Combining literary, socially engaged texts with innovative and genre-breaking music, she has covered every kind of style, while at the same time maintaining her own identity on each and every recording, whether it be the samples (before sampling became a concept) and electronically treated acoustics of The Sitting Room (1982), to the ground-breaking analogue synth classics of Sleeper In Metropolis (1983) and Our Darkness (1984).
Consistently looking for new ways of expression and communication through the emotion of music and language, Anne seeks to not only challenge herself but her audience also.
Going between extremes of the minimal Scandinavian jazz influences of Unstill Life (1991) to the pastoral and poetic interpretations and translations of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry on Just After Sunset (1997), to the full-on electronics and sparse acoustics of The Smallest Acts Of Kindness (2008), very few artists have covered such a wide spectrum over such a long and consistent career.
At the end of 2010, Anne Clark released the first chapter of a vibrant and on-going project Past & Future Tense, the first release on her own label, After Hours Productions.
Rather than turning out yet another compilation or collection of back catalogue, she decided, in this special anniversary year to invite young and innovative musicians, producers and DJs to take her material, all her material, not the most obvious numbers and to not just “remix” them but completely re-interpret them.
The result a fresh, exciting and contemporary view by a new generation of an artist who in her turn influenced them and their development in the endless possibilities of electronic music.
In January 2011 Anne contributed an arrangement of the Charles Baudelaire poem Enivrez-Vous (Be Drunk) to the audio book and radio play Die Künstliche Paradiese, (Hörbuch Hamburg/Radio Bremen).
Sleeper In Metropolis
Anne Clark Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You are insignificance
Dreams become entangled in the system
Environment moves over the sleeper:
Conditioned air
Conditions sedated breathing
The sensation of viscose sheets on naked flesh
But lonesome in the blackened ocean of night
Confined in the helpless safety of desires and dreams
We fight our insignificance
The harder we fight
The higher the wall
Outside the cancerous city spreads
Like an illness
It's symptoms
In cars that cruise to inevitable destinations
Tailed by the silent spotlights
Of society created paranoia
No alternative could grow
Where love cannot take root
No shadows will replace
The warmth of your contact
Love is dead in metropolis
All contact through glove or partition
What a waste
The City -
A wasting disease
The song "Sleeper in Metropolis" by Anne Clark discusses the feeling of insignificance and being lost in a system that is too big to be fully understood. The lyrics describe a person as being a "sleeper in metropolis," suggesting that individuals are lost in the big city with everyone else. The "system" that the lyrics mention is a metaphor for the negative aspects of urban living: the pollution, traffic, and conformity that suppress individuality and true human connection. As the sleeper is confined to their environment, they are forced to breathe conditioned air and are entangled in systems and processes that lead them to feel insignificant. The song notes that our attempts to fight against this insignificance only create higher walls of resistance, leading to a feeling of hopelessness.
The lyrics depict a city that is "cancerous" spreading like an illness with its symptoms showing up in all places. In the city, society creates paranoia that causes people to tail others and use spotlights to watch them. The city is a place where love cannot take root because it is too busy, too cold, and too disconnected. The lyrics suggest that the city is a disease that is wasting away and killing people, leading to a sense of loss and despair.
Overall, the song reflects the isolation of modern life, the loss of human connection, and the difficulty of finding meaning when we feel lost in a system that is too big for us to understand.
Line by Line Meaning
As a sleeper in metropolis
Existing in the city as a passive observer
You are insignificance
You are an unimportant figure in a vast urban landscape
Dreams become entangled in the system
Aspirations are thwarted by the impersonal city structure
Environment moves over the sleeper:
The city surroundings have an overwhelming effect
Conditioned air
Artificial ventilation systems that create a sterile atmosphere
Conditions sedated breathing
The city dehumanizes individuals through monotonous daily routines
The sensation of viscose sheets on naked flesh
The only comfort in the bleakness of city life
Soft and warm
The physical sensations of luxurious bedding contrast with the coldness of city living
But lonesome in the blackened ocean of night
Desperately lonely in the dark and uncaring cityscape
Confined in the helpless safety of desires and dreams
Trapped by one's own dreams, with no way out
We fight our insignificance
Attempting to assert our own importance within the city
The harder we fight
The more we struggle to be heard
The higher the wall
The more difficult it becomes to break free from the city's constraints
Outside the cancerous city spreads
The city is a malignant force, growing and destroying everything in its path
Like an illness
A disease that slowly infects its inhabitants
It's symptoms
The outward signs of the city's corrupting influence
In cars that cruise to inevitable destinations
People are constantly on the move, but going nowhere meaningful
Tailed by the silent spotlights
Under constant surveillance, creating a sense of paranoia
Of society created paranoia
Established by a system that breeds suspicion and mistrust
No alternative could grow
There is no hope of change or improvement
Where love cannot take root
Love is stifled and passion is impossible to cultivate
No shadows will replace
Nothing will fill the emptiness left by a lack of human connection
The warmth of your contact
The physical and emotional closeness that is absent in the city
Love is dead in metropolis
The city is incapable of nurturing the bonds of love between individuals
All contact through glove or partition
Communication is impersonal and distanced
What a waste
The tragedy of lost opportunities and unrealized potential
The City -
The oppressive metropolis
A wasting disease
A destructive force that consumes all that it touches
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: HARROW CLARK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind