DER RATTENFAENGER
Driving back from Virginia last week, I decided to give Mom a break from my nonstop Michael Jackson playlists (sprinkled with some Lisa Marie Presley, as we were still flying high from the show in Lynchburg). Personally, I find it quite incomprehensible why one would desire such a break, but hey, my empathy antennae picked up something. Digging through my CD's of the non MJ kind (yes, I do have those, contrary to popular belief), I found my Rainhard Fendrich CD. Perfect- Mom perked up! Lyrics she could actually understand. And I was also ready for a trip down musical memory lane.
Now, most of you will not be familiar with this artist, as most of you are not from Austria. Here is a short bio, copied from wikipedia (btw- the song I Am From Austria still gives me goosebumps) :
Rainhard Jürgen Fendrich (born 27 February 1955 in Vienna) is an Austrian singer, composer, entertainer, and actor. He is one of the most successful Austropop musicians, and his songs are written in Viennese German. He is very popular in Austria, but less so in other German-speaking countries. In non-German speaking countries he is little known. His song from 1990, "I am from Austria" (its lyrics, except for the title, are in Viennese German) is still popular in Austria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainhard_Fendrich)
The album I had on hand was the Live Album with the Vienna Philharmonics, recorded in front of Vienna City Hall from 1992 as the kick-off to the Wiener Festwochen:
http://www.fendrich.at/musik/diskografie/rainhard-fendrich-wiener-symphoniker/
After some well known sarcastic and fun songs (including a Remix of the hilarious anti sport hymn Es Lebe Der Sport), it was time for some calmer tones. I perked up- it was track 6, a song I have always loved by the title: Der Rattenfaenger (literally: The Rat Catcher- which is the German title to the legend of the Pied Piper). Please take a minute to listen to this amazing track. Really- I do have a point to make with all this...
First- how amazing is the music? I LOVE the mix of classical and pop; the soft and beautiful flute replaced later by the aggressive tones of the electric guitar. LOVE IT!
Now to the most important aspect- the lyrics. I will post the German Lyrics first, then the English translation. Some of you might then start to see where I am going with this. In the past, I had listened to this song many times before, but as you know, our frame of reference influences how we attribute meaning. I had the same thought before, but now, post 2009, the intensity of the meaning I carried away left me almost in tears. Here are the lyrics...
Es war einmal vor langer Zeit
Man könnt´ fast sagen vor einer Ewigkeit
Ein kleiner Mann, ein Musikant
Er war bekannt im ganzen Land
Für die Macht und die Magie
Seiner Flötenmelodie.
Doch die Leut´ dumm wie die Nacht
War´n bald neidisch auf die Macht
Hab´n ihn g´jagt und g´schrien dabei
Das kann doch nur der Teufel sein!
Der Teufel sein
Seid´s ängstlich und passt´s auf
Passt´s auf die Kinder auf
Es gibt noch soviel Rattenfänger
Sie stengan ob´n im Licht
Und zahn mit jedem Ton
Die Kinder euch davon
Solang noch Kinder leb´n
Wird´s immer G´schichten geb´n
Über so manchen Rattenfänger
Sie hab´n ihr´ ganze Macht
Ihr´ Kraft und ihr´ Magie
Durch eure Fantasie
Doch seid´s ängstlich und passt´s auf
Passt´s auf die Kinder auf
Es lauern immer Rattenfänger
Auf einmal rennen´s los
Und alle hinterher
Wie Lemminge ins Meer.
Translation (by me- translating the "rat catcher" to Pied Piper for story purposes)
Once upon a time, one could say an eternity ago
There was a little man, a musician
He was known all over the land
for the power and the magic
of his flute melody.
But the people- as ignorant as the night is dark
Soon became envious of his might
They hunted him down and screamed:
he can only be the devil.
Be scared and take heed
and watch the children-
There are still so many pied pipers.
They stand there in the light
And with every tone, they pull your children away from you.
As long as there are children
There will always be stories
About the one or the other Pied Pipers.
They derived all their power, their might, and their magic
Purely from your imagination.
But be scared and take heed
And watch you children tightly
Pied Pipers will always lay in wait.
Suddenly they will storm off
And everyone will follow
Like Lemmings into the sea.
Art is always open to interpretation. And as this is my blog, I will present mine. This song struck me on a very deep level. To me, it highlights something quite perplexing: the ongoing quest to destroy beauty and innocence in whatever form or reincarnation we - as in the human race- encounter it. Throughout history, humanity has at first admired, revered, and then sought to destroy purity and innocence. Does this go hand in hand with the need to destroy what it different? If so, does that mean that innocence and purity are so outside our norm that we cannot comprehend it and thus need to eradicate it when encountered?
