Voices of Barack Obama, Aretha Franklin, and Lou Reed

Obama singing Amazing Grace during his eulogy for South Carolina State Senator Reverend Clementa C.  Pinckney at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church, Charleston, 2015

Franklin singing Amazing Grace at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, Los Angeles, 1972

Reed talking about sound in his last interview with director Farida Khelfa, New York, 2013

…

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
The sound

Sweet
Amazing grace
How sweet
The sound

Amazing grace
Amazing to hear that

I’m very emotionally affected by sound
But what is sound?
Sound is more than just noise
And ordered sound is music

Amazing grace
It’s pretty amazing

Amazing grace
The sound
So beautiful it made me cry

Amazing 
Amazing grace
How sweet  
The, the sound

Amazing grace
So beautiful it made me cry

The sound of the wind
The sound of love

grace

Conversation about trees

Voices of Helene Weigel, Bertold Brecht, Konstantin Wecker, Klaus Kinski, Ilse Scheer, Clemens von Ramin, Fritz Stavenhagen, and Christian Brückner reciting a fragment of Brecht’s poem ‘An die Nachgeborenen’ (To those who follow in our wake), written between 1934 and 1938, first published in 1939.

Additional samples: 
Excerpts from ‘Wenn die alten Bäume leise rauschen‘ 
Composed by L. Whitcup, lyrics by A. Kühn
Performed by Rudi Hofstetter and René Carol

Excerpt from ‘Wandrers Nachtlied‘ 
Composed by F. Schubert, lyrics by J.W. von Goethe
Performed by Dietrich Fischer-Diskau

---
Was sind das für Zeiten

Das arglose Wort ist töricht
Eine glatte Stirn deutet auf Unempfindlichkeit hin
Der Lachende hat die furchtbare Nachricht nur noch nicht empfangen

Was sind das für Zeiten, 
wo ein Gespräch über Bäume fast ein Verbrechen ist,
weil es ein Schweigen über so viele Untaten einschließt

Was sind das für Zeiten
Wenn die alten Bäume leise rauschen
und wenn die Nacht herniedersinkt

In allen Wipfeln 
spürest Du 
kaum einen Hauch

---
What times are these

The innocent word is foolish
A smooth forehead points to insensitivity
He who laughs simply has not yet received the terrible news

What times are these
in which a conversation about trees is almost a crime
because it includes the silence about so many atrocities

What times are these
When the old trees rustle softly 
and when the night falls 

In every tree-top
You scarcely feel
A breath of wind

---
Full Brecht poem and English translation:
https://harpers.org/2008/01/brecht-to-those-who-follow-in-our-wake/

gespraech ueber baeume

Polyphonic rearrangement of ‘Possibly Maybe’
Original composition, lyrics & vocals by Björk (1995)
…
 
Possibly maybe
Maybe
Possibly maybe
Possibly

Who knows what’s going to happen?
Who knows what’s going to happen?

I’m exhausted, leave me alone

Where’s that love you promised me?
Where is it?

Possibly maybe 
I’m exhausted
Possibly maybe 
Leave me alone
Possibly maybe

This is possibly 
Love
Since we broke up
Love
I’m using lipstick again
Love
I suck my tongue
Love
In remembrance of you
Love

How can you offer me love like that?
My heart’s burned
Love
How can you offer me love like that?
I’m exhausted, leave me alone
Love

This is possibly 
Love
Possibly maybe 
Love

Possibly maybe
This is possibly 
Love

Love
This is possibly love
Love  

Uncertainty excites me
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Who knows what’s going to happen?

Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?
Baby, who knows what’s going to happen?

