The political side of older folk songs inspired him to become his own kind of musical activist. It’s a distillation of the human spirit.”

“Also, my mother had this great collection of blues lyrics that treated them like an anthology of poems.

“When you sing an old song, you take on that feeling,” he said. He believes some of his flair for capturing grave emotions comes from listening to a lot of older blues and folk musicians from a young age. “Kids have a very intense emotional life,” he said. Not that he finds the gravity of such songs unlikely. Such philosophical questions have served as both a spur and a muse for Browne ever since he first garnered attention as a teenage poet prodigy in the late 60s, when he wrote such improbably heavy songs as These Days. So, I think my questions now have more to do with, ‘what can be accomplished in the time I have left?’ And, ‘what are we here for in the first place?’” “It’s one of the undeniable facts of this life that it doesn’t last forever. “I’m old, you know,” said the 72-year-old songwriter. With characteristic eloquence and reach, Browne addresses desire in all its forms, whether that be for a romantic connection, a sense of purpose, a political goal or simply to experience something new.ĭespite the scope of his yearning, Browne kept his perspective tight by framing everything from a well-seasoned point of view. Caligari.It’s that capacity that Browne ponders and challenges throughout the album, from its restless opening track, Still Looking for Something, to its finale, Song for Barcelona, which presents that Spanish city’s vibrancy as its own avenue for renewal. Studio filming and post-production took place in Berlin, and film historians observe the influence on the finished product of the German expressionist cinema of the era, notably the celebrated The Cabinet of Dr. The film was given a budget of £5,000, which, while not lavish, allowed for travel to Venice to shoot location scenes. Feeling that this alone would not necessarily prove a draw for filmgoers, he came up with a story which had an 18th-century core but was framed by a contemporary narrative. The film's theme of loss of sexual desire, and by implication impotence, was exceptionally frank for its time oddly, however, it appears to have been passed for release without interference by the British film censors, who at this time had a reputation for extreme zealousness where sexual matters in film were concerned.īrunel's commission for the film was to write and produce a historical drama set in Venice.

The film was Brunel's feature-length directorial debut and has been described as 'one of the stranger films to emerge from Britain in the 1920s'.

The Man Without Desire is a 1923 British silent film fantasy drama, directed by Adrian Brunel and starring Ivor Novello, who also co-produced the film along with Miles Mander.

The Man with no Libido by Jason Browne