…and there’s a blog entry, too.
Written on January 5, 2009 in Elsewhere on the web, General & with 13 responses
Tags: blog, blog entry, Elsewhere on the web, johnfrusciante.com, philosophy, the empyrean
John has posted a new blog entry, after a 40-ish day break and he's talking about the possible interpretations of the meaning of The Empyrean, dismissing them all as more or less wrong, as it is incomprehensible to someone other than him, yet, in some way, every person with an open mind can find their own meaning in the albums' lyrics.
This excerpt is interesting, in particular:
While I could explain the story as I see it,that would detract from the potential multifarious meanings that will come about from people applying their own sense of feeling from their life experience, much as they always do.
So, to read some lyrics excerpts (Or is it a poem? Can someone who has heard the album in advance clarify it?) and the whole insight into the creation process, head over to JF.com. Personally, I advise you to revisit the second to last question on the MusicRadar podcast after reading it; as it might make more sense.
13 Reactions to …and there’s a blog entry, too.
Pravila za komentarisanje:
haha, a superior JF-news heavy day
The phrases he has written may correspond to the songs , in order,
but many of those ideas could exist in one song : )
But i think it will be worth mentioning this because some of the song titles do make sense with what he has described as component pieces of the album.
Before the beginning - from within confusion and darkness
Song to the siren - reaching up to the source of light
Unreachable - trying
God - giving up
Dark/Light - climbing/resting
Heaven - going up
Enough of me - going down
Central - dying
One more of me - being reborn
After the ending - darkness becomes lighter
I also liked that, but it seems he'd changed his mind in the meantime. I hope he was not disturbed by this post. I just THOUGHT that the explanation he gave about how his lyrics is not really a joke, but a combo of feelings and wordplay could fit perfectly as an additional reading resource after reading that entry. I wanted to encourage people to have their own mind, their own originality and not to live for becoming carbon copies of John Frusciante; and not to get every single thing he says as some sort of a mantra.
One thing: He can't stop people from wanting to analyse his writing. He's a prolific writer and of course people will have their own interpretations of what he says and does, he says so himself. And all intriguing, mystical writers get analysed. It's in people's nature and it has absolutely nothing to do with a "logical brain". He says so and then he contradicts himself, by being disturbed by people doing so...?!
Another thing: He doesn't want people to blindly follow him, yet when someone's obviously NOT blindly following him, he seems to be offended by that; instead of appreciating people who do take advice from his words, yet absolutely forming their own opinion and being themselves, he's almost appearing offended.
I don't get it. I absolutely and totally don't get it.
i can recall him saying stuff like he likes building stuff up from seperate parts, part a & b make c, that makes sense with his artistic influences (dadaists & stuff).
it's sth 2 participate in. Like my biological father always quotes from cocteau :"surprise me". It's a surprise 2 creator & listener. Furthermore it is impossible for anyone else to know the possiblE real meaning of subconscious "outings".
he's not a rethorically , rationally inclined someone, very few artists are. Be patient age will form the talent.
btw the only advice anyone needs is always already within themselves.
I think mr. Frusciante shares that philosophy/common sense.
Just repaying you for your service
Bram
Who is repaying whom for what service? I don't understand that part.
I can't tell if you were replying to me because you replied to the whole topic and not my comment.
I do agree that the advice is inside of us, but many of us are really lacking comon sense when it comes to themselves: many of us see ourselves as worst people in the world, usually because of the way we were brought up, people giving us an extreme burden of self-doubt and questioning ourselves if we're right or wrong.
In other words: sometimes you need someone else to tell you what's inside of you. At least I know I do. That doesn't mean idolising, that doesn't mean taking every single thing someone says as "OMG, he/she said it, so it's got to be true". That's just accepting other artist's ways of seeing things and it may or may not lead you to figuring something on your own.
By the way, in case I never said so, I write poetry and before I started this site, I fell in love with lyrics of all these songs before I even heard them as music. I guess my approach is untypical and a bit harder to explain. Sorry.
I do get that John is trying to explain something, but (there's always a but or a butt)
- I'm not sure if he knows what he's talking about and what his own album is actually about. Those blog posts make him look like he's arguing with himself about what his own album is and/or accusing someone (but whom?) of not understanding him.
- I'm not sure if what he thought in December 2006 or March 2008 is the same thing he thinks he seems to be struggling to explain today. Isn't that Woody Harleson with RHCP clip from December 2006? Isn't that show with Blue Sunday and I'm 18 from December 2006? He looked pretty normal there, aware of the world around him and now it seems he's living out of known space and time.
- I'm not sure if he's sane these days. The photos from the latest session are somewhat corny, with the "sun" shining and everything, something the world's seen before so many times and I don't get if he's trying to look like a saint or a prophet because he really thinks he's one or because he's mocking people for thinking he's one (remember the Jesus photos?), or if he's drunk, stoned or, god forbid, snorting/injecting and thinking it's incredible for whatever reason.
i believe he totally understands it emotionally but struggles with expressing it verbally...
i did not think you one of many, noone is
(i am repaying you for making this forum for everyone)
i hope i would be correct in assuming that by advice, you mean, learning.
that would clarify much. I'm a stickler for words.
I can very much understand that you dig his shiite coming from poetry.