Who knows what’s going to happen?
Who knows what’s going to happen?

possibly maybe (Bjork remix)

Voice of Nina Simone (1933-2003) 
Repeated excerpts from the vocal intro to Simone’s 1960s live performance of ‘Feeling Good’ 

---

Birds flying high
You know how I feel

Sun in the sky
You know how I feel

Breeze driftin' on by
You know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day

It's a new life for me
Yeah

It's a new dawn
It's a new day

New life for me

new life

Voice of John Cage (1912-1992) 
Excerpt from an interview in 'Listen’ (Écoute), a film by Miroslav Sebestik, 1992

---

When I hear what we call music
It seems to me that someone is talking
And talking about his feelings or about his ideas of relationships

But when I hear traffic, the sound of traffic, here on 6th Avenue for instance,
I don’t have the feeling that anybody is talking
I have the feeling that sound is acting

Sound is acting 
And I love the activity of sound

What it does is
It gets louder and quieter
And it gets higher and lower
And it gets longer and shorter
It does all these things
Which I’m completely satisfied with
And I don’t need sound to talk to me

It gets louder and quieter
And it gets higher and lower
And it gets longer and shorter
And I don’t need sound to talk to me

Sound is acting 
And I love the activity of sound

Sound is acting 
And I love the activity of sound

We don’t see much difference between time and space
We don’t know where one begins and the other stops

There are two things that don’t have to mean anything
One is music and the other is laughter

Don’t have to mean anything, that is
In order to give a us very deep pleasure

You know that 
Don’t we?

you know that

Voice of Bill Evans (1929–1980)
Excerpt from the documentary ‘The Universal Mind of Bill Evans’ 
Directed by Louis Cavrell, 1966

peace piece (pp cover)

Voices of Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassja Kinski

Excerpt from the phone booth scene in 'Paris, Texas' (1984) 
Directed by Wim Wenders, co-written by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson

---

I can’t see you, Jane

Don’t go yet
Don’t go yet

I, I used to make up long speeches to you after you left
I used to talk to you all the time
Even though I was alone

I walked around for months talking to you

Now
I don’t know what to say
It was easier when I just imagined you

I even imagined you talking back to me
We’d have long conversations
The two of us
It was almost like you were there

I could hear you
I could see you, smell you
I could hear your voice

Sometimes your voice would wake me up
It would wake me up in the middle of the night
Just like you were there in the room with me

Then
It slowly faded
I couldn’t picture you anymore

I tried to talk out loud to you like I used to
But there was nothing there
I couldn’t hear you

Then
I just gave up
Everything stopped

You
Just disappeared

Now 
I’m working here
I hear your voice all the time
Every man has your voice

I tell him 
That you are coming

Travis

What?

I’ll be there

almost like you were there

Voices of Gary Farmer and Jim Morrison (1943-1971) reciting lines from the poem 
‘Auguries of Innocence’ (1803) by William Blake (1757-1827) 

Excerpts from a scene in Jim Jarmusch’s movie ‘Dead Man’ (1995) 
and from the isolated vocals of ‘End of the Night’ by The Doors (1967)

Image: Gary Farmer as Nobody
Still from 'Dead Man', 1995

---

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born

Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to endless night

Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to endless night
Some are born to the endless night

Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to the endless night

every night and every morn

Voice of Thom York
Excerpts from the background vocals stem for Radiohead’s ‘Reckoner’
Original song by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Edward O’Brien, and Philip Selway; first released on the Radiohead album ‘In Rainbows’ (2007)
---

Rainbows
Rainbows

Rainbows
Rainbows

Because we separate
Like ripples on a blank shore

Rainbows
Rainbows


on a blank shore

Voice of Thom Yorke
Repeated excerpts from ‘Bending Hectic’ by The Smile
Original song by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner
First released on the album ‘Wall of Eyes’ (2024)

---'

I’m letting go 
Of the wheel

It might be as well
It might be as well

It might
It might be
It might be as well


might be as well

Piano sample: First and last notes from ‘Listen, Mayakowski’ by Axel Schmidt aka VOIDE
Released on the album ‘Milkwood’, less records, 2024
https://voide1.bandcamp.com/album/milkwood


sisyphos

Variation on a phrase and two chords from ‘The Köln Concert – Part I’ (1975) by Keith Jarrett

“Subtle laughter may be heard from the audience at the very beginning of "Part I" in response to Jarrett's quoting of the melody of the signal bell which announces the beginning of an opera or concert to patrons at the Köln Opera House, the notes of which are G D C G A. Jarrett himself noted that while he does not remember doing it consciously, he credits it for putting the audience in a good mood that helped him through a difficult concert experience.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Köln_Concert

