Studied at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen for a short period between 1984 and 1985 and designed most of the covers to his record- and book releases throughout the eighties. Worked with several Danish theatre groups during these years as well as writing and directing multi-media projects and theatre performances with his own ensemble The Art Ensemble Of Copenhagen. Performed several concerts for The Danish National Radio as well as conducting his own Requiem in the Taksigelses Church in Copenhagen. Established his own label, Mind And Media, in 1989.
Received the Honoury Award of DJBFA (The Danish Association Of Composers) in March 1995 as well as the very prestigious 3-year grant from The National Fund for the Endowment of The Arts in April. Released his long awaited solo album Random Hold in February 1996, an album regarded as his best record during the nineties (the title continues to figure on various encyclopedian lists over the most important Danish music releases during this decade). During 1999 and 2000 MH wrote the music for the Danish theatre ensemble Operanord's performance Gilles' Requiem, the score for Gud Bevare Danmark by Ole Bornedal (writer and director of the Hollywood film 'The Night Watch') and the music for Danish director Claus Bohm's film Digter (Poet).
In March 2001 he released his highly acclaimed diary Kommunikaze concurrently with the album Metropolitan Suite. In September MH was given the honour to write the music for the opening of the Swedish artist Ingvar Cronhammer's grand scale building work Elia in Herning (a Danish city), and in October he created the exhibition A Hospital Room at Ystads Konstmuseum (Sweden), a sound- and image installation based on a series of conversations with a dying hospital patient. Wrote and produced the score for Gladsaxe Teater's major 2002 launch, the theatre version of Lady of the Camellias, Camille (Original Soundtrack), which was proclaimed as one of his finest works ever by an unanimous press.
Included in Kraks Blaa Bog (Krak's Blue Book) in May 2003, a prestigious book of summation of the most important people in Danish art and culture. Founded his new label, Panoptikon, the same year on which he released Das Mechanische Klavier in 2004, a piece of work combining songs performed by the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and narratives read by the German scholar Herbert Zeichner. Released his long awaited major novel Den Sidste Romantiker ("The Last Romantic") in August 2005, a monumental 700-pages piece of work reflecting a young man’s journey from the summer of 1980 up until present day. Apart from getting brilliant reviews, the book also constitutes Hall’s literary breakthrough.
In February 2006 MH launched one of his principal works, his first solo-album as a singer in seven years, Facsimile. In Denmark, the album has been met with astounding reviews, praising it as finest work in 25 years.
Major parts of MH's works have been released in Germany, Holland, France, England and Italy.
She's Eternal
Martin Hall Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Random Hold
She's Eternal
I never wanted her to see
The world inside me
The world was turning 'round and 'round
Like something running out of time
I didn't understand, but it made me feel so still
There's a tale of the night, there's an unspoken world
And the story that she told couldn't be explained in words
'Cause she
She's eternal
With her
The world dies
And she
She's eternal
With her
The world dies
Let it die
A stone that falls into the sea
It falls inside me
These winterlands, they never change
They're covered in this quiet grey
Voices calling in the night from the corners of my mind
From the desolated worlds I was trying to leave behind
Never thought I'd be returning to the place it all began
To the tainted heart of longing, till she took me by the hand
'Cause she
She's eternal
With her
The world dies
And she
She's eternal
With her
The world dies
Let it die
Martin Hall's She's Eternal is a song that captures the beauty and mystery of a woman who has an evergreen presence in the life of the singer. The song opens with the singer expressing his fears of revealing the dark world inside him to the woman he loves. However, despite his fears, he finds himself drawn to her and her tales of the night and the unspoken world. Her words and presence have a calming and stilling effect on him, and he is in awe of her otherworldly beauty and charm.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the hold that this woman has on the singer. She is eternal, and with her, the world dies. This could be interpreted in multiple ways, but one of the possibilities is that the singer sees this woman as a representation of changelessness in a world where everything is fleeting. The stone that falls into the sea is a metaphor for the changes that take place in the world, but the woman remains constant in the singer's life.
Overall, Martin Hall's She's Eternal is a song about the power of love and the awe-inspiring, lifegiving qualities of a woman who has an evergreen presence in someone's life.
Line by Line Meaning
I never wanted her to see
The singer was uncomfortable with the idea of showing his true self to her
The world inside me
The singer's innermost thoughts and feelings
The world was turning 'round and 'round
The singer felt like he was losing control of his life
Like something running out of time
The artist's life felt like it was slipping away from him
She whispered "listen to the wind", and her breath burned my skin
Her mysterious words gave the artist a profound feeling of stillness and awe
I didn't understand, but it made me feel so still
Despite not understanding what she meant, the singer felt a deep sense of peace and tranquility
There's a tale of the night, there's an unspoken world
There are mysteries and secrets in the world that are beyond our understanding
And the story that she told couldn't be explained in words
Her story was ineffable and could not be put into words
'Cause she
The woman he speaks of
She's eternal
The woman seems unchanging and timeless
With her
Around her
The world dies
In her presence, the mundane concerns of everyday life seem insignificant
Let it die
The singer is willing to let go of his old life and embrace something new
A stone that falls into the sea
The singer feels small and insignificant
It falls inside me
This feeling of insignificance is deeply internalized
These winterlands, they never change
The landscape around the artist remains the same, no matter what else is happening in his life
They're covered in this quiet grey
The artist feels a sense of desolate melancholy
Voices calling in the night from the corners of my mind
The singer is haunted by his own doubts and fears
From the desolated worlds I was trying to leave behind
The singer is trying to move on from the past, but it keeps following him
Never thought I'd be returning to the place it all began
The artist is surprised to find himself somewhere he thought he had left behind
To the tainted heart of longing, till she took me by the hand
The woman leads the artist to a place of longing and desire
And she
The woman once again
She's eternal
Her timeless presence is once again emphasized
With her
Around her
The world dies
The world and its concerns fade away in her presence
Let it die
The singer is willing to let go of his old life and embrace something new
Contributed by Jayce E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.