John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American … Read Full Bio ↴John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).
His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage's major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".
Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).
His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage's major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".
VIII
John Cage Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'VIII' by these artists:
Aborym My back is up against the wall everywhere lobotomized fall …
AD Ubetinget xabsi og de fikk en fuckings straff Har en eight…
Au Dessus With every dawn comes chaos. Head filled with demons waiting…
BURN/WARD Turn your lamp off Turn your lamp off Turn your lamp off You…
C. Spencer Yeh Ballin like I'm 8 Kobe fade Money made Hunnids on the table …
C.O.A.G. လူလိုမဟုတ်တော့ဘူးငါအတွေးတွေ နာရီလက်တံလေးကိုငေးနေ စိတ်နာလို့ …
Dawnbringer Into the chamber Into the lair I see a sad old man Just…
Deas Wasting away the better part of the day In the bus…
Density & Time And if I fall, are you coming with me, or…
Devil Sold His Soul I can't be open if you are in the way Another…
Division S / Hotel de Prusse You're so spineless it's sad You can't confront a man withou…
Dornenreich ... Durch den Traum reise ich... Durch den Traum werde…
e.p.d.f. One, I'm ready for two Too many, three, four I'm out befor…
Glare Of The Sun The circle of life is broken Now it's time to lay…
Hans Koch / Gaudenz Badrutt Oh Mama, I don't want to go to sleep! So…
I and Others Tháng tám Con đường đầy gió Trong tôi vẫn có một hình…
I.M.d.P. One, I'm ready for two Too many, three, four I'm out befor…
Ives Cradle me just like the moon My heart is full it's…
J-GLOOMY 808's held down like a paperweight She just wanna come aroun…
Jakuta and Carl In your appointment book you'll see you and I have a…
K. Jandavs Aisément aisément doigts dans l'nez on est cap' de faire fai…
lost-radio SOPRANO SOLO AND CHORUS LUX eterna …
Loud? C'est Marwa Loud, eh-eh Koba LaD, eh Koba LaD-D-D-D-D (ouais…
M.A. Tiesenga Kjapp frokost kjapp dusj rekke alt ting Snurpe jakka godt ig…
M.C.C One Five Music Yayao Hey Joda a las ocho la pasamos chocho …
M.O.T.T. Забагато машин, забагато магазинiв Забагато машин, забагато …
Main 8 ball, brought me to the pool party 8 ball, got…
Might & Magic VI Round, can you go around? And if you can turn around…
Mizmor I want to confess as best I can, But my heart…
mr&mrsBrian No no no no yeah 1 2 で jump up 止まんないで…
Mt. Wolf It was so bittersweet To have you time go with me But…
Namatjira "if the rich wage war it's the poor who to…
NIMRØD Hahaha ey, uuh A csár szaga száll, mindenki bezazázott Csak …
NU.CLEAR.DAWN Dabbin on this STR8 GAS Im laughin when I straight pass Hati…
Philip Emilio Ringer på telefonen all day Vil skyte meg selv som Cobain Pr…
Shoppers The Last Rave The Last Rave The Last Rave The Last Rave The…
Sonic Youth & I.C.P.& the Ex Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya, Uhhh We are Receiving Some Interference E…
Spider and the Fly Going outside Tryna find another light But I better stay hom…
sunrise/sunset Well its quarter past eight and youre running late Ill just…
T.G. Olson လူလိုမဟုတ်တော့ဘူးငါအတွေးတွေ နာရီလက်တံလေးကိုငေးနေ စိတ်နာလို့ …
T/S Rain song So beautiful my dear Overcome Hmm Rain so…
The A.W. Uh, yeah Uh Uh, uh huh Uh Just woke up, uh, aye Just woke up…
Toxic & Toxic Ciao, sono novatoxic Il video è interamente realizzato da me…
warn defever hitoko ian masters and aya Я стою на вершине горы, полупьяная в сне, Все задумываюсь чт…
Wu Xing 海风吹啊怎么吹乱你发线 逆风追若能触碰裙边 你说是风太猛烈 才让我们这么久都没见面…
Ледоход Ох ты, горе-горькое! Скука скучная, …
Т В - П А Р One, I'm ready for two Too many, three, four I'm out befor…
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Bastien Persenaire
I put it on repeat at all my parties
Earl Robicheaux
My musical life changed after listening to Cage's music and thinking about his perception of the world.
the clarinetjo odds and ends
vraiment fantastique, la puissance d'évocation et la beauté des sonorités de cette musique sont incroyables !
Vénar Raconte
Vraiment oui.
Alex Allison
Lovely percussion section. They show off more than in the Col Legno version. What label is this on?
nobodady1
Curious that this music evokes a sense of profundity and even drama, while it is likely that the principles which produced these sounds were utterly lacking in those aims. This piece to me is evidence of the rightness of some of Cage's ideas: the centrality of duration itself as a choice/question for composition and experience, the primacy of sound in itself to deliver its own "message". Yet, I wonder if part of the profundity lies in the experience of the unisons themsleves.
willy potts
"does cause one to pause...................and ponder"♫
Mike G
I love his numbers compositions, just amazing...
Om Sadasiva
I met cage when I was a youngster. what a wonderful man. I gave him my collection of quotes and he was delighted. 🕉 zen John Cage. no right or left, no good or bad, the middle path is beyond the extremes of duality.
jamesaellis
@Boris Sitnikoff Explain.