Total Eclipse...

Klaus Nomi - Michael Halsband

Last night I listened again to Klaus Nomi and since I certainly won't be able to watch out for tomorrow's eclispe (if it's even actually visible here), that gives me the perfect excuse to post some of his songs, through a tenuous link.
His work took my breath away in the early 80s and never fails to amaze me still as I can just listen to his songs again and again. His most famous was perhaps The Cold Song, but the following, Total Eclipse and  After the Fall, demonstrate his truly unique talent.

Total Eclipse -  Klaus Nomi

Big shots argue about what they've got,

Making the planet so hot, hot as a holocaust.

Blow up, everything's gonna go up,

Even if you don't show up, in your chemise Lacoste.

Total eclipse, it's a total eclipse,

It's a total eclipse of the sun.

Can't come to grips with the total eclipse.

Just a slip of the lips and you're done.

Fall out, nobody left to crawl out,

If someone calls out, we're all out,

Turning into French fries.

Last dance, let the entire cast dance,

Do the dismembered blast dance,

As we get atomized.

Having been noticed by David Bowie in the early stages of his singing career at the end of the 1970s, Klaus Nomi was used as one of the backing singers for Bowie's performance on Saturday Night Live. He and his singing partner, Joey Arias, (along with a pink robotic poodle) certainly seemed to have had a far better time than the bemused female backing vocalists in Nomi's Eclipse...

After the Fall -  Klaus Nomi

So I told you 'bout the total eclipse now,
But still it caught you unaware,
But I'm telling you, hold on, hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

And even those who went to church upon Sunday,
You thought you didn't even have a prayer,
But I'm telling you, hold on, hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

After the fall, we'll be born, born again,
After it all blows away,
After the fall, after the fall,
After the fall blows away.

We'll take a million years of civilization,
We're going to give it the electric chair,
But I'm telling you, hold on, hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

We'll see one hundred million lonely mutants
They will be glowing in their dark despair
But I'm telling you, hold on, hold on
Tomorrow will be there.

After the fall, we'll be born, born, born again,
After it all blows away,
After the fall, after the fall,
After it all blows away.

Well, the freak shall inherit the earth now,
No matter how well done or rare,
But I'm telling you, hold on, hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

We'll build our radioactive gases,
Into the radioactive air,
But I'm telling you, hold on, hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

After the fall, we'll be born, born, born again,
After it all blows away,
After the fall, after the fall,
After it all blows away.


Just as David Bowie was impressed by Nomi's artistic talent, the latter was influenced by Bowie's costumes and this led him to 'purify' his aesthetic form, leaning further towards a hybrid theatrical Kabuki style. 

I'm currently planning my trip to see the David Bowie is exhibition in Paris  - I can't wait to see this vast collection of clothes and styles and hopefully hear the music that is integral to them! 

I just wish that Klaus Nomi had lived long enough to be fully appreciated for the rare talent he possessed on every level, and hope that he had some awareness of the appreciation he did have, before his death in 1983, from AIDS. 
                            ______________________

Well, now it's the month of May, and I have finally visited the David Bowie is exhibition in Paris and seen that costume and image which had inspired Klaus Nomi so much. 

Unfortunately, photos were not allowed. Still, it was good to watch the video of Joey Arias and Nomi singing alongside Bowie. I think Nomi would have appreciated the building of the Philharmonie de Paris as it looks so futuristic with its hard lines and flowing forms - the roof seems to melt down towards the main entrance...