"I Am the Cosmos" by Chris Bell is the greatest song of all time. Undeniably.
Every night I tell myself I am the cosmos
I am the wind
But that don't get you back again
The sound of "I Am the Cosmos" is as huge as its title, but Chris Bell certainly ain't bragging: in the first verse of his only single, he's saying it doesn't really matter what he--cosmos or not--says or does: he's gonna be heartbroken. That album cover you see captures the song's musical scope, but it doesn't hint at its tragedy.
This is one of the most emotionally intense songs I've ever heard. It's as raw and agonized as Husker Du, but, in place of screaming, it offers soul-searing melody. Like Alex Chilton, Bell took lots of notes on the Beatles and the Byrds. "I Am the Cosmos" is composed of fairly typical pop moments--a guitar solo, handclaps, a "yeah yeah yeah" refrain-- that have been pushed beyond their limits... and the result is catharsis. When the man claims his feelings have always been something he couldn't hide, we believe him.
I'm pretty sure Bell died in some kind of freak accident, and yet, the amount of emotional stuff poured into this song-- which is, again, the only self-authored single released during his lifetime-- almost seems to indicate his profound awareness of death to come. The only other parallel I can think of is Jeff Buckley's Grace, which is nearly impossible for me to imagine in the context of a longer career.
Wallace Stevens said that death is the mother of beauty. And I say that Chris Bell's death sucked.
But I also say that "I Am the Cosmos" is the greatest song of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR594Kkxmzg
No comments:
Post a Comment