Time, Clock of the Heart

Yesterday I went over to Liverpool to catch the Marc Chagall exhibition on its last weekend.It was the second time I'd been.Last time it was midweek and midsummer. This time it was very busy and it took some doing to read the captions for the paintings. I have always been a fan. There's a depth to his work that isn't always apparent in the reproduction postcards and posters. The light and colour can be deceptive because the images are so attractive . Some of the interpretation didn't address the questions we had. There were a couple of surprises in the gift shop too. A lovely edition of his illustrations for the Bible and a book about the stained glass he did for Chichester and Tudeley, none of which was included in this major exhibition. The topsy turvey perspective and his use of colour play with your perceptions. Sometimes the interpretation referred to Yiddish expressions and there were several paintings when we wondered if we were missing something in our ignorance of this aspect of folklore. A peasant's green hand makes me think of green fingers, a good gardener.Green faces elsewhere made me wonder about inexperience, innocence or even foolishness. There's a favourite painting which I hadn't seen before this exhibition of a clock with one blue wing. There are other symbols and images in the background. 'Time flies' interpreted my cousin. So clear once he had said it. But it made me think of Culture Club' 'Time, Clock of the Heart'. I hummed it to myself for the next ten minutes. Last night I switched on the radio before bed, hoping to stay awake and see what was on Bob Harris' late night show. The presenter before him announced that Boy George was coming into the studio. That made me think of looking for 'Time' on youtube and next thing I knew it was daylight and morning.The radio was still on. Curiously 'Time, Clock of the heart' was playing on the Sunday morning show. I never got to see Culture Club, though I nearly met Boy George once. I worked with a young lad called Frankie at the Hacienda who was completely modelled on Boy George in 1982. 'Time' came out in November that year . I found Culture Club and Boy George fascinating. He was on the cover of Woman's Own. He was everybody's darling. He broke down barriers. His appearance crossed cultural boundaries and created its own fashion. There is something about this song that makes my heart swell and my eyes fill with tears. I don't associate it with any particularly happy/sad period of my life, though I know I was in a good place in my work and personal life when it came out. It's described as a love song,but it is also said to be about his difficult relationship with John Moss. Much of Chagall's work is described as being about love. It's the possibility of loss that highlights the appreciation of romance in the paintings. It's the tenderness in Boy George's song that makes it so powerful at a time when his personal and professional life must have been as topsy turvey as the perspective in any Chagall painting.