It’s not all doom and gloom right now. With the winter solstice just gone by, days will slowly lengthen, allowing us to perceive more lux, that unit of illuminance and luminous flux. Phonetically it is beautiful word to say and sing, but where does it appear in lyrics?
Fighting against the dying of the light, and seasonal affective disorder, depression and other light-deprivation illnesses, let’s switch on with S.A.D. Light by Glasvegas, from their debut album of 2008, featuring the majestic sound of James Allan (vocals), Rab Allan (lead guitar), Paul Donoghue (bass guitar) and Jonna Löfgren (drums).
Winter blues no love for you
Seasons change in a Gothic way
10,000 lux to light us up
In these winter nights if I'm wandering all alone
I'll turn on my S.A.D. light
Meanwhile however, it’s summer Down Under, so inverting the perspective from the dark northern hemisphere, in another context lux features in a song from New Zealand, by Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor aka Lorde and her international smash hit Royals, from her debut album of 2013, Love Club. She uses the word as emanating not just light, or indeed limelight, but also luxury and glamour, out or reach, but achievable in a different way:
And we'll never be royals
It don't run in our blood
That kind of lux just ain't for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler, you can call me Queen B
And baby I'll rule (I'll rule I'll rule I'll rule)
Let me live that fantasy
Lux is also a long-established brand name of soap, a name presumably designed to be associated with luxury. In a song by Joe Greene, here’s a somewhat ironic 1947 reference to it in from Stan Kenton and band, with Across The Alley From The Alamo, featuring the voice of June Christy. The song has also been covered by Ella Fitzgerald among other artists.
Across the alley from the Alamo
Lived a pinto pony and a Navajo
Who used to bake frijoles in cornmeal dough
For the people passing by
They thought that they would make some easy bucks
By washin' their frijoles in Duz and Lux,
A pair of very conscientious clucks
To the people passin' by
Of course the true origin, and meaning of lux is a Latin word for light. There are numerous versions of the traditional 16th-century Christian carol celebration, Gaudete, including more recently by the all-female group Medieval Baebes, but it was made popular by 70s vernacular medievalists Steeleye Span in 1972.
Gaudete, gaudete, Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine, gaudete
Gaudete, gaudete, Christus est natus
Ex Maria virgine, gaudete
Ezechielis porta clausa per transitur
Unde lux est orta salus invenitur
Approximate translation:
Rejoice, Rejoice!
Christ is born
Of the virgin Mary,
Rejoice!
The closed gate of Ezechiel
Has been passed through;
From where the light rises
Salvation is found.
Is there always salvation in lux? In theory, but not really for the fallen of the First World War, a century on, lest we forget. For some perspective, let’s hear a rather beautiful number, 1917, sung by Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris from their 1999 album, Western Wall (The Tucson Sessions). The song was originally written by David Olney, telling the story of a French prostitute in Paris, who comforts a soldier on his three-day leave. Perhaps the only lux for the short-lived soldier is a bit of earthly pleasure. The Latin section translates as “Let light shine upon them, grant them eternal rest …”
They die in the trenches and they die in the air
In Belgium and France the dead are everywhere
They die so, so fast there's no time to prepare
A decent grave to surround them
Old world glory, old world fame
The old world's gone, gone up in flames
Nothing will ever be the same
And nothing lasts forever
Oh, I'd pray for him but I've forgotten how
And there's nothing, nothing that can save him now
There's always another with the same funny bow
And who am I to deny them?
Lux aeterna Luceat eis
Domine, cum sancris tuis in aeternum
Quia pius es
Requiem aeternaum dona eis, Domine
Quia pius es
Requiem aeternaum dona eis, Domine
Quia pius es
Et lux perpetua luceat eis cum sancris tuis ina cap
So then, can you shed any more light on how lux appears in song, or any other context? Let’s pierce the gloom.
Want to suggest other examples of this word in song lyrics, or other unusual words or contexts? Does this song make you think of something else? Then feel free to comment below, on the contact page, or on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube. Please subscribe, follow and share.
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