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Be A Body (侘寂) is a song by Grimes. Appearing on her third studio album, Visions, it is the 8th track on the album.

Background[]

The song was written partly in response to "Post Physical", Denver producer Pictureplane's ode to the internet age, and partly due to a newfound love of R&B following a tour with Brooklyn's lo-fi R&B crooner How to Dress Well. "It's probably the song on the record that takes most from the contemporary dialogue, I would say," she told Dazed.[1]

The song's name was based off of a quote said by Italian Dominican friar and Scriptural theologian Thomas Aquinas regarding the Medieval Christian mentality.[2]

Grimes also said the following about the song:[3]

I don't have a phone. Everyone I know is always on their f***ing phone on the Internet all the time. I just wanted to write a song about being alive in the real world — "be a body.

In a retrospective track-by-track commentary, Grimes said about the song:[4]

I adore this song. I feel so weird about it now. We shot a video for it starring my beautiful friend Hannah Myrberg who was a ballerina, and then she passed away before we could put the video out. And so we just never put it out because it felt exploitative of her death or something. I think everyone was just really traumatized and didn't know how to handle it. I remember she stick-and-poke tattooed "Be A Body" onto her knuckles while we were making this. Miss her a lot, and she's always tied to this song for me. Dedicated to her for sure.

Media[]

Posted to Tumblr on April 11, 2011:[5]

Be a Body Video stills this might never see the light of day cuz it’s a pre-4ad video (budget of $136!) ;) am thinking of using the footage for an elite gymnastics video? have to work it out with everyone else involved

Trivia[]

  • The title features the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi, (侘寂), which represents a Japanese worldview that beauty is impermanent.[6][7]
  • In 2012, she called it her favourite song.[1]
  • At one point Grimes wanted to use the footage of the scrapped music video for an old song of a friend of hers, but didn't because "it wouldn’t have made sense in the press cycle".[8]
  • It was the second-to-last song to be written for Visions and one of the only songs to not be written in a single day.[9]

Lyrics[]

[Verse]
Ooh, what peace of mind
What a night, what a sight
Cause I want to call home
Ooh, what peace of mind
What a night, what a sight
Cause I want to call home
(Be a body)

[Refrain]
I close my eyes until I see
I don't need hands to touch me
Be a body
I lean on walls until I stand
I touch my face with my hand
Be a body
I close my eyes until I see
I don't need hands to touch me
Be a body
I lean on walls until I stand
I touch my face with my hand
Be a body

[Interlude]
(To the rhythm I go)
Be a body
So then what am I?
(To the rhythm I go)
Be a body
So then what am I?
Be a body
So then what am I?
Be a body
So then what am I?
(To the rhythm I go)

[Verse]
Ooh, what peace of mind
What a night, what a sight
Cause I want to call home
Ooh, what peace of mind
What a night, what a sight
Cause I want to call home
(Be a body)

References[]

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