No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.
–Carl Jung
Can something be both a plant and an animal?
An anemone is a flowering plant widely known as a wildflower. The name comes from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind, because its delicate petals sway in the breeze. There are up to 200 different species of plant anemone.
An anemone is also a predatory marine invertebrate with a soft, cylindrical body that attaches at its base to corals, rocks, and shells, with a ring of colourful, waving tentacles at the opposite end resembling the petals of a flower. There are around 1 200 species of sea anemones.
I trust I got all that correct. However, my essay is about neither, particularly. It’s about something else entirely.
The song Anemone is by Brian Jonestown Massacre, a band whose name is itself a linguistic mashup. The band name derives from a combination of Brian Jones, the original guitarist and founding member of The Rolling Stones, and the Jonestown Massacre, a 1978 tragedy in Guyana where cult leader Tim Jones led more than 900 members of his Peoples Temple cult to die in a mass suicide and murder via cyanide poisoning.
Anemone appeared on Brian Jonestown Massacre’s 1996 album Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request. The album title plays on The Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, released in 1967. Interestingly, former percussionist Mara Keagle sings lead vocals, with backing from Matt Hollywood, not the usual frontman Anton Newcombe.
When I first heard it, I remember thinking what a gloomy and depressing song. It also didn’t help that the band had such an ominous-sounding name. However, the more I played it, the more it grew on me.
When celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain committed suicide in 2018, I heard that this was one of his favourite tunes. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2014, he described the song as,
Drenched in opiates and regret, I heard this song once and became besotted by it. It sounds like lost love, past lives, unforgiven mistakes and transgressions.
When Bourdaine committed suicide, it was reported that he was battling chronic depression, anxiety, work-related stress and exhaustion from filming the series Parts Unknown. He was also dealing with a breakup with his partner, Italian actress and filmmaker Asia Argento. It has not, however, been conclusively determined whether any or a combination of these factors contributed to his death because he did not leave a suicide note.
You
You know that I try
Try to tell you the truth
Oh baby don’t make me cry
You should be picking me up
Instead you’re dragging me down
Now I’m missing you more
Cause baby you’re not around
Now that you’re not around
Meanwhile, the song takes on a whole new meaning if you pay attention to the lyrics. It’s strange how we tend to concoct associations in hindsight. The lyrics seem to mirror his feelings about a troubled relationship, but that can’t be because his relationship with Argento started in 2016, long after he became besotted with Anemone.
What is it then?
Like a sea anemone’s tentacles, the song draws you in, dominating your senses. It’s both depressing and exhilarating; the psychedelic beat is hypnotic.
Maybe like Bourdaine, I’m captivated, and I can’t stop listening.
Please leave a comment or reply