From an evolutionary perspective, the trend to attack things outside the norm is understandable: Survival of a species requires distrust toward anything foreign and unknown. If you are not a tiger, you might wanna kick tiger-butt just incase you look like a tiger snack. You don't have to understand or try to see things from the tiger's perspective. He's different. And different is potentially dangerous. Why take a risk and endanger the continuation of a species?
But looking around in history, we not only destroy what's different. We destroy what we do not understand. Still. Long after we checked our clubs and moved out of caves. What does that say about humanity, then? Have we not evolved? Physiologically, we added a prefrontal lobe to our limbic system - meaning we can think logically and evaluate evidence, not react on a purely emotional level. Right?
Why is purity and pure, beautiful intent so damn scary? Are we as a rule dishonest and jaded..are we in our grown up, adult form unable to tap into the trusting innocence children seem to quite naturally possess (unless something went wrong early on and trauma stole their childhood and innocence)? Watch a child laugh at the magical jewels contained in bubbles they blow and you will see what I mean. Then watch the adult rush in and yell that the child is staining the floor or furniture with the soapy mess- and my point is made fully.
One thing is certain: Michael Jackson, the musician labeled a child protégée and a genius when he was celebrated and revered, bewildered our culture with his childlike innocence beyond compare. He refused to compromise his ideals. His insistence on purity and simple child-like intents made him suspicious. Just as he refused to accept that some records could not be broken, he refused to accept that it in our culture it was not seen as kosher to hang out with children once you are past a certain age. If you have a place you open up for free to delight children, if you shower them with gifts, if you allow sleep overs and are a participant (while not in the bed with children- and also not without presence of other adults, contrary to popular myths), you have to be a dangerous deviant. Some weirdo trying to at best seduce our children away from us. Other explanations do not fit in the cultural mold. Michael himself was aware of this, as his shortfilm Ghosts highlights.
I know that Michael Jackson never hurt a child. I know this not only from being a "blind fan" but more so from thorough research into facts (such as trial transcripts; background fact to the Chandler accusations in 93, etc)- highlighting the lunacy of the 1993 and then 2003 (with the trial in 2005) allegations. I also know it was just not in him. He didn't fit the profile of a pedophile. Had he done the things he was accused of, when he was accused of doing so, by the way, he also would be a very stupid pedophile- but that's not my point right now.
I know also know what was done to him- and how it in the end broke him. I think by now, even not-MJ fans know that the 2005 trial laid the foundation for Michael's demise. But why was it so easy (though costly) to destroy this man?
Why did Joe Average believe the reporting and the continuous idiotic fare fed by the mass media? Would one not think that some people might ask, for example, where reports about the defense (that surely was also in that court room) were to be found?
My answer (in the light of this topic): Because Michael was different. He exuded a stubborn innocence- he seduced us as a culture. Especially our young. This young black man dared to break records established and held sacred by the ruling artistic (white) elite. He demanded to be recognized- he challenged what our musical culture was all about. He broke all kinds of ceilings- and the roof, no the house, caved in on him.
Do not misunderstand me. I am well aware of Michael's own contributions to the end. I know about his at times self-destructive denial about things that did not benefit him. He boxed himself into a corner on many fronts. Made some horrible calls. Trusted the wrong people while wearing out some of his strongest supporters. But the punishment for bad judgment should not be exile and death. However- magical seduction of the young, who are by the very nature of their age open to new influences, is a major crime against the cultural status quo, if not against cultural mores. Punishment was harsh and unforgiving: Michael was vilified, hunted, and destroyed. Lies had morphed into a cultural myth.
A pertinent quote by John F Kennedy, one of my other heroes:
"The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived, and dishonest--but the myth-- persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion with the discomfort of thought."Ultimately, Michael got his his revenge, as did the Pied Piper. However, it did not take the death of the children- it took his own. Strangely, again art predicted reality in Ghosts. The Maestro destroys himself and leaves his accusers (all but the ignorant Major) with regret and sadness. Look around- can you see some of the myth starting to be deconstructed? Can you see evidence and thought emergence? And then there is his art... Put on an MJ song and see how the children around you react.
Then look inside. Look down. Watch your tapping feet. Surrender. Unleash your inner dancer. Feel your face relax in that smile. And let yourself enjoy the young and joyous spirit of the artist who may be gone- but whose legacy will outlive us all. As will the legend of the pied piper. This cautionary tale. Will there be influences possibly seducing our young, yes. I'm not saying we should trust everything or everyone. But let's look at the wonder in the strange. Not every challenge is an act of destruction. Not everyone breaking the social code is a threat. Look at Mozart, Beethoven, Van Gough, Picasso... and a young man from Nazareth who was the ultimate rebel against an established status quo. Let's celebrate the beauty surrounding us instead of shrinking away into our shells or following that mob of alarmist, ignorant lemmings blindly down that cliff.
