Often remembered for her film score to Eyes Wide Shut, which won her a Chicago Film Award and a Golden Globe nomination, Pook has worked with some of the world’s leading directors, musicians, artists and arts institutions - including Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, the Royal Opera House, BBC Proms, Andrew Motion, Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack and Laurie Anderson.
Pook has also written film score to Michael Radford’s The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino, which featured the voice of countertenor Andreas Scholl and was nominated for a Classical Brit Award. Other notable film scores include Brick Lane directed by Sarah Gavron and a piece for the soundtrack to Gangs of New York directed by Martin Scorsese.
With a blossoming reputation as a composer of electro-acoustic works and music for the concert platform, Pook continues to celebrate the diversity of the human voice. Her first opera Ingerland was commissioned and produced by ROH2 for the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio in June 2010. The BBC Proms and The King's Singers commissioned to collaborate with the Poet Laureate Andrew Motion on a work entitled Mobile. Portraits in Absentia was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and is a collage of sound, voice, music and words woven from the messages left on her answerphone. She has received critical acclaim for her song cycle Hearing Voices, which was premiered in December 2012 by the BBC Concert Orchestra and singer Melanie Pappenheim at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Pook graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1983, where she studied the viola. She then embarked on a period of touring and recording with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Laurie Anderson and PJ Harvey and as a member of the Communards.
She also tours extensively with The Jocelyn Pook Ensemble, performing repertoire from her albums and music from her film scores.
Pook won an Olivier Award for the National Theatre's production of St Joan, and for her music-theatre piece Speaking in Tunes she won a British Composer Award. She won a second British Composer Award for her soundtrack to DESH, which accompanies Akram Khan’s dance production of the same name. Pook has also composed scores for television shows and commercials, and was nominated for a BAFTA for Channel 4's The Government Inspector (Dir: Peter Kosminsky).
Pook has chaired and been a judge on various panels including the British Composer Awards, Ivor Novello Awards and BBC Proms Young Composers Competition.
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Forever Without End
Jocelyn Pook Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
she said death
was just a beginning
she
she said death
was just a beginning
for forever
forever
she's invisible
sand kissing my lips
diamonds on my skin
she's invisible
sand kissing my lips
dimonds on my skin
moonlight brings her
to the window
and i fight in the sheets with her shadow
sowllow her soul and my billy swell
and i sowllow her sould and my belly swell
heavy with sorrow
The lyrics of Jocelyn Pook's Forever Without End describe a person's experience of death as just a beginning. The repetition of "she said death" emphasizes the message and suggests that the singer has been taught this lesson by someone else. The phrase "forever without end" implies an eternal afterlife, which the singer seems to believe in. The lines "she's invisible/sand kissing my lips/diamonds on my skin" evoke a sense of otherworldliness and beauty. The use of "diamonds" could suggest that the afterlife is full of precious things. The moonlight is personified as bringing "her" (possibly death, or the afterlife) to the window, which could be interpreted as the singer inviting or anticipating death's arrival. The next line, "and i fight in the sheets with her shadow," suggests a fear or resistance towards death, even though the singer claims it is just a beginning. The final lines "sowllow her soul and my billy swell/heavy with sorrow" create a sense of internal conflict or grief. "Billy" may be a reference to the stomach or gut feeling, further emphasizing the emotional impact of death.
Line by Line Meaning
she
The subject is referring to a person (presumably a woman).
she said death
The woman spoke about death.
was just a beginning
The woman saw death as a starting point rather than an end.
for forever
This new beginning was to be eternal.
forever
Reiterating the eternal nature of this new beginning.
without end
This new beginning would go on indefinitely.
she's invisible
The woman is not physically present, yet her presence is felt.
sand kissing my lips
The sensation of sand on the artist's lips is being used to evoke the presence of the woman.
diamonds on my skin
The artist feels the woman's presence as if diamonds were touching their skin.
moonlight brings her
The moonlight is associated with the woman's presence.
to the window
The woman appears near the singer's window.
and i fight in the sheets with her shadow
The artist has physical interactions with the presence of the woman, even though they cannot truly touch her.
sowllow her soul and my billy swell
The singer is overwhelmed with emotion as they take in the full feeling of the woman's presence.
and i sowllow her soul and my belly swell
The same overwhelming emotion is being repeated and emphasized.
heavy with sorrow
The singer is experiencing a great deal of sadness along with the intensity of the woman's presence.
Contributed by Liam T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Martin Trebuch
on Thousand Year Dream
could it be "blue venom teardrops"?