Image: Oper der Stadt Köln. Wilhelm Riphahn, 1957


signal bell

MUSIC FOR BUILDINGS
Gabor Stark

PLOT D-1 COLUMNS, WALLS & BALCONIES
01. Prelude (1’51’’)
02. Columns And Walls (4’01’’)
03. Balconies (3’58’’)
04. Balcony Variations (3’53’’)
05. Coda (1’06’’)

PLOT G-1 ROTUNDA
06. Right The Sea, Left The Hills (3’01’’)
07. Four Apartments (3’04’’)
08. Rondo In A Major (6’47’’)

MARINE PARADE
09. Folkestone FM (1’20’’)
10. There We Go (3’52’’)

---
Composition & arrangement by Gabor Stark
https://soundcloud.com/precariouspropositions

Field recordings by Duarte Lobo Antunes & Hazel Cowie

Vocal sample on track 06: Voice of Patrick Magee 
Excerpt from Samuel Beckett’s radio play Cascando 
©BBC Third Programme, 1964

℗2025
A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE LTD
www.aisfor.co


MFB 04_Balcony Variations

MFB 02_Columns And Walls

Voices of Johnny Murphy, Barry McGovern, Samuel Beckett and Aidan Moffat.
Excerpts from a 2001 production of ‘Waiting for Godot’ and a 1987 film recording of Beckett.
Looped guitar sample from ‘Piglet’ (1998) by Arab Strap, written by Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton.
Image: ‘Attendant a Godot’ by Gabor Stark, 2025

---

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let’s go.

I don’t know.
I don’t know what to think anymore.

(Beckett speaks)

Didi?
Yes.
I can't go on like this. 
That's what you think. 

If we parted? 
That might be better for us. 

Unless Godot comes. 
And if he comes? 
We'll be saved.

Well, shall we go?
I don’t know.

You had already been half an hour …

Let’s go.
And if he comes? 
I don’t know.

Voice of Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)
Excerpts from the isolated vocals of ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ (1964)
Bandoneon sample: First and last notes from ‘Íntimo’ (2020) by Dino Saluzzi

---

In other words
In other words
In other words
In other words
In other words
I love
You


in other words

Voice of Tanaya Vyas reciting the Hindi poem ‘Man Bahut Sochta Hai’ (The Mind Wanders Deep) by Agyeya (1911–1987). Additional vocals and pygmy flute by Francis Bebey (1929-2001); excerpt from a video interview for Real World Studios (1995)

---

man bahut sochta hai ki udas na ho
par udasi ke bina raha kaise jaye?

shahr ke door ke tanaw dabaw koi sah bhi le,
par ye apne hi rache ekant ka dabaw saha kaise jaye!

neel akash, tairte se megh ke tukDe,
khuli ghas mein dauDti megh chhayayen,

pahaDi nadi ha pardarsh pani,
dhoop dhule tal ke rangarang patthar,

sab dekh bahut gahre kahin jo uthe,       
wo kahun bhi to sunne ko koi pas na ho—

isi par jo ji mein uthe wo kaha kaise jaye!
man bahut sochta hai ki udas na ho, na ho,

par udasi ke bina raha kaise jaye!

…

The heart keeps telling itself: don’t be sad, don’t be sad
But how can life unfold without some shade of sorrow?

The pressures and strains of distant city streets one may endure,
But how to bear the weight of solitude one creates alone?

The vast blue sky, with drifting shards of cloud afloat,
Cloud shadows racing freely over open fields of grass,

Mountain streams that gleam with crystal-clear flow,
Sun-washed stones in hues that dance beside the pond

To witness all this, yet feel a depth stirring within,
Where can one speak these silent thoughts, when no ears are near?

That which rises deep inside; where can it find its voice?
The heart keeps telling itself: don’t be sad, don’t be sad

But how can life unfold without some shade of sorrow?


man bahut sochta hai

Voice of Slavoy Žižek
Excerpt from a video interview for Big Think, 2012 

---

You know, happiness is for me a very conformist category. 
It doesn't enter, it doesn't enter the frame. 

