Originally coming to fame in the mid-1960s singing orchestral pop ballads as the frontman of The Walker Brothers, Walker went on to a solo career balancing a light entertainment/MOR ballad approach with increasing artistic innovations in arrangement and writing. Despite a series of acclaimed albums, a disastrous drop in sales forced him back into straight Middle of the road recordings with little of his own artistic input. This in turn eventually led to a Walker Brothers reunion in the mid-1970s (although the latter eventually moved, by mutual consent, into more avant-garde areas).
From the mid-1980s, Walker revived his solo career while drastically reinventing his artistic and compositional methods, via a series of acclaimed and vividly avant-garde albums. These combined his iconic voice with an unsettling avant-garde approach which owed more to modernist and post-modernist classical composition than to his pop singer past. This change in approach has been compared to "Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen".
Walker has been a continuing influence on other artists, in particular The Last Shadow Puppets, Marc Almond, Goldfrapp, Douglas Pearce of the band Death in June, Billy MacKenzie of The Associates, David Sylvian, Julian Cope, Antony Hegarty, Thom Yorke, Steven Wilson, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Trey Spruance, Perry Blake, Radiohead, Noah Lennox, Mikael Åkerfeldt, and the Divine Comedy/Neil Hannon.
Walker continued to release solo material until his death, and was signed to 4AD Records. As a record producer or guest performer he worked with a number of artists including Pulp, Ute Lemper, Bat For Lashes and Sunn O))).
‘See You Don’t Bump His Head’
Scott Walker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From a swan song,
Spring might gently
Press it's thumbs
Against your eyes.
While plucking feathers
A cobweb melts
Within a womb.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
An incontinent
Is singing Scarpia.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
A mythic instance
Of erotic impulse-
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
-is slipping under
A surefire sign.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
Bdelloid rotifers
Join the
Chitterling circuit.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
Shit might pretzel
Christ's intestines.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
Being crushed
From the inside
Out.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
On the snow
"Rummy" flaunts
His unmanly
Dribble.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
A tiny laugh
Dirties everything
It touches.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
Night stops dripping
Through the stars.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
Blast the sheet
Of jewels
Horizon to horizon.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song
The lyrics to Scott Walker's song ‘See You Don’t Bump His Head’ are highly abstract and elusive, weaving together a series of surreal, dream-like images that resist easy interpretation. The repetition of the phrase "While plucking feathers from a swan song" acts as an anchor for the song's disparate images. The act of plucking feathers, a violent and destructive act, is juxtaposed against the beauty of a swan song, which is both mournful and transcendent.
Throughout the song, there are references to bodily functions and fluids, as well as to sexual desire and violence. The line "A mythic instance of erotic impulse" suggests a primal, instinctual force that is difficult to contain or control. There are also references to music, with the character Scarpia being mentioned (possibly a reference to the villainous character in Puccini's opera Tosca). The line "Blast the sheet of jewels horizon to horizon" suggests an explosion of light and sound, a moment of overwhelming beauty and transcendence.
Ultimately, the meaning of ‘See You Don’t Bump His Head’ is left to the individual listener's interpretation. The song is a dense and mysterious work that resists easy analysis, but its evocative language and haunting imagery create a powerful impression.
Line by Line Meaning
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
In the process of doing something melancholic and bittersweet.
Spring might gently
Press it's thumbs
Against your eyes.
The beauty of nature might bring tears to your eyes.
A cobweb melts
Within a womb.
Something delicate and fragile disappears or is destroyed.
An incontinent
Is singing Scarpia.
Someone who lacks self-control or discipline is indulging in something excessive.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
In the process of doing something melancholic and bittersweet.
A mythic instance
Of erotic impulse-
-is slipping under
A surefire sign.
An intense feeling of desire or passion is being concealed or going unnoticed.
Bdelloid rotifers
Join the
Chitterling circuit.
Something microscopic or insignificant becomes a part of a larger, more complex system.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
In the process of doing something melancholic and bittersweet.
Shit might pretzel
Christ's intestines.
Something terrible or painful might happen.
Being crushed
From the inside
Out.
Feeling overwhelmed or suffocated from within, rather than from external forces.
On the snow
"Rummy" flaunts
His unmanly
Dribble.
Someone is behaving in a foolish or shameful way.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song.
In the process of doing something melancholic and bittersweet.
A tiny laugh
Dirties everything
It touches.
Something seemingly insignificant can have a negative impact on everything around it.
Night stops dripping
Through the stars.
A peaceful or serene moment, free of worries or troubles.
Blast the sheet
Of jewels
Horizon to horizon.
An exclamation of wonder or amazement at the beauty of the world.
While plucking feathers
From a swan song,
In the process of doing something melancholic and bittersweet.
Contributed by Mason J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
MisAnnThorpe
I bought The Drift on the day of its release. Have probably listened to it all the way through in one sitting 3 times at the most. I like The Drift a lot but it's not often I'm in the mood to listen to it. Was expecting much the same from Bish Bosch. I heard the full album 2 days ago for the 1st time. It's insane. It's also a very special record imo
BlazingOwnager
10 years later and I just ran into this. This album is pure madness in musical format. Truly unique.
Spacial
It's brilliant. I listened earlier and so enjoyed it. I found a copy of the lyrics and listening to this again, reading the lyrics, it just gets better.
chesecak
once i was at this party and they had a small room just filled with fog from a fog machine, i got really stoned in there and then some guy played this song
shit was fucking rad
peepee poopoo
never been to a party that cool. fuck
truemansparks
I would love to open a bar in Amsterdam and have Tilt,Drift and this playing continuously!
Porco-Dio FIlm
Hahaha, just fuck everyone's day up!
MisAnnThorpe
Throw in Climate of Hunter, Scott 1,2.3,4 and Soused and I'll come.
Michael Gorman
Will you at least play songs of Love & Hate occasionally also?
Michael Wosslert
truemansparks I'll come immediately. (Im playing Tilt, The Drift ,Bish Bosh AND Soused all the time at home:))
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