Ingram, Bertolucci, Barbieri, philosophy and existentialism

Dec 08, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

One literally cannot cope with the volume of news out there in the world. You are bound to miss out on many things. I read voraciously, but still didn’t know that three persons that hold memories for me had died. They are Bernardo Bertolucci, Gato Barbieri and James Ingram.
James Ingram was not one of my favourite rhythm and blues singers but I enjoyed his music. He had a voice that reminded me of the great Sam Cooke. But he had a longer reach than Cooke. I always remember Ingram because he sang a love song that graphically describes my marriage.
Once I hear the name James Ingram, I think of that song and my love for my wife. Titled, “How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” it is a philosophical rendition on the purpose and power of enduring love. It is about one’s feeling for the woman whom you love and the love she reciprocates.
Here are the lyrics of one of the greatest love songs ever composed that cut across borders and cultures:

How do you keep the music playing?
How do you make it last?
How do you keep the song from fading
Too fast?
How do you lose yourself to someone
And never lose your way?
How do you not run out of new things
To say?
And since you know we’re always changing
How can it be the same?
And tell me how year after year
You’re sure your heart won’t fall apart
Each time you hear her name?
I know the way I feel for you is now or never
The more I love, the more that I’m afraid
That in your eyes I may not see forever, forever
If we can be the best of lovers
Yet be the best of friends
If we can try with every day to make it better as it grows
With any luck than I suppose
The music never ends.”
Then there are Bertolucci and Barbieri. I have seen a lot of Indian and English language movies but Bertolucci, the Italian, remains the best director ever to do films. The Americans will extol the talent of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and other Americans, but they do not possess the deep philosophical approaches and the philosophical themes Bertolucci invested into his movies.
For me, his masterpiece was the greatest existentialist film ever made, “Last Tango in Paris.” The film moves subtly between themes that could be deceiving. One is inclined to think it is a study of the Freudian sexual drives inherent in Homo sapiens. But “Last Tango in Paris” is essentially about the purpose of human existence and the inner pessimism that permeates humans from cradle to grave.
If ever a director showed a finished movie to a musician and asked him/her to compose the theme song, I do not think any example could surpass what the Argentine saxophonist did for “Last Tango in Paris.” I think “Circle of Life” by Elton John for the animated film “Lion King” comes close. John really excelled in that song. It remains my favourite Elton John tune and one of my cherished philosophical pop songs. But “Circle of Life” is not a comment on existentialist life. It is a song about hope, optimism, purpose and love.
The theme from “Last Tango in Paris” explores the question if humans have any purpose and query their very reason for living. If you are the philosophical type then I suggest you watch “Last Tango in Paris”, listen to the theme song, and digest the lyrics of the James Ingram song, which is in fact a duet with Patti Austin.
Here are the lyrics from the love song of “Last Tango in Paris.”
“We don’t exist
We are nothing but shadow and mist
In the mirror we look as we pass
No reflections revealed in the glass

Don’t you know that the blood in your veins
Is as lifeless as yesterday’s rain
It’s a game where we come to conceal
The confusion we feel
As long as we’re nameless
Our bodies are blameless

You cried when we kissed
It was nothing but shadow and mist
Two illusions who touch in a trance
Making love not by choice, but by chance
To a theme we tore from their past
To a tango we swore was their last
We are shadows of dance

As long as we’re nameless
Our bodies are blameless

You cried when we kissed
It was nothing but shadow and mist
Two illusions who touch in a trance
Making love not by choice, but by chance
To a theme that we tore from their past
To a tango we swore was their last
We are shadows of dance.”

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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