You have a serious ideological deviation at the very beginning of, eh, famous proclamation of independence – you know, pursuit of happiness. If there is a point in psychoanalysis, it is that people do not really want or desire happiness, and I think it’s good that it is like that. 

For example, let’s be serious: when you are in a creative endeavor, in that wonderful fever – 
“My God, I’m onto something!” and so on – happiness doesn't enter it. You are ready to suffer. 

Sometimes scientists – I read history of quantum physics or earlier of radiation – were even ready to, to take into account the possibility that they will die because of some radiation and so on. You know, happiness is, for me, an unethical category.

And also, we don’t really want to get what we think that we want. I claim that this is how things function. We don’t really want what we think we desire.

We don’t really want to get what we think that we want.
We don’t really want what we think we desire.

And I think it’s good that it is like that.

Slavoy Žižek does not want to be happy

Voice of Thom Yorke
Excerpts from the isolated vocals for ‘Unmade’ (2018)
Image: Detail of ‘Wing of a European Roller’ (1512) by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

---

Under my wings
Under my wings, little bird
Come under my wings, little bird
Come under my wings

Under my wings
Under my wings, little bird
Come under my wings, little bird
Come under my wings
My wings 
  
My wings
Under my wings

under my wings

Voices of Thom Yorke and VOCES8 
Excerpts from the isolated vocals from ‘Pyramid Song’ by Radiohead (2001)
and a VOCES8 live recording at the Proms 2023

---

There was nothing to fear,
Nothing to doubt

Nothing to fear,
Nothing to doubt


nothing to fear, nothing to doubt

Voice of Forest Whitaker 
Reading from ‘Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai’ by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659-1719)
Excerpt from Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’ (1999) 

---

Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness

Existing where there is nothing 
Is the meaning of the phrase:
Form is emptiness

That all things are provided for by nothingness 
Is the meaning of the phrase:
Emptiness is form

One should not think that these are two separate things

Form is emptiness
Emptiness is form

Form is emptiness
Emptiness is form

One should not think that these are two separate things

the meaning of the phrase

Voice of Björk
Excerpts from the isolated vocals for ‘Headphones’
Originally released on the album ‘Post’ (1995)

---

This is very interesting
I like this resonance
It elevates me

I don’t recognise myself
Nothing will be the same

This is very interesting

I don’t recognise myself

Nothing will be the same


nothing will be the same

Voice of Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991)
Isolated vocals from ‘Ecce Homo Et Caetera’ (1981)

---

Me voici à poil à l'hosto
L'aiguille hypodermique me cherche les lipides
Le toubib s'alarme de mon masque livide
T'inquiète doc Il n'est jamais trop tôt

Héros, héros, suis-je un héros?
Qualité première lucide
Je fais mon check-up comme d'hab
Tout baigne, limpide
Résultat zéro double zéro

Bullshot et shit un jour auront ma peau
Et mon cerveau son propre acide
Oh comme j'aimerais noyé dans le liquide
Descendre à reculons comme Arthur Rimbaud

O.K. K.O.
Le cœur pompe à malheur goutte à goutte se vide
Cancer arrêt cardiaque me laissent impavide
Dormir une chance de rêve trop c'est trop


ecce homo etc.

Voice of Thom Yorke
Excerpts from the isolated vocals of ‘Codex’
Originally released on the Radiohead album ‘The Kings of Limbs’ (2011)

---

Jump off the edge
Into a clear lake
No one around

The water’s clear
And innocent

The water’s clear
No one around


into a clear lake

Voice of Mitski
Layered excerpts from the isolated vocals for ‘I Bet on Losing Dogs’ and ‘Once More to See You’
Originally released on the Mitski album ‘Puberty 2’ (2016)

---

My baby, my baby
You’re my baby
Say it to me

Baby, my baby

Tell your baby 
That I’m your baby

In the rearview mirror 
I saw the setting sun on your neck
And felt the taste of you 
Bubble up inside me
Baby, my baby 

You’re my baby
Say it to me
To see you 
If I could see you
Baby, my baby 

In the city of my heart
I’m your baby 
If I could see you
Once more to see you

Say it 
If I could see you
Say it to me once more 
To see you
Baby, my baby
Once more to see you
Say it to me

Baby, my baby
Once more to see you
Baby, my baby

Say it to me
Once more 
To see you
My baby

lullaby

Voice of Georges Perec (1936-1982) 
Excerpts from ‘Je me souviens’ (Paris: Hachette, 1978)
Recorded for Radio France in 1978
Image: Monsieur Perec’s cat

---

Quelques extraits de ‘Je me souviens’

Je me souviens que mon oncle avait une 11 CV immatriculée 7070 RL2.

