 роки тому +48

    The vocals happening around 4:00--unbelievably beautiful

    • @nauticalnun
      @nauticalnun 3 роки тому +1

      and that marching band drum beat

    • @nolanwinter4711
      @nolanwinter4711 2 роки тому +1

      2:56. All the vocals are gorgeous after that point.

  • @tylernewman9873
    @tylernewman9873 2 роки тому +18

    Right at 3:53 my hair stands straight up, and get goose bumps all over. What soul, and beauty 😍

  • @circling-girl
    @circling-girl 5 місяців тому +3

    The moment you can briefly see tears shine in her eyes as she sings "look and despair" is so transcendent.

  • @Simulacreage
    @Simulacreage Рік тому +11

    Happy 8th birthday, Sapokanikan!

    • @underlinedluke
      @underlinedluke Рік тому +2

      Time flies. I was in my 20s then. Have you heard the new ones by the way?

  • @ChicagoMonsterPunk
    @ChicagoMonsterPunk 9 років тому +38

    The last part of the song broke my heart. Her voice is surprisingly beautiful.

    • @drygan22
      @drygan22 9 років тому +1

      +ChicagoMonsterPunk Agréablement surpris de te retrouver ici !

    • @ChicagoMonsterPunk
      @ChicagoMonsterPunk 9 років тому

      Drygan Ah tu écoutes aussi ? Faudrait que je check son dernier album, elle va devoir se surpasser vu le niveau du précédent.

    • @henrikwolff5081
      @henrikwolff5081 Рік тому +1

      She heard for sure some Lionheart Kate Bush in her life ... but not a bad pastiche ...

    • @thesovgc
      @thesovgc 6 місяців тому

      I wasn't surprised 😉

  • @yahstino
    @yahstino 4 роки тому +18

    The second half of this song is other-worldly

  • @remyathomas6131
    @remyathomas6131 5 років тому +32

    I have NO idea what she is saying but I have to admit I like this music

  • @wild_cosmia
    @wild_cosmia 2 роки тому +10

    This song is monumental. The lyrics are absolutely breathtaking and her performance is awesome, as usual. For everyone who does not get the meaning of the lyrics, I suggest checking the genius annotations. They are quite encompassing.

  • @xsadsappysuckr6710
    @xsadsappysuckr6710 8 років тому +232

    She cannot be real. She's too perfect.

  • @mur.dermaid
    @mur.dermaid 9 років тому +14

    I love that the video gives her music a more urban aesthetic. Pretty song!

  • @geoffsamphire
    @geoffsamphire 9 років тому +122

    This song is like nothing I've ever heard before. The first two times I watched it (in a row) my jaw was on the floor. About to watch it again for the fifth time. Freshest song in years.

    • @kateee4440
      @kateee4440 9 років тому +1

      Have you listened to any of her other songs?

    • @seaghanmackinnon7677
      @seaghanmackinnon7677 9 років тому

      gksamphire Funny, because the first recording of this song is more than two years old now.

    • @bladechild2449
      @bladechild2449 9 років тому

      +gksamphire To be fair, it's like every other song she's made. I almost complained about how shit her setlist has been for the recent tours and how her early stuff has been forgotten, but it honestly doesn't matter much, other than she has neglected the harp heavy tunes that pretty much made her what she was in 2004.

    • @calvinj.1926
      @calvinj.1926 8 років тому +5

      +BladeChild recent shit setlist / old harp heavy tunes... You're good, keep being this bright in other areas of your life.

    • @bladechild2449
      @bladechild2449 8 років тому +1

      calvuin oak touche

  • @tugglesf239
    @tugglesf239 9 років тому +67

    I am not really one to comment on You tube videos and i find the "magazine muso" type comments that use words pinched straight out of poncy NME reviews, frankly irritating
    However......
    Jesus Christ this song is immense in scope. How much can she fit into 5 minutes? She is talking of subjects that i have had no real previous knowledge but have heard in passing or by accident. Done in such a way that i now want to understand more and more.
    To bend a song around hundreds of years worth of history and to deliver it in the way she does takes a pinch of real talent and artistry. I am not one to use the word genius as i am not a pretentious git.......
    In fact bollocks to that
    This song is GENIUS, Joanna is as close to a musical genius that we have had in years.
    I have listened nearly 100 times now and it gets better every single time. I cant articulate the way it makes me feel, as i am an in- articulate thicko.
    But it makes me feel really great.
    I love this song
    It is incredible

    • @SparkyCola3
      @SparkyCola3 6 років тому +4

      This is exactly how I feel about the song too. Subjectively, I love it. Objectively, it's a masterpiece.

