Mouth's Cradle: Eclectic Analysis

Introduction:

In this post, I will analyze the song "Mouth's Cradle" by Björk. This song was released in August 2004 on her album Medúlla. The method I will be using for analysis is the eclectic method outlined by Dr. Lawrence Ferrara in Philosophy and the Analysis of Music: Bridges to Musical Sound, Form, and Reference (1991).


Open Listening:



Lyrics:
there is yet another one
that follows me
wherever I go
and supports me
this tooth is warmth-like

and these teeth are a ladder up to his mouth
these teeth are a ladder that i walk
that you can walk too if you want
if you want up to the mouth
the mouth's cradle
up to the mouth's cradle

he always has a hope for me
always sees me when nothing else
and everyone have left
that ghost is brighter than anyone
and fulfills me with hope
those beams assure me

and you can use those teeth as a ladder
up to the mouth's cradle, the mouth's cradle
and you can follow these notes i'm singing
up to the mouth's cradle, the mouth's cradle

the simplicity of the ghost-like beast
the purity of what it wants and where it goes
always love, always loves you, always loves you
infrared love

and you can use these teeth as a ladder
up to the mouth's cradle, the mouth's cradle
and you can use these teeth follow my voice
tooth by tooth
up to the mouth's cradle, the mouth's cradle

i need a shelter to build an altar away
from all osamas and bushes


Historical Background:

Björk Gu∂mundsdóttir, usually referred to by her first name, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, music producer, and Golden Globe-nominated actress. She is best known for her distinctive voice, eclectic music, and distinctive costumes. She has released 6 full-legnth studio albums that range from dance pop to avant-garde.

Medúlla is Björk's fifth album, released in August 2004. The album is almost entirely vocally based with minimal electronic elements. The album was met with generally postive reviews; most critics just praised Björk for her revolutionary vocal-only aesthetic. Personnel involved in the making of the album include throat singer Tagaq, beatboxers Dokaka and Rahzel, and the Icelandic Choir. "Mouth's Cradle" is not entirely human vocals; it incorporates a bass synth and electronic programming.


Syntax:

Musicians involved with the piece include: Björk (lead vocals), Tagaq (throat vocals), the Icelandic Choir (choir parts and backing vocals), Rahzel (beatboxing a four-on-the-floor beat), and Mark Bell (bass synth). Programming and other electronic effects were done by Björk, Valgeir Sigurdsson, and Mark Bell.

"Mouth's Cradle" is in an Eb Dorian mode, and it does not follow a standard pop song chord progression. The tonality is ambiguous throughout the entirety of the piece with exception of the end of the piece which has centricity around Ab. Contrasting with the advanced musical elements, the form of the piece is quite simple and mimics that of a traditional pop song: Intro, Verse, Refrain, Verse, Refrain, Verse, Refrain, Coda. The Refrains are altered slightly with each recurrence.


Phenomenology:

*I really wanted to be able to embed QuickTime clips here, but you can scroll up to the video at the top of the page to access the song*

0:00-0:25
-Splashing and swirling electronic sample
-Ethereal choir entrance: women soaring followed by men giving the women a support

0:25-0:55
-Sighing and other vocal sampling “bloom” and die away
-Lead vocal entrance (continues through piece until noted)
-Human beat box entrance (continues through piece until noted)
-Blooming samples accompany lead vocal
-Men in choir ascend from the beatbox

0:55-1:25
-Similar choral part to the first section: ethereal women, men singing a supporting line
-Vocal bloom sample continues until noted

1:25-1:55
-Similar to 0:25-0:55
-New vocal sampling (guttural, decisive, provocative) only incorporated this section
-Beatbox drops out for a moment highlighting new vocal sample

1:55-2:20 — Almost identical to 0:55-1:25

2:20-2:40
-Beatbox only laying down strong beats in portions giving way to bloom sample
-New vocal fry sampling only through this section

2:40-3:05
-Similar to 0:55-1:25 and 1:55-2:20 but vocal bloom more present than in previous sections
-Return of beatbox’s original material
-Nearing the end of section, the lead vocal yields to prominent choir part

3:05-4:00
-Choir becomes more majestic and strengthens until end
-Vocal bloom becomes more ever-present
-Guttural voices and sighing return
-Lead vocal chants calmly under other parts
-Beatbox and digital sampling “explode"


Musical and Textual Representation:

*Scroll up for lyrics*

The song is so metaphorical which leads the text to have multiple meanings. At first, one could question the meaning of "cradle" to to what it might refer. At first I considered a Michel Gondry-esque image with clouds looking like teeth and one climbing up to the sky that opens like a mouth. However, given that the song is just vocal with a small amount of electronics, it could refer to a beginning and primitivism. With this primitivism comes a more tribal element, and this leads me to question the notion of group musicking. The song does sound like there is more of an interaction between all parts, a get-together to make the song rather than someone singing over a beat.

What's more interesting is that the sighing and throat singing sound sexual to my modern ears. Björk could be asserting that this isn't a sensual song, but more of returning to our human beginnings. The end of the piece also has with religious undertones, "i need a shelter to build an altar away / from all osamas and bushes." Religion was central to the first human civilizations, and maybe to Björk it lost its way with corruption and bureaucracy as time passed.


Virtual Feeling:

Here's the virtual feeling(s) I culled from my presentation in class:
-Broken, fragmented
-Primitive, tribal
-Uneasy, strange, uncomfortable
-Forceful but stumbling
-Mysterious

And mine:
-Eerie
-Ethereal
-Sensual
-Tense
-Stately
-Transcendent


Onto-Historical World:

I know that according to Wimsatt and Beardsley, the artist's intentions are not as important as what the appreciator takes away from a work, I feel I need to mention Björk's thoughts on her song. She mentions in an interview that the Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush references are a tasteless joke, but I think they have far-reaching impacts on the song.

If one does take Björk's comment into consideration, the song could reference spirituality and optimism. On an unabashedly Western religious level, the teeth could then actually be clouds as I mentioned before and one climbling them up to the cradle of heaven characterized by the majestic choir parts. Iceland, Björk's home country, has sometimes been referred to as "Hopeland". Taking this into account, "Mouth's Cradle" could be a plea for optimism in a cynical and rational post-modern society.

Ignoring Björk's comment, "Mouth's Cradle" has a distinctly political message. The song was released in 2004, a time when America was headlong into its War on Terror. American troops had been in Afghanistan since late 2001 and in Iraq since 2003. Since major world events of the 20th Century--and now the beginning of the 21st Century--were wars, the song could be a plea for refuge away from the global unrest of the post-9/11 era. The strange and intimate soundscape could also reflect on a need to be heard. A teacher once told me, "Sometimes the quietest voices are influential because they resonate the longest once they are heard."


Meta-Critique:

As I wrote this analysis, I realized that there was a bleeding of certain sections into others. Although the eclectic method calls for a delimitation of these separate aspects, I think I would be more comfortable with just writing about the piece and then using the eclectic method as a blueprint for my analysis. I also feel that the ambiguity of "Mouth's Cradle" leads to more of the combining of the analytical elements. However, this ambiguity is a strength that leads to more referential meaning and a stronger analysis in that portion of the eclectic method.