I Have Seen

English | Norwegian

What is I Have Seen?

A painting is music you can see, and music is a painting you can hear. – Miles Davis

I Have Seen is an audio-visual epic—an ode to the folly and hope of mankind.
It is a word- and sound-painting, a musical-like creation, with both gripping and intense tales and such dramatic music that you or an audience will not be left untouched.

This piece of art is a collaboration of the English poet/lyricist Neville Potter (famous for his work with Chick Corea and Return to Forever) and Michael Strand, a Norwegian composer, singer, and guitarist.
Neville’s 23-verse poem inspired Michael to create a compelling composition. His dramatic sound-painting supports and elaborates upon the pictorial scenes in these poetic, powerful lyrics, and so text and music meet in a perfect marriage.

I Have Seen can be performed in a small setting with just a band of about 7–8 musicians. In its greatest extent it could be a full-fledged multi-media stage performance with orchestra, band, singers, dancers, lightshow, videos, animations, etc.
Besides, it is a work of art that invites to be recorded, filmed, and presented in any of the above forms to a broad public.  

Before you listen to the music, you might want to read the lyrics. This will give you an idea of the scope of this epic, and also a better understanding of the "garb" which the lyrics are dressed in.

Listening to this composition, you might feel the need to put it into some kind of box.
Well, some might choose to call this music "eclectic" or "art-rock".
Others might say – after having read the first verse and then listened to the overture, that this is "program music": An immortal soul witnesses the dawn of the universe and its expansion. Eventually human life comes to Earth – and this is expressed with music.
Likewise, all of the other verses are sound-painted.
Anyway, you will set out on a journey in a colourful, vivid, and exciting audio-landscape.

Open your mind.
Open your ears.
Close your eyes – and see.

I Have Seen – The Project

I Have Seen went through several phases, and the last version will wrap up this creation.
In the earlier stages two demos were recorded, where version 1 had 17 verses, and version 2 had 19 verses.
The final stages of the composition has 23 verses and several instrumental passages, and is almost 48 minutes long.
The plan is to perform this and other music by Michael Strand, together with a band and preferable also with an orchestra.

During the creative phase the progress of the composition alternated between composing/arranging, and recording the music when enough money was saved up.

I Have Seen is composed, arranged, and produced by Michael Strand.
– (Contact: )
All Guitars, spoken lyrics, soundscape, sequencer programming etc. of all instruments: Michael Strand.

Anders Gjønnes is the fantastic lead singer.
Here he sings the part of Robert in the musical Kristina frå Duvemåla, written by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus.

The fabulous Tom Brechtlein plays the drums.

Stanley Clarke, one of the greatest bass players (electric and acoustic) on the planet, contributed by playing on several verses of I Have Seen!

The mix is expertly handled by Peter Michelsen at The Norwegian Sound, Mjøndalen, Norway.
Michael Strand did a remix to bring out voices and phrases, and made fine adjustments.

The Music

The latest mix of I Have Seen was completed in February 2024.
Here is the link to I Have Seen.
(Length: 46:32, file size about 705MB; right-click to download.)

For those who are interested, here is a link to Performance Instructions for the beginning of the score, which needs to be produced later.

I Have Seen – The Lyrics

1. I have seen the dawn of the universe,
   standing, bold and proud.
   The game to end all games, they laughed,
   then wrapped it in a bitter shroud.
   While the horsemen of the Apocalypse
   rode swiftly o'er the crowd,
   and you'll likely feel I'm a foolish man
   to tell this tale out loud.
2. I've seen the eyes of a soul in pain,
   distraught by the wrath of fools;
   entrapped by aesthetic promises;
   laced with the stings of the cruel,
   wondering why he left his home
   to taste their bitter gruel.
   Hoping that someday, somehow,
   he'd overcome the tyrants' deadly rule.
3. I've seen the glow of a bright new star
   reflect in a stagnant pool;
   dimmed by the mindless bigotry
   dressed in the words of a fool.
   So adamant in her view on life
   that no one stemmed her fuel.
   Hoping that through trust and love
   could come to shine a better world renewed.
4. I've seen the building of the pyramids,
   to hide the treasure rare.
   Entombment of the living flesh
   to serve the pharaoh's lair.
   Visitations in the night,
   creating a great despair.
   A million violations of a caring being
   and no one seemed to care,
   and no one seemed to care.
5. I've seen a knight scale battlements
   no mortal man could climb,
   to rescue from that cruel black prince,
   a princess pure and kind;
   and seen him smote an evil spell,
   that through their hearts had been entwined.
   To live to share an honoured life
   in which themselves they'd find.
    
