Gurdjieff's Daughter

Album: Short Movie (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • A shaman that Marling met inspired in her an interest in mysticism. This led to the English singer hunting down everything she could find about the Chilean filmmaker, author and spiritual guru Alejandro Jodorowsky. This surreal track was written about some advice that the Armenian spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff gave to his daughter, which she passed on through an encounter with Jodorowsky at a film premiere.

    Marling told NME: "I was reading Joborowsky's biography. There is this absolutely brilliant moment where he meets Gurdjieff's daughter. Gutdjieff is like a spiritual teacher, a philosophical cult leader, and this daughter tracked Jodorowsky down at a première of El Topo in Mexico City to tell him he needed to brush up on his metaphysical skills because he's going to be a really important part of humanity. She said, 'I've been sent to teach you all these things.'"

    "They ended up in a hotel room together, and she reeled off this list of his sayings, his rules for living, of how to be a moral human being."

    "I pretty much turned that verbatim into a song. Like one of them is 'Don't share orders for the pleasure of being obeyed' and another is 'Don't be impressed by big personalities.'"
  • The song's music video finds Marling wandering through her former east Los Angeles home. It includes cameos from several friends of hers, including Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend, American musician Jonathan Wilson, British singer/songwriter Marika Hackman and British actress Rhian Rees.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Is That Song Public Domain?

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?

Ian Astbury of The Cult

Ian Astbury of The CultSongwriter Interviews

The Cult frontman tells who the "Fire Woman" is, and talks about performing with the new version of The Doors.

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")

Phil Hurtt ("I'll Be Around")Songwriter Interviews

Phil was a songwriter, producer and voice behind many Philadelphia soul classics. When disco hit, he got an interesting project: The Village People.

dUg Pinnick of King's X

dUg Pinnick of King's XSongwriter Interviews

dUg dIgs into his King's X metal classics and his many side projects, including the one with Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The Remasters

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The RemastersSong Writing

Brian has unearthed outtakes by Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other artists for reissues. Here's how he does it.