Alex Schaaf, singing Sharon Van Etten's "Love More" from her album epic
When I was in Congo, I heard my students say that when an elder died, a library burned down. This Yellow Ostrich song callled "Libraries Burn Fast" reflects the speed of knowledge production and the murkiness of memory in the information age of wi-fi and world news in a minute.
The Yellow Ostrich Website
Libraries
Let me take your words from you today
Tell me what you’ve always yearned to say
Sing about the trials you have known
‘Cause there will be a fire here today
All you see will slowly fade away
Into ashes, shadows and the mist
Make it quick, don’t try to understand
Trucks and hoses soon will be at hand
Tell all that you know before you go
And I will write it down here in my book
I promise you that I will never look
Until the day has come when the fire starts
Libraries burn fast
When they’re in the past
Once you leave all your stories will be gone
Libraries burn fast
They weren’t built to last
Flames of memory burn brighter than the rest
Libraries are burning
Should we try to save them? What will we be missing?
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