   [ Premonition (instrumental) ]  † 
6. I've seen conquistadors embark
   to conquer unknown lands.
   I've seen them sell their souls for gold
   abandoning all pious stands
   defenceless in their faithless faith.
   So, retribution now demands
   that all be made to pay a price
   for wasted hope and bloodstained hands.
7. I've seen the hurricane awake
   on a golden balmy day;
   to punish all but stoutest barks
   who deep within its jaws did stray,
   with black-green walls of sea and spume
   like devil's armies on display.
   But there were always fearless men
   who'd never yield to dark dismay.
8. I've seen the tempest's anger pound,
   upon a hull of oak.
   I've heard its timbers creek and moan,
   as the violent sea inflicts its stroke.
   And many ships have failed to see
   the welcome dawn unfold its cloak.
   They only live as legends now,
   but of them a thousand tales are spoke.
9. I've seen a thousand armies bold
   a marching off to war:
   Byzantine, Persian, Mongol hordes.
   And each one felt he knew the score,
   but all who won and all who lost,
   are marching bold no more.
   And silence stalks the battlefields,
   wondering what it all was for.
    
   [ "The Battlefield Elegy" (instrumental) ]  †† 
   – The painting "Seeking Happiness"/"Suche nach Glück"
   by Carl Röhrig was the inspiration for this instrumental piece.
10. I saw a young boy lose his dog
    and fight to hide his tears.
    I saw him search and search the land,
    till darkness swamped his fears.
    With blooded feet he walked the land,
    his purpose strong and clear:
    to find a friend, who for him
    was something more than dear,
    was more than dear.
11. I've watched a young girl shed the bonds
    of a repressive company.
    And overcoming fierce reproach
    to her unquestioned right to be.
    But there still lurks the wrath of those
    who sight a pious blasphemy
    when faced with loss of specious powers,
    and fear of spirits being free.
12. I saw a gentle man shot down,
    that made me feel unreal.
    I cried for those whose pain is such
    that they no more can feel.
    In times of hate I searched for love,
    in famine searched for meal.
    And even though he died with naught,
    I saw a man refuse to steal.
13. I saw a mighty river flood;
    I watched it taunt the morning dew.
    Upon a golden throne I sat,
    holding orb and sceptre too.
    I've given knighthoods, taken heads,
    and watched as discontentment grew.
    I faced the pain at Agincourt,
    when stronger men they all but flew.
14. I've seen an empire built and lost,
    while most men sat and wondered why.
    Not one man stood to boldly ask,
    why empires strongly built must die.
    But it was clear when screams of terror,
    filled the crimson sky,
    that having more but serving less
    brings mighty kings to cry.
15. I've seen false prophets take their toll *
    on men who seemed so strong.
    Misled by leaders' frantic cries,
    and so fanatically being wrong.
    But there are those who won't accept
    that fatalistic throng;
    who won't succumb to fixed ideas,
    as puppets fed a battle song.
16. I've seen the books of wisdom burned **
    by men who claimed to know
    what minds should see,
    what minds should read,
    what seeds a man should sow.
    I've yearned for knowledge as for love.
    'T was always such a blow
    to feel suppression's mindless bonds,
    while wanting so to fully grow.
17. I've seen once more the mushroom clouds
    that sent a shiver through my spine,
    and breathed for those who breathed the dust
    that permeated such a crime;
    and screamed for those who could not scream,
    through throats that burned like lime;
    and wept for those who could not weep.
    They never had the time.
18. I've seen a man who dreamed a dream
    that all mankind could share,
    who taught that truth and love could win,
    where lies and hate had built a snare.
    Then seen him left by those he helped
    who somehow seemed to dare,
    to throw his dreams back in his face,
    and leave him hanging bare,
    and leave him hanging there.
19. I've seen the hope of a wistful child,
    exuberant with joy,
    and felt the warmth of a love so pure,
    that no man could alloy.
    I saw him drink the morning sun,
    that quadrillion-year-old boy,
    and gazed upon the Milky Way,
    as if it were his favourite toy.
20. I watched a galaxy unfold
    felt wonder as it grew.
    I've seen the universal hope
    in a newborn's smiling eyes of blue.
    But there are some who'd cloud those eyes
    and visions of the few,
    who dare to look beyond this world ‡
    for other worlds to view.
21. I've seen this solar system's mass
    from every point of view,
    from Venus, Pluto, Saturn, Mars
    and even asteroids I knew.
    But Earth impacts and Earth detracts,
    the visions of the few,
    who dare to look beyond this world,
    for other worlds to view.
22. I've seen a wild rose bring to life,
    a wretched desert stark and burned,
    for eons fraught with dust and drought,
    a host of rainbows now returned.
    A place where songs of hope are sung,
    where once survival's voice was spurned.
    The dawning of a brand-new world
    where life's true lessons can be learned.
23. And now I've seen the key to life
    unfold before my eager eyes.
    The mysteries of the universe, revealed,
    emblazoned across our skies.
    And all we have to do is want to see
    and wish to shed the lies.
    To find a better way to live,
    to set the goals, reach for the skies.
    ||: Let's find a better way to live
    let's set the goals and reach the prize. :||
24.  