Je me souviens du cinéma Les Agriculteurs, et des fauteuils club du Camera, et des sièges à deux places du Panthéon.

Je me souviens de Lester Young au Club Saint-Germain; il portait un complet de soie bleu avec une doublure de soie rouge.

Je me souviens de Ronconi, de Brambilla et de Jéus Moujica; et de Zaaf, l’éternel « lanterne rouge ».

Je me souviens qu'Art Tatum appela un morceau Sweet Lorraine parce qu’il avait été en Lorraine pendant la guerre de l4-l8.

Je me souviens du « tac tac ».

Je me souviens d'un Anglais manchot qui battait tout le monde au ping-pong à Château d'Oex.

Je souviens de Ploum ploum tra la la.

Je souviens qu'un ami de mon cousin Henri restait toute la journée en robe de chambre quand il préparait ses examens.

Je me souviens du Citoyen du Monde Garry Davis. Il tapait à la machine sur la place du Trocadéro.

Je me souviens des parties de barbu aux Petites-Dalles.

Je me souviens des Trois Evêchés: Metz, Toul et Verdun.

Je me souviens du pain jaune qu'il y a eu pendant quelque temps après la guerre.

Je me souviens des premiers « flippers »: justement, ils n’avaient pas de flippers.

Je me souviens des vieux numéros de L’Illustration.

Je me souviens des aiguilles en acier, et des aiguilles en bambou, que l'on aiguisait sur un frottoir après chaque disque.

Je me souviens qu’au « Monopoly », l’avenue de Breteuil est verte, l’avenue Henri-Martin rouge et l’avenue Mozart orange.

Je me souviens de …

…

“These ‘I remembers’, of which a number were published in les Cahiers du Chemin (no. 26, January 1976) were put together between January 1973 and June 1977. The principle is straightforward: to attempt to unearth a memory that is almost forgotten, inessential, banal, common, if not to everyone, at least to many. These memories for the most part belong to the period when I was between 10 and 25, that is between 1946 and 1961. When I evoke memories from before the war, they refer for me to a period belonging to the realm of myth: this explains how a memory can be ‘objectively’ false.”

Georges Perec

je me souviens

Voice of Blixa Bargeld
Rearranged vocal excerpts from ‘Die Befindlichkeit des Landes’, originally released on the Einstürzende Neubauten album ‘Silence Is Sexy’ (2000)

---

Die neuen Tempel 
Haben schon Risse

Künftige Ruinen

Einst wächst Gras 
Auch über diese Stadt
Über ihre letzte Schicht

Einst wächst Gras 
Auch über diese Stadt
Über diese letzte Stadt
Über diese letzte Schicht

Die neuen Tempel 
Haben schon Risse

…

The new temples 
Already have cracks

Future ruins

Someday, grass will grow
Over this city too
Over its last layer

Someday, grass will grow
Over this city too
Over this last city
Over this last layer

The new temples 
Already have cracks


letzte schicht

Tenebrae | ˈtɛnɪbriː, ˈtɛnɪbreɪ |
Origin: Latin, literally ‘darkness’

Plural, noun: (In the Roman Catholic Church) matins and lauds for the last three days of Holy Week, at which candles are successively extinguished. Several composers have set parts of the office to music. 

Voice sample: ‘Miserere, mei Deus’ (1630s) by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652)
Lyrics: Book of Psalms, Psalm 51
Verse 3: Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Verse 21 […] tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miserere_(Allegri)

tenebrae  3rd mvt: dawn

tenebrae  2nd mvt: night

tenebrae 1st mvt: dusk

https://precariouspropositions.wordpress.com/

precarious propositions

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