Monday, November 19, 2007

Lou Reed's Songs for Nanking

Lou Reed has written some new songs (so where's that album I've been waiting for?). Here's something about them (from the Overtly named antiMusic News):
Lou Reed has been known to be intensely moved by historical and international events and conflicts. Just recently, Reed composed and recorded two brand new songs -- "Gravity" and "Safety Zone" -- both inspired by the soon-to-be released film NANKING--a powerful and relevant documentary that tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II. It is an emotional reminder of the heartbreaking toll that war takes on the innocent, and a testament to the courage and conviction of a few individuals determined to act in the face of evil.

The events of the film are told through deeply moving interviews with Chinese survivors, archival footage, and chilling testimonies of Japanese soldiers, interwoven with staged readings of the Westerners' letters and diaries as performed by Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Jurgen Prochnow, and Stephen Dorff, among others.

For more go here.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I wonder why he's never commented on 9/11?

Anonymous said...

...because that would be overt!!

Anonymous said...

no way, he did comment on 9/11, but he did it in a poem in the new york times magazine. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E2D61039F932A25752C1A9679C8B63). i would venture that the poem is advanced maybe because instead of being about september 11th, it's mostly about how much he loves laurie anderson. maybe it would be more advanced if it was called "laurie says", though.