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))).
Tar
Scott Walker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Up ahead on the El Greco grunt
God creates man and then animals
Bilge!
God creates animals and then man
Jackaroo in the slew
She holds a baby made of towels up ahead
Up ahead on the baleen bronchial
Jacob's offspring in Egypt totalled seventy
Hogwash!
Jacob's offspring in Egypt totalled seventy five.
Contritio/Attritio
Let the leashes strain sustain those jaw-joints surging
Aw-shucks, aw-gee
The Porter sticks with the Porter's dreams
Shoot to a wing-tip pawing the ground
I wouldn't trust him
Not to dance a drachma across his knuckles
Twenty-seven inches from heel to heel
Lardie, Lardie, Lardie
While every skin is raised
While every eye was grazed
Thrushy-tongue lolling up ahead
Up ahead on the sarcomere stump
The women came to the tomb at dawn
Booty chatter!
The women came when the sun had risen
Laps/Relapse
Let this throat's Colombian necktie choke that Franglais
Flat nose whistle goes up ahead
Up ahead on the Pilates punk
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree
GTFO
The righteous shall perish and no man layeth it to heart
I swerved away into the dark
Forty-five inches from heel to heel
Forty-five inches from heel to heel
Forty-five inches from heel to heel
There but for the grace of God goes God.
The lyrics to Scott Walker's "Tar" are incredibly abstract and poetic, leaving room for subjective interpretation. However, there are some common themes and motifs that can be identified. The song seems to revolve around the idea of creation, both the creation of the world and the creation of humans. The opening lines of the song reference the whistle of a steam engine, which could be interpreted as a metaphor for the start of something new, whether it be the creation of man or the beginning of a journey. The lines "God creates man and then animals / God creates animals and then man" could represent different religious beliefs or philosophical views on the origins of life.
The song also contains various references to biblical stories and figures, such as Jacob's offspring in Egypt and the women who came to the tomb at dawn. These references could be interpreted as a commentary on the role of religion in shaping our understanding of creation and the world around us. The lines "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree / The righteous shall perish and no man layeth it to heart" could also be seen as a critique of religious beliefs that promise rewards or punishments based on one's morality, suggesting that such beliefs are ultimately meaningless or arbitrary.
Despite its cryptic lyrics, "Tar" is a haunting and atmospheric piece of music that seems to evoke a sense of melancholy and longing. The use of dissonant chords and unconventional instrumentation, such as the whistling noise and thrushy-tongue sound, only adds to the song's eerie quality. Overall, "Tar" is a fascinating and mysterious work of art that invites listeners to engage with its themes and explore the depths of their own interpretation.
Line by Line Meaning
Flat nose whistle goes up ahead
The sound of a whistle emanates up ahead
Up ahead on the El Greco grunt
The sound comes from the El Greco grunt
God creates man and then animals
God creates man before creating animals
Bilge!
Falsehood!
God creates animals and then man
God creates animals before creating man
Jackaroo in the slew
A cowboy is in the swamp
Let its tinnitustic needles sew back shadow
Let the piercing pain stitch together the shadow
She holds a baby made of towels up ahead
A woman carries a baby wrapped in towels up ahead
Up ahead on the baleen bronchial
The sound is coming from the baleen bronchial
Jacob's offspring in Egypt totalled seventy
There were seventy descendants of Jacob in Egypt
Hogwash!
Nonsense!
Jacob's offspring in Egypt totalled seventy five.
There were seventy-five descendants of Jacob in Egypt
Contritio/Attritio
Repentance/Penance
Let the leashes strain sustain those jaw-joints surging
Let the tension of the leashes maintain the forceful movements of the jaws
Aw-shucks, aw-gee
Expression of modesty or reluctance
The Porter sticks with the Porter's dreams
The gatekeeper stays true to their own aspirations
Shoot to a wing-tip pawing the ground
Shoot towards the wing-tip that is scratching the ground
I wouldn't trust him
I do not have faith in him
Not to dance a drachma across his knuckles
Not to effortlessly manipulate coins between his fingers
Twenty-seven inches from heel to heel
The distance between the heels is twenty-seven inches
Lardie, Lardie, Lardie
Expression of surprise or excitement
While every skin is raised
While every skin is covered in goosebumps
While every eye was grazed
While everyone was distracted
Thrushy-tongue lolling up ahead
A bird with a thrushy voice is up ahead
Up ahead on the sarcomere stump
The sound is coming from the sarcomere stump
The women came to the tomb at dawn
The women arrived at the tomb during sunrise
Booty chatter!
Nonsense!
The women came when the sun had risen
The women arrived after sunrise
Laps/Relapse
The recurrence of old behaviors or habits
Let this throat's Colombian necktie choke that Franglais
Let this throat-slitting technique silence the French English language
Flat nose whistle goes up ahead
A whistle sound emanates up ahead
Up ahead on the Pilates punk
The sound comes from the Pilates punk
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree
The good people will prosper
GTFO
Get out of here!
The righteous shall perish and no man layeth it to heart
The good people will die and no one will care
I swerved away into the dark
I turned away and left into the darkness
Forty-five inches from heel to heel
The distance between the heels is forty-five inches
There but for the grace of God goes God.
God's benevolence extends even to Himself
Contributed by Blake J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.