  • @PianowithNate
    @PianowithNate Рік тому +9

    The climax of this never fails to bring me to tears...perfect merging of music, setting, and performance. I wonder how this came together...were they shooting what would have been a much less impactful video and then got lucky with the firetrucks?

  • @heeragul1132
    @heeragul1132 8 місяців тому +2

    This is always the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard

  • @thomasgress6247
    @thomasgress6247 9 років тому +8

    Probably the best song ever about John Purroy Mitchel, the 95th mayor of New York City. Probably the only song ever about John Purroy Mitchel. Nice touch with the fire truck.

  • @romane8655
    @romane8655 Рік тому +10

    I've just discovered this artist thanks to a comment that mentioned her under a Kate Bush song. I'm surprised I hadn't heard of her before, it's really great! I haven't listened to any of the other songs, so I'm going to give it a go, because it's all good: the original theme, which suddenly changes at 3:00, the ending where she gets into the high notes and the sad, beautiful lyrics which contrast with the happy theme. Nobody around me has heard it, so I'm going to tell everyone about it!

  • @caseylong7030
    @caseylong7030 9 років тому +30

    Thank you Joanna Newsom for this amazing piece! Loving the unexpectedly dramatic use of recorder here.

    • @lisabryant8332
      @lisabryant8332 9 років тому +1

      Casey Long
      ŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒ
      I just got paid $6784 working off my laptop this month. And if you think that's cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $9k her first month.
      It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. This is what I do,
      WorkReport10.com
      COPY LINK TO YOUR BROWSER
      ŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒ

  • @ajpdeschenes
    @ajpdeschenes 4 роки тому +28

    Who thinks "Divers" is her best album? And probably one of the most relistenable album ever?
    Divers ranks really high in my music experience. "Divers" is among this small handful of albums I can always instantly enjoy. It took me some time to get into it, but since then, it's been one of these rare albums I can just listen and listen again, appreciating every sound of it, often hearing new sounds. But somehow, I feel Divers is very underated. Though it is considered among the best albums of 2015, it's often diregarded for "Have One on Me".
    (By the way, I listen to many artists : Talk Talk, Sigur Rós, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Beatles, Radiohead, Portishead, Björk, Bonnie Prince Billy, Sufjan Stevens, Julia Holter... also jazz and classical music.)

    • @luisj.m2471
      @luisj.m2471 Рік тому

      Have you ever listened to Daniel Rosen, Douglas Dare, William Doyle, BC Camplight, King Creosote? They've got similar vibes in different ways.

  • @yubtubtime
    @yubtubtime 11 місяців тому +2

    There really aren't words enough. An absolute high water mark.

  • @jordanpennington4161
    @jordanpennington4161 9 років тому +336

    your hate only makes her stronger. one day she will devour us all.

    • @Mary-eo7ir
      @Mary-eo7ir 5 років тому +18

      I await the day

    • @cameronbell8791
      @cameronbell8791 4 роки тому +3

      @@Mary-eo7ir What the actual heck

    • @jnmks
      @jnmks 3 роки тому +1

      in the meantime, taylor swift is still devouring us all and i'm not complaining 🤷🏻‍♂️ #folklore #evermore #fearlesstaylorsversion

  • @Questpeace
    @Questpeace 9 років тому +35

    I think it's primarily about the victims of Westward expansion. And how America's headed towards a future whose ruins will not say "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair" but "Look and despair". This song is terrifying. I love Joanna Newsom with all my heart.

    • @Voodoochil111111
      @Voodoochil111111 9 років тому +1

      This.

    • @mr.youtube8424
      @mr.youtube8424 9 років тому

      Questpeace "I think it's primarily about the victims of Westward expansion."
      There's not much in the lyrics to suggest that at all.

