Happy Bloomsday with James & Nora Joyce and Sting in Fields of Gold…
Happy Blooms Day with James & Nora Joyce and Sting in Fields of Gold…
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| James Joyce |
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| Sting & Trudie Styler |
Bloomsday, celebrated the world over every year with (in)famous pub and bar crawls by James Joyce aficionados (and likely some who simply desire a convenient excuse for an entire day of drinking and inebriation) occurs on June 16, a celebration which has become carved in stone for many decades since the publishing of James Joyce’s magnum opus, Ulysses. The entirety of Joyce’s illustrious and quite lengthy novel takes place on just one day – June 16, 1904 – as this was the day of his first official date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle, walking down to the Ringsend part of Dublin, an area between the Rivers Liffey and Dodder, in close proximity to Dublin Bay. Ulysses is entrenched with copiously detailed references of the actual layout of Dublin, to the degree that Joyce famously remarked that "I want to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of my book." He certainly accomplished that at least to the degree that many decades thereafter, thousands of people crawl through the streets of Dublin on June 16 every year, paying homage to Joyce and drinking at every pub mentioned in the novel (and there are numerous watering holes mentioned in the book). In fact, the tradition has become so popular that countless cities worldwide have Bloomsday celebrations.
However, one of the most exquisitely beautiful passages within Ulysses has nothing to do with the famous pub crawl that is now Bloomsday, but rather, a recounting of Leopold and Molly Bloom (two of the three central characters of the novel) and their extremely sensual encounter in a field in Dublin, overlooking the city, as they seduced and ravished one another (though Leopold does reminisce on the account in a bar). The passage occurs in Chapter 8 of Ulysses (“Lestrygonians”):
“Stuck on the pane two flies buzzed, stuck.
Glowing wine on his palate lingered swallowed. Crushing in the winepress grapes of Burgundy. Sun’s heat it is. Seems to a secret touch telling me memory. Touched his sense moistened remembered. Hidden under wild ferns on Howth below us bay sleeping: sky. No sound. The sky. The bay purple by the Lion’s head. Green by Drumleck. Yellowgreen towards Sutton. Fields of undersea, the lines faint brown in grass, buried cities. Pillowed on my coat she had her hair, earwigs in the heather scrub my hand under her nape, you’ll toss me all. O wonder! Coolsoft with ointments her hand touched me, caressed: her eyes upon me did not turn away. Ravished over her I lay, full lips full open, kissed her mouth. Yum. Softly she gave me in my mouth the seedcake warm and chewed. Mawkish pulp her mouth had mumbled sweetsour of her spittle. Joy: I ate it: joy. Young life, her lips that gave me pouting. Soft warm sticky gumjelly lips. Flowers her eyes were, take me, willing eyes. Pebbles fell. She lay still. A goat. No-one. High on Ben Howth rhododendrons a nannygoat walking surefooted, dropping currants. Screened under ferns she laughed warmfolded. Wildly I lay on her, kissed her: eyes, her lips, her stretched neck beating, woman’s breasts full in her blouse of nun’s veiling, fat nipples upright. Hot I tongued her. She kissed me. I was kissed. All yielding she tossed my hair. Kissed, she kissed me.
Me. And me now.
Stuck, the flies buzzed.”
This exquisite recounting of the two lovers’ impassioned encounter is rather brief, yet intense, from Leopold’s perspective. For those familiar with the novel, they realize that it’s re-referenced by Molly, through her perspective, in perhaps the most famous, eight-sentenced, stream of consciousness literary soliloquy in the English language in the final chapter chapter of Ulysses, “Penelope” (most simply refer to it as Molly’s soliloquy). While it’s too long for me to present here, for those of you who are interested, I strongly urge you to watch the final passage of Molly’s ravishing rapture performed seductively by Angeline Ball in Sean Walsh’s film “Bloom”:
So, what does any of this have to do with the title of this article, Sting, and undoubtedly one of his most beautiful songs, “Fields of Gold?” The first time I ever heard this song, which appeared on his 1993 album Ten Summoner's Tales, I was instantly mesmerized not only by the beauty of the song, but also by the fact that it had such an extraordinary connection to the two passages I’ve referenced above in Ulysses. Sting’s lyrics, while not quite as brazenly sensuous as those of Joyce’s novel, nonetheless indelibly capture the beauty and atmosphere of the romantic encounter of Leopold and Molly in a glorious field somewhere (anywhere for those with an imagination) and timeless, much in the way that Leopold and Molly’s love remains timeless and glorious in the minds of us Joyce lovers. Sting’s song was inspired by his wife, actress and director, Trudie Styler, so there is certainly a parallel between Joyce’s and Sting’s inspirations. The Sting lyrics for “Fields of Gold” are as follows:
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold
So she took her love
For to gaze a while
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down Among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me?
Will you be my love?
Upon the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky As we lie in fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover so Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth Among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold
We'll walk in fields of gold
Many years have passed since those summer days Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
(Songwriter: Gordon Matthew Sumner; Fields of Gold lyrics © Songs of Universal Inc.)
For those of you who may not be familiar with Sting’s song, here’s the official video:
https://youtu.be/KLVq0IAzh1A?si=pWGdf-oJume1MYAh
As an interesting and highly complimentary aside, Sir Paul McCartney has mentioned his tremendous admiration for “Fields of Gold” when asked if there are any songs from other composers he wishes he’d written. He’s jokingly stated “I liked Sting's “Fields Of Gold,” and I thought, Y'know what, I should have written that!' How dare he? I told him you stole my song.” Of course, Sting was quite taken by such reverence for his song from none other than McCartney, as Sir Paul and the Beatles were one of his greatest influences and reasons that he became a musician.
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