Saturday, June 7, 2008

Boats: Ship Of Fools



World Party: Ship Of Fools

[purchase]

Van Der Graaf Generator: Ship Of Fools

[purchase]


Wikipedia on Ship of Fools

A vessel populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their own direction.

Michel Foucault, who wrote Madness and Civilization, saw in the ship of fools a symbol of the consciousness of sin and evil alive in the medieval mindset and imaginative landscapes of the Renaissance. According to the intro to Madness and Civilization, "Renaissance men developed a delightful, yet horrible way of dealing with their mad denizens: they were put on a ship and entrusted to mariners because folly, water, and sea, as everyone then "knew," had an affinity for each other. Thus, "Ship of Fools" crisscrossed the sea and canals of Europe with their comic and pathetic cargo of souls. Some of them found pleasure and even a cure in the changing surroundings, in the isolation of being cast off, while others withdrew further, became worse, or died alone and away from their families. The cities and villages which had thus rid themselves of their crazed and crazy, could now take pleasure in watching the exciting sideshow when a ship full of foreign lunatics would dock at their harbors."

9 comments:

LD said...

Funny, one of the first boat songs I thought of was "Ship Of Fools" by Soul Asylum. For shits and grins, here it is.

Soul Asylum: Ship Of Fools

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting that. How crazy is this? At least six different songs with the same name.

boyhowdy said...

There's a band called Van De Graaf Generator? How awesomely electric is that!

Also decent: Elvis Costello's cover of the Grateful Dead song of this name, which appears on Deadicated...which I used to have, but the CD has broken. :-( Sadness.

Anonymous said...

Van De Graaf Generator were a huge Prog rock band in their day. Ship Of Fools actually charted in the UK.

I have a live version from 1996-02 - Costello & Nieve, if that's close enough.

Elvis Costello: Ship Of Fools (Live)

The original...

Grateful Dead: Ship Of Fools

Ramone666 said...

John Cale´s Ship Of Fools (from Fear) is a beauty too, but I´ve got in on vinyl only so can´t post it here. Anyone?

Anonymous said...

John Cale: Ship Of Fools

Erasure: Ship Of Fools

Ramone666 said...

Cheers Dean, I knew I could count on you.

boyhowdy said...

Nice hidden bonus tracks, Dean -- thanks much for the live Costello, especially.

Anonymous said...

Glad to oblige!