Voice of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986). Excerpts from an interview for the German TV programme 'Lebensläufe' in 1980 and from Beuys' audio-sculptural artwork 'Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee', featuring Johannes Stüttgen and Henning Christiansen, performed and recorded at Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, 14th December 1968

Additional samples

Earliest surviving recording of music: a live performance of Georg Friedrich Händel's oratorio 'Israel in Egypt'. Recorded by Edison engineer George E. Gouraud at Crystal Palace, London, England, 29th June 1888

Martin Feifel’s recitation of Friedrich Hölderlin's poem 'Hälfte des Lebens' (1804)

Excerpt from Georg Friedrich Händel's 'Minuet in G', arranged by Wilhem Kempff

Some rain

tonbandstimmen

Isolated vocals remix of Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead

Original lyrics by Thom Yorke
First released on the album The Bends
Parlophone Record & Capitol Records, 1995
...
Distilled lyrics

And if I could be who you wanted
If I could be who you wanted
All the time
All the time

It wears her out
Wears her out
It wears her out
Wears her out

And it wears him out
It wears him out
It wears him out
It wears 

And it wears me out
it wears me out
It wears me out
it wears me out

And if I could be who you wanted
If I could be who you wanted
All the time
All the time

It wears her out
It wears him out
It wears me out

And if I could be who you wanted
If I could be who you wanted
All the time
All the time

And if I could be

and if I could be who you wanted

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

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 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

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

Voice of Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887-1965)
Excerpts from a BBC reportage, 1958
Image: Model for Le Corbusier’s 'Le Ferme Radieuse' (1930) 

---

La Ville Radieuse
Sun, space and green
Silence and total solitude

Sun, space and green
Such richness of life
Silence and total solitude

Open the eyes and the ears
The whole world is ready
And the old things are now fluid

la ville radieuse

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 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

Voice of John Lurie
Vocal excerpts from the HBO trailer for ‘Painting with John’, Season 1 Episode 1 (2020)
Saxophone and brass samples: Phased fragments from ‘Bob the Bob’ and ‘Bob the Bob Home’
Originally released on the Lounge Lizards album ‘Voice of Chunk’ (1988)
Train recording by Kristina Kotov

---
And I’m gonna give you another chance
Now write a poem

Hello
Hello

Now write a poem

Hello
Hello

Hello

now write a poem

Voice of Björk
Excerpts from the isolated vocals for ‘It's Oh So Quiet’ (1995) and ‘Headphones’ (1995)
Additional sample: Excerpt from ‘Mild und Leise’ (1973) by Paul Lansky

---

It's oh, so quiet
It's oh, so still
You’re all alone

To sleep, to sleep, to sleep
To sleep, to sleep, to sleep
To sleep, to sleep, to sleep

So quiet
So still
All alone

Night
Night
Night

3 AM

Vocal sample: Excerpt from a documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (1958-1998)
Image: Detail of ‘Numbers’ (2007) by Jasper Johns

---

Ahh, ahh
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
Ahh

Ahh, ahh
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
Ahh

Ahh, ahh
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
Ahh

Ahh, ahh
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
Ahh


counting by numbers

Voice of Jeff Buckley (1966-1997)
Excerpts from the isolated vocals for ‘Opened Once’ 
Originally released on the album ‘Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk’ (1988)
Additional sample: NASA recording of the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing 

---

Always in love with the moon
The moon, always in love with the moon
Always in love with the moon

Always in love with the moon
The moon

The moon, the moon 
Forgetting that I ever happened

Forgetting, forgetting that I ever happened
Ever happened
The moon
That I ever happened
The moon

The moon, the moon 
Forgetting, forgetting that I ever happened
Ever happened

lunar love song

Voice of Tom Waits reading from his poem ‘Seeds On Hard Ground’ (2011)
Excerpt from ‘The Last Ride’, final episode of the Rai 3 documentary series ‘Il Fattore Umano / The Human Factor’ (2025), RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, 2025

---

Okay

I’m a seed that fell
Upon a hard ground
The hard ground
I’m a seed that fell
Upon the ground
I’m a seed that fell
Upon the ground

I’m a leaf that fell
From an oak tree
An oak tree
From an old oak tree
I’m a leaf that fell
From an old oak tree

I’m a stone that is rolling
On a rough road
I’m a stone that is rolling
On a rough road
I’m a stone that is rolling
On the road

Can I get up off the mat
Like a wrestler that has 
Been beaten, beaten
Can I get up and come
Roaring back?
I guess some of us just 
Get the old maid

I’m the king of something
Yes indeed
I’m the king of the road
I’m the king of the weeds
I’m the king of the alley
I’m the king of the dirt
I’m the king of the doorway
I’m the king of the sidewalk
I’m the king of the hurt
I’m a bursting bubble
And my crown is my hat
When it comes to trouble
I’m the king of all that 

Did I do it all backwards
Did I do it all wrong
Can I pull myself up by the 
Bootstraps of this song
Was I cursed
Is it over
And how long
How long?

Penniless
Derelict
Rolling stone
Drifter
Vagabond
Rambler
Nomad
Pilgrim
Waif
Beggar
Vagrant
Wanderer
Me


seeds on hard ground

Sampled voices of Japanese ASMR artists

---

Hello, hello
How are you
Doing
Today?

how are you doing today?

Voices of Anita Baker and Chet Baker (1929-1988)
Rearranged excerpts from two renditions of ‘My Funny Valentine’
Original composition and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (1937)

---

My funny Valentine
Sweet comic Valentine
You make me smile 
With my heart

If you care for me
Stay, little Valentine
Stay, if you care for me
Stay, little Valentine
Stay

Stay, stay, little Valentine
Stay

Stay, funny Valentine
Stay, comic Valentine
Stay, little Valentine
Stay, little Valentine
Stay

Each day is 
Valentine’s Day


stay

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

Popular tracks