Comments

† Premonition for one hints about things to come. It prepares the mood for the next verse, but moreover, the guitar solo paraphrases the vocals of verse 10, and also of verses 20 and 21.
See if you can spot the similarity.

†† The Battlefield Elegy could just as well be named Elegy for Our Times, and be performed as a separate piece in a different setting than in the concert version of I Have Seen. Maybe I'll arrange this elegy with a pipe organ.
Taken into consideration that there constantly is war some place on our beautiful planet, "our times" could be any time – mine, yours, our grand parents, our children ...
Anyway, war is a big atrocity, aberration, and abomination.
To quote Mahatma Gandhi, Non-Violence in Peace and War:
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

* Verse 15: Taken into consideration what happened in the USA and Washington in January 2021, this painting by Neville Potter is a good illustration to verse 15. (Its original title is Vietnam.)

** Verse 16, I've seen the books of wisdom burned
When I first read the lyrics to verse 16 (verse 15 was written later), I was inspired to put a kind of music to this verse, which resembles Argentinian tango. Back then I neither did know about Argentinian tango music, nor about book burning in Argentina.
Later I got confirmation of the validity of the musical framework to this topic.
In the first demo version of "I Have Seen" you can still hear the original arrangement of the music to the lyrics "I've seen the books of wisdom burned ...", which I since have used for the new verse 15, while verse 16 got a bit more of a tango mood to it.

Book burning, and art destruction has happened many time throughout history, both because it might have similar cultural, religious, or political connotations, and because in various historical cases, books and artworks were destroyed at the same time.
I found out that in 1979, a people's library in Buenos Aires was attacked by masked men who burnt 8 000 books. No official information was given about this event. The most notorious book burning occurred at the Centro Editor's.
Another interesting fact about "forbidden books" is that the Argentinian artist Marta Minujín has used 100,000 prohibited books to construct a replica of the Parthenon in Athens on a Nazi book-burning site in Kassel, Germany.

‡ Verses 20&21 ... the visions of the few, who dare to look beyond this world, for other worlds to view: I came across the engraving called The Flammarion, which I think is a great illustration for these lyrics.
It goes without saying that these lines do not only talk about the physical universe, but also non-physical dimensions, the spirit realm, parallel universes, astral and causal plane, multiverse, or what you want to call it.