Gothic Rock / Electronic - Atmospheric Video - maxxsilvermusic.com
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"Some of the greatest people we have ever known, they all had a black dog that lived within their home...."
What do Winston Churchill, George Michael, Lady Gaga, and Albert Einstein have in common?
They all suffered from depression. Indeed Winston Churchill bought into popular use the expression "Black Dog" to explain how
he interpreted his feelings. In fact the "black hounds" of fear have a place in both literary and legend.
So it is this that inspired the rather unusual song "Black Dog" Somewhere between gothic rock and electro punk, the
introduction features sampled brass instruments laid down in layers, like a brick wall, hard and inpenetrable.
As the music builds its clear it is a song with a very swift tempo, but also one with a message, that of trying to beat the "black dog" who shows
his teeth with the electric guitars that appear periodically"
Maxx explains. "The song is about beating your demons, whatever they are.I don't think it is a sad song, even though the introduction is funereal.
Depression is a subject that is still, even today, much misunderstood.
There are simply millions of people suffering from this, just in the UK, at this time. And if you are recovering, you can't just get back
into life as you were, its like breaking a leg, you cannot run immediately. There often isn't a realisation from people who have not been through it themselves.
They just say "pull yourself together" when if they suffered from the condition they would know that isn't so easy"
Maxx adds
"I am not about writing conventional love songs these days, well not this week... I wanted to write something about real lives. The song talks about beating depression,
but to beat it first you have to acknowledge it, which is part of the lyric of the song. The full album track, which I might release at some point, it 8 minutes long,
and finishes upbeat, but I wanted to keep the atmosphere of the shorter version for the video and a mix with percussion lower than the final version.
The video
Filmed by Maxx at the Varone waterfalls near Lake Garda at the start, there is a brooding atmosphere created by the brass and percussion.
The film moves to Glurns ( Glorenza) and one of the mediaval passageways outside of peoples houses. These were made for people
to be cool in the heat of the day. The video then moves back to the waterfall, to a church ( salvation?) an incredible field of sprinklers, before that rarity, a guitar glockenspiel and harpsicord solo(!)
and a tour of Glorenza but at this point everything is open and scenic, a contrast to how the video started and even the music seems to be resolving itself before the end.
Black Dog is an unreleased song, a video film and a painting, by Maxx Silver
Black Dog - copyright Maxx Silver 2017
There is a weight upon you crushing, cutting like a knife
Cold realisation you can’t really live you life
And when the company you hate most, is your own
You have a black dog and hes living in your home
It’s a black dog
Hell a black dog
Hell a black dog
It's a black dog
Hail the black dog
Living in your home.
Hail the black dog
Living in your home.
When you are speechless, and your face looks pale and gone
And there are two souls there - there only should be one
Some of the greatest people we have ever known,
They all had a black dog, that lived within their home
And there are two souls there - there only should be one
Some of the greatest people we have ever known,
They all had a black dog, that lived within their home
Its a black dog
Hail the black dog
Fear the black dog
Fear the black dog
Hail the black dog
Fear the black dog
Fear the black dog
And now he is leaving home
Swimming against the tide
When you gonna land?
Isn't it time you won?
When you gonna land?
Isn't it time you won?
'Black dog' as a metaphor for depression: a brief history
www.blackdoginstitute.org.au
‘Black dog’ as a metaphor for depression: a brief history Paul Foley Winston Churchill had a black dog his name was written on i It followed him around from town ...
