The Art Bears' music was often deeply political in content, reflecting the bands' socialist leanings, and frequently experimental. Art Bears were more "song oriented" than Henry Cow, although much of the material that comprised their debut album release was actually written with the intention of being performed by Henry Cow.
Art Bears were formed during the recording of Henry Cow's last album after disagreements arose over the album's content. Frith and Cutler favoured song-oriented material, while others in the band wanted instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith, Cutler and Krause agreed, early in 1978, to release the songs already created on their own album, Hopes and Fears, under the name Art Bears, with the rest of Henry Cow credited as guests. The instrumental material appeared later on the final Henry Cow album, Western Culture (1979).
Hopes and Fears (1978) thus consisted of Henry Cow songs plus new Art Bears material recorded later by Frith, Cutler and Krause to complete the album. Towards the end of 1978, Art Bears returned to the studio to record their first "true" album, Winter Songs (1979). It comprised fourteen short songs composed by Frith around texts by Cutler that were based on carvings on the stylobate of the Amiens Cathedral in France.
In December 1978, Art Bears joined Rock in Opposition (RIO), and toured Europe in April and May 1979. For the tour, they added Peter Blegvad (ex-Slapp Happy, guitar, bass guitar, voice) and Marc Hollander (Aksak Maboul, keyboards, clarinet) to their line-up, and rehearsed at the Cold Storage Recording Studios in Brixton, London before leaving for Italy in late April. They performed in Italy, France, Belgium and Czechoslovakia, including an RIO festival on the 1st of May in Milan. Some of the songs recorded during the tour were later added to the album release of Hopes and Fears and The Art Box (2003), a box set of Art Bears material.
The band returned to the studio in 1980 to make one final album, The World as It Is Today (1981), before splitting up. In October 1983 Frith, Cutler and Krause reunited again, this time with Heiner Goebbels and Alfred Harth from Cassiber, Tom Cora and from Skeleton Crew, and George Lewis from the ICP Orchestra under the name "Duck and Cover". The ensemble was initially commissioned for the 1983 Moers Festival at the request of festival director Burkhard Hennen to Alfred Harth, but the group only materialised later that year after another commission by the Berlin Jazz Festival. "Duck and Cover" performed a 40-minute musical piece entitled "Berlin Programme" at the Berlin Jazz Festival in October 1983 in West Berlin, and again at the Festival des Politischen Liedes (Festival of Political Song) in East Berlin in February 1984. The second performance was recorded by Rundfunk der DDR (East German Radio) and broadcast nationally. An edited version of the broadcast was released in September 1985 on one side of the "Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2" LP record. In 1993 Frith, Cutler and Krause worked together again on a song project, "Domestic Stories" (1993) by Chris Cutler and Lutz Glandien, with saxophonist Alfred Harth. While similar to Art Bears, the addition of Glandien's electronic music made "Domestic Stories" a distinctly different album.
An Art Bears "review" took place in May 2008 at the world premiere of the Art Bears Songbook at the 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. It was performed by Cutler (drums), Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, piano), Jewlia Eisenberg (voice), Carla Kihlstedt (violin, voice), Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion), Kristin Slipp (voice) and The Norman Conquest (sound manipulation). Krause had been unable to participate and Frith and Cutler decided to rework the trio's repertoire for an expanded group, with the voices of Eisenberg, Slipp and Kihlstedt replacing Krause's "eccentric and idiomatic delivery". The project was so-named because Frith and Cutler did not want it to be seen as an Art Bears reunion. According to All About Jazz the Art Bears Songbook was "not just a highlight, but the highlight of the [five day] festival."
The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital
Art Bears Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bench
And the job hurried
By-
While my hands did
Their work
A tear fell from my
Eye,
Though I couldn't say
Why,
I felt such a sorrow
I wanted to
Die
My hands went on
Working
The work hurried by,
My life like a
Desert,
I empty inside,
And I shook at my bench,
And I cried and I cried
And my hands went on
Working
And the work
Hurried by
The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital by Art Bears is a poignant commentary on the dehumanizing effects of capitalism on the working class. The opening lines set the tone for the rest of the song as the singer, while doing their job, experiences a moment of emotional turmoil as represented by tears falling from their eyes. They are unable to explain why they are feeling this way, but their sorrow is palpable enough that they feel like they could die.
The second and third verses further describe the psychological toll that working under capitalism has taken on the singer. They feel like their life is a desert, empty and devoid of any meaningful experience. They are consumed by their emotions and cry uncontrollably, yet their hands continue to work and the job hurries by. This is a powerful metaphor for the idea that under capitalism, workers are seen as little more than machines, valued only for the labor they can perform.
Line by Line Meaning
As I stood at my Bench
While doing my work at my bench
And the job hurried By-
And the work kept moving quickly
While my hands did Their work
While I worked with my hands
A tear fell from my Eye,
I cried a tear
And another, and soon Though I couldn't say Why,
I cried more tears, without knowing why
I felt such a sorrow I wanted to Die
I felt such sadness that I wanted to die
My hands went on Working
Despite my feelings, I continued to work
The work hurried by,
The work continued at a quick pace
My life like a Desert,
I felt empty and lonely in my life
I empty inside,
I felt emotionally drained
And I shook at my bench,
I trembled while working
And I cried and I cried
I kept crying
And my hands went on Working
And despite my tears, I continued to work
And the work Hurried by
And the work continued to move quickly
Contributed by Daniel S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@ericanderson1593
Thank you for the dignity of Art Bears .
@zymongaming956
This is good for my modules in music thank you
@guybrush__threepwood
800