The Muses Are Heard

The Muses Are Heard is named after Truman Capote's non-fiction book from 1956 which documents an American theatre company's tour of the Soviet Union. According to the book's Wikipedia page, the title is derived from a speech given by one of the Soviet cultural ministry staff, who declared, "When the cannons are heard, the muses are silent. When the cannons are silent, the muses are heard."I decided to take this title in 2011 when I wrote the song, partly in response to what seemed to be a looming surge of radical conservative politics (a reality that, sadly, has only grown worse in the years since then). Remembering the Tom Stoppard play Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth (1979) which Stoppard wrote in response to a series of illegal Shakespeare performances developed by Czech playwright Patel Kohout to be carried out in residential living rooms, the phrase 'I would break the law just to be where the muses are heard' sprung into my head. The idea that a repressive government can't stop artists from creating art was the guiding force. The rest of the song followed from there. The song was recorded during the same session as the Trust an Amateur album at LowSwing studio in Berlin, but was left off the album.