…garden of roses, CATHERINE GRAINDORGE Joan
Catherine Graindorge Joan is available on Songs for the Dead, Glitterbeat Records
by Walter Price
If the dead could speak—
The newest release from Belgian interdisciplinary artist Catherine Graindorge is a grim work that comes from the beyond. “Joan” from the forthcoming LP “Songs for the Dead” (4 April 2024 via Glitterbeat Records) has a backstory so rooted in one of the literary world’s most bizarre and misunderstood moments, that it has baffled most who have heard of it for more than seven decades.
The folklore, in short, goes something like this…The wife of William S. Burroughs, Joan Burroughs née Vollmer, was shot in the head at a drunken Mexico City party by her —husband, as he tried to shoot an an object off of her head—a tragedy whose details were often changed and made more confusing to history by Mr. Burroughs himself. But a retelling, of sorts, did come in the form of a work by Allen Ginsberg titled “A Dream Record“, called so because that’s what it was; a dream—a mortal acquaintance’s conversation with the deceased. And here within is the origin story for Graindorge’s “Joan”.
“There is blood on my shoulders/ There is lead in my brain”, Graindorge, from Vollmer’s perspective, speaks while a pounding heartbeat breaks the uneasy silence in between words. The intensity is measurable by the gasps of awe from this listener. I know the story and Ginsberg’s poem, but knowing the conclusion doesn’t stop me from wanting to understand more.
Concerning this track, wanting to understand the subtext is just scratching the surface. On Bandcamp, Graingorge is quoted, “I didn’t know anything about Joan Vollmer, but the poem says everything about our lives. Something can happen and there’s no return, except in our dreams, when the dead come to visit us. Like the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In the eyes of Orpheus, Eurydice seems alive for a moment, but one look is enough for her to vanish into the world of the Dead. He wants to bring her back to life with his love for her.”
It’s heady subject matter for a pop song. But rules are meant to be broken and “Joan” isn’t meant to be a sing-a-long, but a reminder to cherish moments and the lost. To invite conversations with the faded.
You can stream the hauntingly memorable “Joan” here at the GTC.
CATHERINE GRAINDORGE Joan
Artist photo via Facebook // Artwork and quotes via Bandcamp
Written by Catherine Graindorge
Produced by Catherine Graindorge and Koen Gisen
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“Musically, this album [Songs for the Dead] is an evolution for me. I try to push myself where I haven’t been before.” – Catherine Graindorge