Pitchfork: Finally, I have a question a friend of mine su...

Pitchfork: Finally, I have a question a friend of mine supplied. Someone at her college had a radio show called “Songs of the Apocalypse”, and she was curious what would be on your show, if you put together something called “Songs of the Apocalypse”.

David Tibet: Funny, instead of the obvious choices, the song that immediately comes to mind is “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes; that and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” by the Shangri La’s. I love girl groups— I particularly love Ronnie Spector— and the idea of apocalypse, the original Greek word meaning, “unveiling,” is where everything is revealed. Now, of course, it has the sense of Armageddon and total destruction, but I still look at it as a total unveiling, the taking off of all masks, and the return, perhaps after the Armageddon, to that state of pristine purity and innocence and love, which is the natural human condition.

When I listen to “Be My Baby” I hear such yearnings and such love and such beauty— that absolutely simple, uncynical love that can and should exist between people— it makes me think of everything [being] stripped away. It’s an absolutely naked, heartbreaking plea for love.

“Walking in the Sand”, of course, has a darker sense to it; that sense of finality and ending which is also apocalyptic— although, again, in contemporary culture there’s this confusion between apocalypse and Armageddon. But if we’re referring to the unveiling of all the masks and lies and deceits and clothes that the soul has covered itself with, it has to be “Be My Baby”.

David Tibet, interviewed (Via Signs in the Stars)