"It's connected with other texts in so far that it has to do with a certain term, or the ability to capture something by giving it a term. By speaking aloud a name, one gains power over it."
- Blixa about "Blume".
I have thought about the name of God, and not speaking the name out loud. And furthermore, with Blixas quote in mind, I came to think about the Golem; a creation of the jew Loeb. It is said that the Golem was given life by repeating the letters in Gods name. And by doing so also gaining power over the Golem, the Golem was a servant.
In the English Blume text there is a quote from the Bible:
"A lily of the valley / a flower of saron"
- Song of Songs 2,1.
It should be noticed that the different versions of the lyrics - a German, an English, a French and a Japanese - are not merely "identical" translations, several lines do not have the same meaning in all versions. This Biblic quote appears only in the English version. While the French one follows the German version: "Pour toi je suis un lys" - "Für dich bin ich ein Lilie". The French version adds: "peut-être suis-je Alice" - "maybe I am Alice", this leads to thoughts about Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland.
There's more to the differencies:
"a drop in the ocean" and "os a ronger", the French line means "a problem difficult to solve", or "something hard to struggle with"; word by word it translates "a bone to gnaw".
The lines for the Heliantus annus "another reason to cut off an ear" naturally makes us think of Van Gogh, who is said to have cut off his ear after a fight with Gauguin, but another story says he did that to offer the ear to a prostitute.
Italian Neubauten-fan, Roberta, wrote to me about Blume and after a while of correspondance we began to see these lyrics as a regular labyrinth! Roberta sat down to translate all the Latin flower-names and discovered that the lines to follow the name of a flower not always fitted that flower, but often one of the others mentioned in the song. Also Roberta began researching in the stories behind the names. Here follows the result of her efforts.
The Labyrinth:
"Chrysantemum - supernova, urgent star"
The stanza for the "Chrysantemum" speaks of a "star", and what's the flower that follows right after? The "Astera compositae", i.e. composite star.
"Astera compositae" - for you I'll be a Dandelion"
The "Astera compositae" is an Aster, not a Dandelion.
"Ephorbia - a blue Dahlia, a black Tulip"
The Dahlia and the Tulip are not Euphorbias.
The Tulip is actually a Liliacea!
And "Euphorbia" is the other name for Wolfsmilch.
Flower-stories:
heliantus annus:
Clytia was a water-nymph and she was desperatly in love with Apollo (the personification of the sun, according to the Greek mythology), who actually didn't care at all about her, since he was in love with a woman, Leucothea. Clytia managed to destroy their joyful relationship, causing the death of Leucothea, but --needless to say-- this didn't led Apollo to fall in love with the nymph... Clytia lost her will to live, she just sat down, never to rise up again, but constantly gazing to her beloved Sun. Her body rooted and she transformed herself in a flower: the heliotrope. (you'll find the detailed story in Ovid's Metamorphoses 4, 244-408) The "heliotrope" and not "heliantus annus": actually, our sunflower comes from Mexico and Peru, so it was obviously unknown to Ovid. But the word "heliotrope" has become the definition for all kind of flowers or plants which are constantly turned toward the sun, and the sunflower is certainly the most typical among them. (Incidentally, the sunflower-page at the herbal.com site informs me that two synonyms for "sunflower" are "Marygold of Peru" and "Chrysanthemum Peruvianum", and that "The Marigold (Calendulu officinalis) is considered by Dr. Prior to have been the plant described by Ovid as turning to the sun"
Rosa and Anemone are related to the story of Venus and Adonis:
All began when Venus wounded herself with a Cupid's arrow and this accident caused her to fall in love with Adonis, a very beautiful --and obviously mortal-- man. They were very happy together, until the day, Venus not being there, Adonis went to hunt a boar and the boar actually killed him. When Venus discovered the death of his beloved one and mourned on him, our flowers enter the stage, but I've found different versions of the facts:
1_ Venus wants her grief to be forever remembered, so she makes a flower spring up from Adonis' blood, "a flower of bloody hue like that of the pomegranate. But it is short-lived. It is said the wind blows the blossoms open, and afterwards blows the petals away; so it is called Anemone, or Wind Flower, from the cause which assists equally in its production and its decay." (from the Bulfinch's Mythology).
2_ Frazer's The Golden Bough substantially agree with what's written above, but he adds another legend: Venus, desperately running to reach her wounded lover, passed through a bush of white roses, so the thorns ripped off her skin and her blood made those roses become red forever.
