Our Song of the Day is “Fool’s Game”, taken from Glen Hansard’s upcoming fourth solo album This Wild Willing, set to be released April 12 via ANTI- Records. Talking about the song he said “This song originated with a line I’d been rolling round my head: “It’s a fool’s, fool’s game, lover, that we have to play. I wanted to build something that felt like The Shangri-Las or Velvet Underground in their ‘Pale Blue Eyes’-period”. Fool’s Game is out today, watch the accompanying video which was filmed by the brilliant Myles O’Reilly in Paris, France.
Glen has also shared a note he wrote on the video which gives a great insight into its creation as well as the incredible depth of thought that goes into some of the scenes. Myles did a similar thing with his video for Lowly Deserter for Hansard’s album Didn’t he Ramble. It featured a ‘hedge school’ in which there are glimpses throughout of Irish political and cultural history such as the trunk of books which, amongst works by George Orwell, are books by the late great Irish poet Seamus Heaney, Michael Collins and Songs of Freedom, the name of the 1907 songbook edited by Ireland’s Renowned Trade Unionist and Leader of the 1916 Easter Rising, James Connolly. As I said, these small touches are easily missed by a casual observer, but it’s a real skill to come up with such detail in a film – it also gives the film that sense of reality and drama. In his note below, Hansard makes a reference to the occasional set-up such as the man asleep at the table with taxi money…
Ian, hello! I just had the first moment of quiet here at the American Hotel in Amsterdam. I made a cup of tea and read your mail – which I’d been waiting to do, looked forward to even – and I’m knocked out by your sense of perception with this set of images and characters. It’s funny: I see it as characters too, not just as myself singing a song I wrote. There’s a kind of drama running through the shots, although it was all filmed by Myles O’Reilly in his very open style, with the occasional set-up (for example; the man asleep at the table with taxi money).
My idea was to take the camera into a night in Paris, stay up with friends till dawn drinking, eating, talking, and sing the song occasionally as the night went on. The main theme for me was “fraternity”, friends sharing time. It’s almost a continuation of the night that we filmed “I’ll Be You, Be Me”. Maybe this is what happened after the filming? Maybe the band went for drinks? Where did they go? Who did they meet? Every evening in Paris with these guys was a little bit like this, a magical ride through the city’s back side.
But what you saw in it fascinates me; this character apart in a crowd, unmoored in the night but tied to his thoughts. When you describe it, I can feel that narrative very strongly and it must be true to a degree, because when I sat with all the footage and began to carve a story, I somehow knew that I must keep the singing character at some distance, far away in his thoughts. The song is a meditation on the wild ride we go on when we surrender to another; the giving up of control; the vulnerability of loving and being loved. ‘Don’t let anyone advise us,’ it says, ‘because whatever happens, I only answer to you, and you to me’. Anyone who gives love advice is simply not to be trusted.
Maire appears in the clip as a guardian, watching over our character. She’s on the same streets, in the same rooms, the same night, but she’s just watching, staying near. Almost like a Wim Wenders Wings of Desire angel.
With love and gratitude,
Glen x
This Wild Willing is an album guided and formed by the twin totems of resolve and surrender – the resolve to see a thing through alongside a willingness to surrender, to trust in that which lies outside yourself – the other musicians in the room, your lover, your healer, and your audience.
“This collection of songs is mainly made up of those that came through while improvising and following the melodic lines and threads,” Hansard said. “Sometimes when you take a small musical fragment and you care for it, follow it, and build it up slowly, it can become a thing of wonder. In this sense, some of these songs weren’t written in the traditional form; they were ideas followed to a conclusion. I want to thank all these great musicians for coming and giving these songs their best.”
Hansard began his European spring tour this month with a sold-out show at Koninklijk Theater Carré in Amsterdam. All upcoming dates are listed below.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
4/9 – Dublin, Ireland – Vicar Street
4/10 – Dublin, Ireland – Vicar Street
4/12 – Derry, United Kingdom – St. Columb’s Hall
4/13 – Derry, United Kingdom – St. Columb’s Hall SOLD OUT
4/15 – London, United Kingdom – Barbican Centre
4/16 – London, United Kingdom – Barbican Centre
4/27 – Paris, France – Casino de Paris
4/29 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Koninklijk Theater Carré
4/30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Koninklijk Theater Carré
5/2 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Amager Bio / BETA
5/4 – Stockholm, Sweden – Skandiascenen
5/6 – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal
5/8 – Cologne, Germany – Kőlner Philharmonie
5/9 – Frankfurt Am Main, Germany – Alte Oper
5/11 – Brno-žabovřesky, Czech Republic – 5th Anniversary of SONO Centrum
5/13 – Warszawa, Poland – Palladium
5/14 – Warszawa, Poland – Palladium
5/16 – Berlin, Germany – Admiralspalast
5/17 – Berlin, Germany – Admiralspalast
5/19 – Berlin, Germany – Admiralspalast
Order tickets here http://glenhansard.com/tour/
Pre-Order This Wild Willing (out April 12th via Anti- Records)
Photo Credit: Stephan Vanfleteren