July 13, 1946

Dear General MacArthur,

With your permission
I offer wishes of good health,
During this heat
That burns anything.

The words I slowly put together
Do not flow easily, they only fill my heart

Recently, fulfilling
Your heart’s desire
You removed the whaling
Moratorium.
Your gesture brings
A much needed food
To our community
And families,

The words I slowly put together
Do not flow easily, they only fill my heart

A million year old fossil
I send to you.
This comes from my family
And the ancient sea.
A prehistoric impression
Of the modern krill,
She feeds the noble whale,
And offers you longevity

The words I slowly put together
Do not flow easily, they only fill my heart

Finally, please take good care in the heat.

Sincerely yours,
Shizuka

Traduction disponible sur le forum
Se connecter

Gratitude

Titre chanté par Will Oldham aka Bonnie ’Prince’ Billy.

Musique

Écriture : Björk et Matthew Barney
Programmation : Valgeir Sigurðsson et Björk
Production : Björk
Arrangement et édition : Björk
Chœur : Alisa Kikuchi, Eleanor Miceli, Henry Takizawa, Mai Kamio, Merrill Takizawa, Moe Sakurai, Raku Shigematsu, Shogo Senda, Shuhei Yamaguchi, Taro Miceli
Harpe : Zeena Parkins
Piano : Nico Muhly
Célesta : Jónas Sen
Voix : Will Oldham

À propos de Gratitude
Björk calls him and says, “I’m making the music for this movie of Matthew’s, Drawing Restraint 9, and we have a song that we would like you to sing.” And this was very surreal to get this request, and then she sends the song, and it’s really abstract. The song is like an amalgam, or maybe it’s a single letter from people, post-World War II in Japan, [who] I guess, were suffering because there was a whaling ban that was overseen by General MacArthur. That was the lyric to the song.

Will Oldham, Rolling Stone

General MacArthur
General MacArthur noticed that the bombings did not only kill and melt many people but for many years the conditions were difficult. There was unemployment and for many years people starved. There was no food or anything. He took matters into his own hands and convinced the Japanese to change their war ships into whale factories, something like freezing plants on the sea. He convinced the US government - there was some regret there which is uncommon among generals - to maybe revoke the whaling ban for them and so they went out to sea and hunted, and hunted, and hunted whale. They ate whale meat and made clothing out the whale skin and sold whale, everything was connected to the whale. And this helped the Japanese economy to recover. And then the Japanese, like they are, started...

Iceland Review, 10 august 2005