Having played guitar and piano as a young girl, she was moved to write her first song, "Remember The Day", after taking a road trip with a friend across the Alps to Genoa, via Strasbourg. She appeared in Wim Wenders' 1973 film Alice in the Cities, and her music also featured in Umarmungen und andere Sachen (1975), a German Jochen Richter film set in Bavaria about three romantically involved bank robbers. Baier opted not to pursue an acting or singing career, and moved to America where she concentrated on raising a family.
The songs that went on to make up her album Colour Green were home reel-to-reel tape recordings Baier had made in Germany between 1970 and 1973. Some thirty years later her son Robby compiled a CD from these recordings to give to family members as presents. He also gave a copy to Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis, who in turn passed it along to the Orange Twin label. Orange Twin released the album in February 2006. She is expected to release a second studio album. She performs the song "Let Us Know" in Wim Wenders' movie Palermo Shooting (2008).
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Says Elliott
Sibylle Baier Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I grow old, I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled, says Elliot
Days keep growing short, nights too
Let us go then, you and I
And try to unlearn, says Elliot
He seeks for return and burns ancient love letters
Let us go then you and I and lie by marble stone, says Elliot
And put a record on the gramophone
Lie down dear, on the weed
Don't weep dear
Gaily clad
Sadness is a radical quantity, says Elliot
Sadness is a long brown ribbon, says he
Sadness is beautiful
I grow old, I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled, says Elliot
I grow old, I shall wear my trousers rolled, says Elliot
In Sibylle Baier's hauntingly beautiful song "Says Elliott," the lyrics are made up of several fragments of lines uttered by T.S. Eliot himself. The opening lines, "I grow old, I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled," are taken from Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." These lyrics speak to the idea of aging and the changes that come with it. The repetition of this line serves to emphasize Eliot's fear of growing old and becoming distant from his youth. The following lines, "Days keep growing short, nights too," suggest the inevitability of time and its fleeting nature.
The next lines, "Let us go then, you and I / And try to unlearn," are taken from Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men." Here, Eliot is calling for a purge of worldly knowledge and for a return to a state of childlike innocence. The image of burning "ancient love letters" further emphasizes the need to let go of the past and the attachments that hold us back. Eliot's desire to "lie by marble stone" and "put a record on the gramophone" is a call for a return to simpler times, a yearning for a time before the complexities of adulthood. The last few lines, "Sadness is a radical quantity... / Sadness is beautiful," suggest that sadness can be transformative and that even the most difficult emotions can have a kind of beauty.
Line by Line Meaning
I grow old, I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled, says Elliot
Elliot believes as he gets older, he will wear the bottom of his trousers rolled.
Days keep growing short, nights too
The days are becoming shorter, and so are the nights.
Let us go then, you and I
And try to unlearn, says Elliot
He seeks for return and burns ancient love letters
Elliot suggests that together they should try to forget things they know, he also seeks a return and burns old love letters.
Let us go then you and I and lie by marble stone, says Elliot
And put a record on the gramophone
Lie down dear, on the weed
Don't weep dear
Gaily clad
Elliot wants to lie down by a marble stone and listen to a record on the gramophone. He asks his dear to lie down on the grass, not to weep, and wear bright clothing.
Sadness is a radical quantity, says Elliot
Sadness is a long brown ribbon, says he
Sadness is beautiful
According to Elliot, sadness is a powerful emotion, a long malaise but he also thinks it is beautiful.
I grow old, I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled, says Elliot
I grow old, I shall wear my trousers rolled, says Elliot
Elliot reiterates that he will wear his trousers rolled up as he grows old.
Contributed by Jake B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.