3_ Herbal.com version: "Culpepper also uses the word 'windflower.' In Greek mythology it sprang from the tears of Venus, as she wandered through the woodlands weeping for the death of Adonis - 'Where streams his blood there blushing springs a rose And where a tear has dropped, a wind-flower blows.' "
The lily of the valley is said to have sprung up from Mary's tears at the death of his son Jesus, in fact it is also called Our Lady's Tears; and the Herbal.com (again) reports "There is an old Sussex legend that St. Leonard fought against a great dragon in the w woods near Horsham, only vanquishing it after a mortal combat lasting many hours, during which he received grievous wounds, but wherever his blood fell, Lilies-of-theValley sprang up to commemorate the desperate fight, and these woods, which bear the name of St. Leonard's Forest to this day, are still thickly carpeted with them.".
Flower-research by Roberta.
BLUME
Lyrics by Blixa Bargeld
ENGLISH VERSION
Chrysantemum For you I am a chrysantemum
Supernova, urgent star
Astera Compositae For you I'll be a dandelion
A thousand flowerettes in the sky
Or just a drop in the ocean
If you know my name
don't speak it out
it holds a power - as before
Liliacea A lily of the valley
a flower of saron
Helianthus annus For you I even be a sunflower
Do you hear my enlightening laughter?
another reason to cut off an ear
You know my name, do you not?
don't say it
For it is sacred, immovable - frozen
Rosa, Anemone
et Nymphea alba I'll even be a waterlily,
a marygold, a rose
or a little thistle
Euphorbia A blue dahlia, a black tulip
that's where opinions differ
the scholars disagree
My name, should you know it
remains unspeakable
and is spoken -
Malediction
GERMAN VERSION
Kiku Für dich bin ich eine Chrysanteme
Supernova, eiliger Stern
Tanpopo Für dich bin ich ein Löwenzahn
Tochter des Himmels multipliziert
Solltest du meinen Namen kennen
sprich ihn nicht aus
er birgt Gewalt - wie früher
Yuri Für dich bin ich eine Lilie
Himawari Für dich würd ich sogar eine Sonnenblume sein
hörst du mein leuchtendes Lachen?
Ein neuer Grund, ein Ohr abzuschneiden
Du kennst meinen Namen,
und sprichst ihn nicht aus
er ist heilig, unbeweglich - gefroren
Anemone, Suiren Eine Seerose, Anemone, Rose
oder ein unscheinbares Wolfsmilchgewächs
Aoi hana,
Kuroi chuurippu Eine blaue Blume, schwarze Tulpe
da scheiden sich die Gemüter streiten die Gelehrten
Aber mein Name, solltest du ihn kennen
bleibt unaussprechlich und ausgesprochen -
Malediction
I heard you call my name
FRENCH VERSION
Chrysantemum Pour toi je suis une chrysanthème
super nova une Étoile pressée
Astera Compositae Pour toi je suis une dent-de-lionion
et la céleste fille multipliée
pire: "un os à ronger"
Connais-tu mon nom
ne le prononce pas
il cache un pouvoir -
comme autrefois
Liliacea Pour toi je suis un lys
peut-être suis-je Alice
Helianthus annus Pour toi je serais même une fleur de tournesol
entends-tu mon rire ensoleillé?
un motiv nouveau à se couper l'oreille
Tu connais mon nom, n'est-ce pas?
et tu ne le prononces pas
il est sacré -
immobile, gelé
Rosa, Anemone
et Nymphea alba Une rose, une anémone, une rose d'eau
ou une quelconque
pousse de lait de loup
Euphorbia la fleur bleu, la tulipe noire
c'est là que les avis se separent
les savants se disputent
mais mon nom si tu le connais
reste inprononçable
il est prononcé -
Malédiction
I heard you call my name
JAPANESE VERSION
Chrysantemum Watashi wa anata no kiku
Bakuhatsu suru hoshi
Isogi no hoshi
Astera Compositae Watashi wa anata no tanpopo
Samazama na sora no musume tatsi
Yakeru ishi no ue no
tada hitotsubu no suiteki
Watashi no namae wo shitteiru naraba
Yobanaide
Sore wa kakusareta chikara
Oomukashi, sou datta youni
Liliacea Watashi wa anata no yuri
Tatoeba hyaku-nen no aida
Helianthus annus Watashi wa anata no himawari nimo nareru
Hikaru warai ga kikoeru?
Mimi wo kiriotosu mata atarashii riyuu
Watashi no namae wo shitteiru-deshou?
Demo yobanaide
Sore wa toutoku
Ugoku koto naku
Kooritsuita
Rosa,Anemone
et Nymphea alba Suiren, Anemone, bara, ookami no chichi no deru
Medatanai kusa
Euphorbia Aoi hana, kuroi chuurippu
Hitobito no iken wa kuichigai
Monoshiri-tachi wa iiarasou
Demo watashi no namae wo shitteiru hazu
Soredemo yobu-koto wa dekinai
Sore wo yobu to -
Jumon
Hast du meinen Namen gesagt?