Mobiltelefonselskabet Orange lavede for nogle år siden en reklame, der handler om strømsvigtet i New York i 2003, hvor de brugte en sang jeg holder uendelig meget af: Joanna Newsoms This Side Of The Blue fra albummet The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004). Nedenfor er den eneste version af sangen på YouTube, og selvom den blot indeholder de to første vers, giver den et indtryk af sangens særegne karakter.

Joanna Newsom: This Side Of The Blue

Svetlana sucks lemons across from me,
and I am progressing abominably.
And I do not know my own way to the sea
but the saltiest sea knows its own way to me.

The city that turns, turns protracted and slow
and I find myself toeing th’embarcadero
and I find myself knowing the things that I knew
which is all that you can know on this side of the blue

And Jaimie has eyes black and shiny as boots
and they march at you, two-by-two (re - loo - re - loo);
when she looks at you, you know she’s nowhere near through:
it’s the kindest heart beating this side of the blue.

And the signifieds butt heads with the signifiers,
and we all fall down slack-jawed to marvel at words!
While across the sky sheet the impossible birds,
in a steady, illiterate movement homewards.

And Gabriel stands beneath forest and moon.
See them rattle & boo, see them shake, see them loom.
See him fashion a cap from a page of Camus;
see him navigate deftly this side of the blue.

And the rest of our lives will the moments accrue
when the shape of their goneness will flare up anew.
Then we do what we have to do (re - loo - re -loo),
which is all you can do on this side of the blue.

———

While across the sky sheet the impossible birds,
in a steady, illiterate movement homewards.

Den bevægelse, vi alle prøver at foretage - rejsen hjem - er ikke mulig. Den er analfabetisk, udannet, uskolet: Vi har ingen erfaring med at komme hjem igen, vi kan ikke. Vi kan kun flyve fremad, selvom vi prøver at flyve tilbage.

Joanna Newsom spiller i Vega d. 23. april 2007