    • @Questpeace
      @Questpeace 9 років тому +1

      What do you think the first part of the song is about? Up until John unbuckles his seatbelt? Why do you think she sings,
      "And what lies under the city is gone
      Look and despair".
      The knowledge completely lost of the history of Manhattan is what pains her the most. What was most completely lost?

    • @mr.youtube8424
      @mr.youtube8424 9 років тому +3

      Questpeace Ah you know what, I misread/brain-fecked "Westward" for "Western", thinking you were on about globalisation/Americanisation or the Iraq war or somesuch shite. This is UA-cam, you expect the worst.
      Apologies for that. And yes, some very kind people have done good work on the GeniusLyrics page for this song. The amount of literary/artistic/historical references in a single verse is staggering. And they make sense as well, it's not just showing off. She's always been great at this, the Ys album could have a 1000-page companion book.

    • @mr.youtube8424
      @mr.youtube8424 9 років тому

      ***** ... okay, that really does sound like a stretch. What gives you the impression that it's about him?

  • @mariaantontorres7014
    @mariaantontorres7014 9 років тому +14

    I feel embarrassed my colleagues at work might find out I'm listening to the same song for the 100th time this week. Better keep my headphones tight and keep my cool.
    Thank you Joanna.

  • @Hannah19955
    @Hannah19955 8 років тому +19

    She has such a dainty and childlike voice, it's so cute

  • @frogery
    @frogery 4 роки тому +23

    no matter how many times i listen to this it always ends with a heavy feeling in my chest.

  • @ceberusbotcatcher
    @ceberusbotcatcher 9 років тому +15

    Such emotional and philosophical range! Truly a classic in the making.

  • @davidloganwright4253
    @davidloganwright4253 8 років тому +5

    I spent a lot of time in that park when I was lost, alone, unwanted, and confused. I tried to forget it. Your music makes me miss it.

  • @hippogryph12
    @hippogryph12 8 років тому +57

    0:30 when she smiles and waves at the little girl :3

    • @Phagocytosis
      @Phagocytosis 8 років тому +1

      +Nathan Totally missed that before, but you're right :) nice.

  • @manofculture8848
    @manofculture8848 5 років тому +16

    Wow. This is so different. I don't know if I like it it or hate it but one thing I'm sure of is, it's on a whole different level art form of music. This is art.

    • @MasDouc
      @MasDouc 3 роки тому +2

      Listen to it enough and the spell of her music will take hold

  • @sstanka01
    @sstanka01 3 роки тому +5

    I am a huge PT Anderson fan and I still think this is one of the best things he's ever directed.

  • @midpinesmusic
    @midpinesmusic 9 років тому +17

    I feel her art is beyond critique at this point.

  • @jamesbarber4
    @jamesbarber4 9 років тому +14

    The ending of this song was sublime. I didn't want it to end!

  • @gringopig
    @gringopig 6 років тому +3

    The whole song changes with the lyric 'he said' then it gradually becomes intense then releases into beautiful blues melody. Just love this over and over again.

  • @joeagger
    @joeagger 7 років тому +5

    2 years later:
    Divers is one of my favorite albums, and this song never fails to give me chills. I find myself repeating 2:26 - 2:54 in my head for days after I listen to this song. Joanna is extraordinary and her 4 albums and 3 EPs have helped me, and certainly many others, through so much

  • @Kealo38910
    @Kealo38910 8 місяців тому +2

    a true artist, I love you Joanna

  • @epinhervin9355
    @epinhervin9355 Рік тому +5

    I knew Joanna Newsom since 2006 during my very fockin boring communication journalistic college era and boom suddenly couple of year before covid 19 there are so many musician copying her vocal style

  • @vulnicurious2353
    @vulnicurious2353 Рік тому +4

    wow this is pure artistry and some very clever historic references.

  • @sooysauce17
    @sooysauce17 4 роки тому +11

    This song 💔 She’s almost crying at the end.

