Mother of Pearl

Man Ray (Emmanual Radnitzky) (American, 1890-1976), Nancy Cunard, 1928

If you're looking for love in a looking glass world, it's pretty hard to find. --Bryan Ferry

I've fallen in love with an older woman. I can't tell you much more than that.

There is a song by Roxy Music called "Mother of Pearl". This song has enthralled me for many, many years . . . and every time I listen to Bryan Ferry's histrionic voice, every time I hear the tempo changes and rollicking rifts, I illuminate from inside out.

I glow from this music and I cannot explain why.

Like a personal anthem, the song speaks directly to me, encompassing my reality. The music is fantastic, but it's the near-perfect fusion of lyrical poetry and transcendent Rock 'n Roll that gives me euphoria.

You know, I could never get to the bottom of "Mother of Pearl." It kept me guessing into my late twenties.

The language, always enchanting, mystical . . . funneled through electric sound. There were lines that eluded me.

I didn't have the experiences to match the words.

But I felt the meaning of the song in my bones.

Because of this mystique, I retained a heard-for-the-first-time experience every time I pressed play.

We make meaning out of poems, and "Mother of Pearl" is a poem.

At first, you find the smaller pearls strung together on chords and in between lines; only later--if you are lucky--do you find the mother pearl.

This song explains my trials in love, my delusions, and my late-blooming revelations.

Mother of Pearl--Roxy Music

Salvador Dali (Spanish, 1904-1989), Mae West's face which may be Used as a Surrealist Apartment, 1934/35

Mother Of Pearl

Turn the lights down Way down low
Turn up the music Hi as fi can go
All the gang's here Everyone you know
It's a crazy scene Hey there just look over your shoulder oo oo
Get the picture? No no no no....Yes

Walk a tightrope Your life sign line
Such a bright hope Right place, right time
What's your number? Never you mind
Take a powder But hang on a minute what's coming round the corner, ooh.. oo oo
Have you future? No no no no....Yes

Well I've been up all night.. Again?
Party time wasting
Is too much fun

Then I step back thinking
Of life's inner meaning
And my latest fling

It's the same old story
All love and glory
It's a pantomime

If you're looking for love
In a looking glass world
It's pretty hard to find

Oh Mother of Pearl, I wouldn't trade you for another girl

Divine intervention
Always my intention
So I take my time

I've been looking for something
I've always wanted
But was never mine

But now I've seen that something
Just out of reach, glowing
Very Holy Grail

Oh Mother of Pearl, lustrous lady of a sacred world

Thus, even Zarathustra
Another time loser
Could believe in you

With every goddess a let down
Every idol a bring down
It gets you down

But the search for perfection
Your own predilection
Goes on and on and on and on

Canadian club love
A place in the country
Everyone's ideal

But you are my favorita
And a place in your heart dear
Makes me feel more real

Oh Mother of Pearl I wouldn't change you for the whole world

You're highbrow, holy
With lots of so
Melancholy shimmering

Serpentine sleekness
Was always my weakness
Like a simple tune

But no dilettante
Filigree fancy
Beats the plastic you

Career girl cover
Exposed and another
Slips right into view

Oh looking for love
In a looking glass world
Is pretty hard for you

Few throw away kisses
The boomerang misses
Spins round and round

Fall on feather bed quilted
Faced with silk
Softly stuffed eider down

Take refuge in pleasure
Just give me your future
We'll forget your past

Oh Mother of Pearl
Submarine lover
In a shrinking world

Oh lonely dreamer
Your choker provokes
A picture of cameo

Oh Mother of Pearl
So, so semiprecious
In your detached world

Oh Mother of Pearl I wouldn't trade you for another girl (repeat)

Lyrics from eLyrics