I do think automatic writing is very much a part of what he does and that's where as far as i know
(especially when doing it in a song context, thinking musical word/note atmospheres...)
it strays from poetry in being somewhat closer to 'total nonsense' to third parties.
I guess he feels guilty that someone might think his personal "cleansing" is a tale of morality.
what kind of poetry do you like? I would like to know some nice modern ones
I guess I do mean learning. If someone gives me a proper heads-up, a proper clue for something, I am not going to do exactly what they're saying; but I'm going to find my own way of doing it. As for my poetry, I write and I don't think I'm following a particular genre. It varies...some of the things I'd written in the past couple of years could as well fit into the 19th century romanticism, while some others are totally avant/garde and there's a number of poems for which some of my friends said they'd make good punk songs, the kind of things one wants to scream out at the top of their lungs.
Recently, I've been trying out the process that you might've just described: writing whatever comes to my mind and then shaping it further into a poem. So, each poem ends up with a version that is "total nonsense" and a version that's actually readable by, like you said, third party. It just makes perfect sense to me, I'm just not 100% sure if it's automatic writing, as I'm perfectly aware of what I'd written, just also aware that it might be stupid to someone else until it takes its final shape.
Personal cleansing being a tale of morality? Are we talking about the things John was saying mostly in the 1998-2004 period here...?
And you're welcome. Thanks for the nice words.
P.S. Pretty, pretty please, get the confusion with nested comments done with! It's hard for someone who's neither you nor me to follow this if you keep on adding new comments instead of replying to the existing thread!
Hello Miss Iva
(tale of morality was a somewhat unfortunate, hyperbolic, example) I'll use a longer Example .Neither the mars volta nor frusciante have an expert knowledge of the paranormal or psychology ( & both of these are very much made to be privately studied/ understood)& this results in one 'student' assimulating mistakes from another student. There's the rub when you mix private study/ investigation (into yourself) with making it public, in some instances they might be showing sth which is a subconscious problem within themselves (which they have both admitted using art for) therefore it is important to keep the perspective of it being art (not psychological analysis) before anything else.
I don't want to give the impression that i spend my time with these subjects (i just happen to know alot about 'em as i always have to know everything), as they bore me. I've kinda moved on from art into more detached forms of that mindset, but i mostly look at 'how' music is made not what the (emotional) motivations are, unless they themselves become a 'how' that interests me.
ps :Automatic writing just means you don't censor your stream of (sub)consciousness, not dissociation between you & the act of writing.
ps2: don't feel obliged to write back to an obviously endlessly lulling smurf such as me, just wanted to clarify the obscurities
much fun with your poetry wish you brilsmurf
You guys are all crazy. I think that in his posts John is just rambling on useless nonsense and writing it off himself as useless, just to see who visits his site.
We obviously get different things out of what we read but iva why do you think he is offended that people actually follow his thoughts and words?
And whoever said the pics by the sun were tacky w/e. I think John is somewhat of a Romanctic poet with his talks of nature and born and unborn, he's been through it right?
Isn't his music good enough people?!
Just wanted to say hi and see if this works
Bryan
its interesting reading all your comments and that
but i just dont get how u ppl know when his offended?
like i mean is it from the way he writes or past interviews about the album?
i haven't been on here a while so dnt kw wat is goin on and honestly havent
heard the whole album to make myself all intellectual on here.
pls xplain?!
Iva, I have been visiting your site for some time now, and you have contributed to enhancing my life and bringing more happiness and joy into it due to your time and effort in supplying us the information that you do about John's music. So thank you very much for the time and resources you dedicate to this.
I consider myself to be a very connected to John's music, as I am sure most of us visiting this site do. His music emotes a sense of wholeness with in me. I don't tend to idolize him, but rather appreciate that someone is here on earth that impacts my life so meaningfully. I try to be in awe of this experience as well as others that I encounter every moment of my life. Some of those moments are good and some not so good, but they are my moments to learn from none the less.
My point is, after reading several of the responses to this ongoing subject, it is my observation that you are very mindful of what John thinks about you "pinging" his website and making available some of the information that he posts on his website.
My thought is that John is most likely very in tune with what he is posting and removing from his site and he makes those decisions based on what he feels like he wants to share, not so much what he thinks people are posting about what he has made already available. His site is after all a portal for his fans to reach him in a way. Your site and others like it that provide information about him, his music etc. are an extension of that portal.
After reading his blogs, he is obviously very conscience of the fact that he would like to have his patrons come in with an open mind and so they can make their own assessments of his music. I can't quite seem to grasp why some folks think he is just aimlessly rambling or is contradicting himself in his blogs, interviews, or writing or even that he can't express himself verbally. I think he has a flow and purpose to his thoughts, music and actions all the time. We might not understand the source of where it originates, or it may not even mesh with our own perceptions, but you can tell he knows what he wants to express. He comes across as a very conscientious person when it comes to how he wants things done and delivered musically (wether it be his solo career or RHCP's). I am not saying I know something others don't, it is just my observation, but I would not be overly concerned about what you post from his site. If anything, I would think he would appreciate what you are providing. He has said many times in interviews that he understands how his music makes people happy and emotes great feelings in them. You are simply helping to deliver that to people.
Anyway, I really wanted to just tell you thank you for what you do. It is a great site and I just printed the new tabs and can't wait to start learning them. Thanks.
Peter