Born in Suffolk, Eno studied painting and experimental music at the art school of Ipswich Civic College in the mid 1960s, and then at Winchester School of Art. He joined glam rock group Roxy Music as synthesiser player in 1971. After recording two albums with Roxy Music, he departed in 1973 to record a number of solo albums, coining the term "ambient music" to describe his work on releases such as Another Green World (1975), Discreet Music (1975), and Music for Airports (1978). He also collaborated with artists such as Robert Fripp, Cluster, Harold Budd, David Bowie on his "Berlin Trilogy", and David Byrne, and produced albums by artists including John Cale, Jon Hassell, Laraaji, Talking Heads and Devo, and the no wave compilation No New York (1978).
Eno has continued to record solo albums and work with artists including U2, Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones, Slowdive, Coldplay, James Blake, and Damon Albarn. Dating back to his time as a student, he has also worked in media including sound installations and his mid-70s co-development of Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards featuring cryptic aphorisms intended to spur creative thinking. From the 1970s onwards, Eno's installations have included the sails of the Sydney Opera House in 2009 and the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in 2016. An advocate of a range of humanitarian causes, Eno writes on a variety of subjects and is a founding member of the Long Now Foundation. In 2019, Eno was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.
Eno is frequently referred to as one of popular music's most influential artists. Producer and film composer Jon Brion has said: "I think he's the most influential artist since the Beatles." Critic Jason Ankeny at AllMusic argues that Eno "forever altered the ways in which music is approached, composed, performed, and perceived, and everything from punk to techno to new age bears his unmistakable influence." Eno has spread his techniques and theories primarily through his production; his distinctive style informed a number of projects in which he has been involved, including Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" (helping to popularize minimalism) and the albums he produced for Talking Heads (incorporating, on Eno's advice, African music and polyrhythms), Devo, and other groups. Eno's first collaboration with David Byrne, 1981's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, pioneered sampling techniques that would prove to be influential in hip-hop, and broke ground by incorporating world music into popular Western music forms. Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies have been used by many bands, and Eno's production style has proven influential in several general respects: "his recording techniques have helped change the way that modern musicians;– particularly electronic musicians;– view the studio. No longer is it just a passive medium through which they communicate their ideas but itself a new instrument with seemingly endless possibilities."
Whilst inspired by the ideas of minimalist composers including John Cage, Terry Riley and Erik Satie, Eno coined the term ambient music to describe his own work and defined the term. The Ambient Music Guide states that he has brought from "relative obscurity into the popular consciousness" fundamental ideas about ambient music, including "the idea of modern music as subtle atmosphere, as chill-out, as impressionistic, as something that creates space for quiet reflection or relaxation." His groundbreaking work in electronic music has been said to have brought widespread attention to and innovations in the role of electronic technology in recording. Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright said he "often eulogised" Eno's abilities.
Eno's "unconventional studio predilections", in common with those of Peter Gabriel, were an influence on the recording of "In the Air Tonight", the single which launched the solo career of Eno's former drummer Phil Collins. Collins said he "learned a lot" from working with Eno. Both Half Man Half Biscuit (in the song "Eno Collaboration" on the EP of the same name) and MGMT have written songs about Eno. LCD Soundsystem has frequently cited Eno as a key influence. The Icelandic singer Björk also credited Eno as a major influence.
Mora sti Fotia (Babies on Fire), one of the most influential Greek rock bands, was named after Eno's song "Baby's on Fire".
In 2011, Belgian academics from the Royal Museum for Central Africa named a species of Afrotropical spider Pseudocorinna brianeno in his honour.
Lay My Love
Brian Eno Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I am the crow of desperation
I need no fact or validation
I span relentless variation
I scramble in the dust of a failing nation
I was concealed
Now I am stirring
And I have waited for this time.
I multiply and find my population
I am the wheel I am the turning
And I will lay my love around you.
I am the sea of permutation
I live beyond interpretation
I scramble all the names and the combinations
I penetrate the walls of explanation
I am the will
I am the burning
And I will lay my love around you.
I am the will
I am the yearning
And I will lay my love around you.
The song "Lay My Love" by Brian Eno and John Cale is a surreal piece of music that speaks of different personas or entities that are personified as forces of nature. The first stanza describes the persona of the singer as the 'crow of desperation', which represents someone who is at their lowest point yet still feels alive and kicking. The singer asserts that they don't need any validation or proof of their existence, as they are already fully aware of it. They then refer to themselves as the "termite of temptation", a force that multiplies and grows in numbers, possibly alluding to the spread of temptation or vices. They go on to describe themselves as the "sea of permutation", someone who exists beyond interpretation and is capable of scrambling all the known combinations and names. This could be taken to represent the unpredictable and ever-changing nature of life.
In the chorus, the singer declares that they are the "will" and the "burning", and that they will lay their love around the person they are addressing. Here, it can be interpreted that the singer is either a force of nature or a person who is so driven and unstoppable that they can't help but let their love overflow and affect the people around them. The song hints at a possible relationship between the singer and the person they are addressing, yet nothing is explicitly stated.
Overall, the song is a surreal piece that speaks of different forces of nature that are personified as personas. Each persona, in turn, is described as a force or phenomenon, such as the sea of permutation, the termite of temptation, and the crow of desperation, alluding to the changing nature of life and the different forces that drive people.
Line by Line Meaning
I am the crow of desperation
I embody the feeling of utter hopelessness and despair.
I need no fact or validation
I do not require a logical or rational explanation or justification.
I span relentless variation
I exist in a state of constant change and evolution.
I scramble in the dust of a failing nation
I struggle and fight in a society that is deteriorating and in decline.
I was concealed
I was hidden or kept secret.
Now I am stirring
Now I am becoming active and noticeable.
And I have waited for this time.
And I have been anticipating and preparing for this moment.
I am the termite of temptation
I represent the subtle forces that gradually and relentlessly eat away at peoples' willpower and resolve.
I multiply and find my population
I spread and grow, gaining more adherents and followers.
I am the wheel I am the turning
I am the cyclical nature of life and existence.
And I will lay my love around you.
And I will shower you with my affection and devotion.
I am the sea of permutation
I am an endless and complex mass of possibilities and outcomes.
I live beyond interpretation
I cannot be fully understood or explained through mere analysis or categorization.
I scramble all the names and the combinations
I disrupt and reorder all established systems and structures.
I penetrate the walls of explanation
I go beyond the limitations of words and rational thought.
I am the will
I am the power of determination and resolve.
I am the burning
I am the intense passion and desire that drives people forward.
And I will lay my love around you.
And I will envelop you with my love and passion.
I am the will
I am the power of determination and resolve.
I am the yearning
I am the deep and intense feeling of longing.
And I will lay my love around you.
And I will surround you with my love and devotion.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BRIAN ENO, JOHN DAVIES CALE, John Cale
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jason Rosenthal
This show was great, start to finish. This was the start...