  • @cinemaslut9034
    @cinemaslut9034 8 років тому +1363

    Nobody really cares but Paul Thomas Anderson directed this

  • @kittygerbil
    @kittygerbil 8 років тому +8

    This song has the most complex lyrics I've ever heard! I googled the meaning and it was fascinating to me how complicated this song was,and how many different things it referenced! its amazing! I love this!

  • @chrismail
    @chrismail 9 років тому +260

    Am I the only one showing this to every friend on their facebook in excitement? (Even if they don't care)

    • @viniciuscomacento
      @viniciuscomacento 9 років тому +1

      chrismail yeah, even if they don't care.

    • @chrismail
      @chrismail 9 років тому +3

      Vinicius Azevedo It's like a social obligation!

    • @стрелок-ч7р
      @стрелок-ч7р 9 років тому +1

      I could never really dig joannas stuff. I may be a filthy pleb but could someone tell me where to start to ease into dis stuff

    • @chrismail
      @chrismail 9 років тому +2

      Soviet Potato I think Milk Eyed Mender is a great place to start, but if it's not your cup of tea there is nothing wrong with that, we're all different :)

    • @Gallas1000
      @Gallas1000 9 років тому +5

      Soviet Potato For me, Milk Eyed Mender is a heavy place to start - her later stuff is a bit more relaxed, so maybe Have One on Me. But the album that won me over first was Ys - the songs are very long and word-heavy, but so outstandingly beautiful.

  • @StyxTBuferd
    @StyxTBuferd 9 років тому +20

    As if 2015 wasn't already a perfect enough year for music, now we get this? Thank you Joanna.

    • @JulieFernz
      @JulieFernz 9 років тому +2

      StyxTBuferd what other great music has come out this year? (genuine question btw)

    • @silversaint
      @silversaint 9 років тому

      StyxTBuferd Which means it will dry up for a couple of years. Enjoy it now!

    • @chrismail
      @chrismail 9 років тому

      StyxTBuferd Yeah, what have I missed?

    • @bornofthorn
      @bornofthorn 9 років тому +1

      Julie Crawford yeah i wanna know too, i've heard so few good albums because i haven't had time to figure out what to listen to.

    • @silversaint
      @silversaint 9 років тому +2

      everything everything - get to heaven palace - chase the light
      father john misty - i love you honeybear bjork - vulnicura
      torres - sprinter
      Just a top five in my opinion.

  • @grendelsloth9950
    @grendelsloth9950 3 роки тому +15

    I truly believe this is one of the greatest songs ever written

    • @jackevans9574
      @jackevans9574 3 роки тому

      Same my friend. Its my second all time favorite

    • @mari08567
      @mari08567 3 роки тому

      @@jackevans9574 what's the first?? just curiosity

    • @jackevans9574
      @jackevans9574 3 роки тому +2

      @@mari08567 Hey, by the Pixies :)

    • @realnegajpeg9935
      @realnegajpeg9935 3 роки тому +8

      Listen to her best album, Ys. It's on eof the most highly regarded album of all time and the song "Only Skin" has probably the best songwriting ever

    • @Damian-qv6wh
      @Damian-qv6wh 3 роки тому +5

      @@realnegajpeg9935 only skin is probably the best song of all time

  • @rnys8167
    @rnys8167 2 роки тому +5

    She looks like a powerful lady or even a queen from an old historical movie, I wish I see her act in such things 💙

  • @pntshiba
    @pntshiba Рік тому +6

    3:24 everytime this song gets here I am in awe of this woman- my body feels this song without me having to apply my mind ❤

  • @MeyEdeile
    @MeyEdeile 9 років тому +21

    i'm................dead.
    SHE HAS RETURNED

  • @joshw8868
    @joshw8868 3 роки тому +15

    This is my Bohemian Rhapsody

  • @lillyblue1903
    @lillyblue1903 5 років тому +5

    Why did I take so long to listen to her music? It's so different from everything i've heard, yet I'm amazed and crying...

  • @thesovgc
    @thesovgc 8 років тому +11

    This is truly a relevation. Joanna makes music you feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to hear.

  • @jonathanflores2302
    @jonathanflores2302 6 років тому +6

    Wow, so glad I found this. One of the most beautiful, touching, and original songs I've ever heard.