Artist:   Giant Sand
Song:   "The Desperate Kingdom of Love"
Album: *proVISIONS*
Label:   Yep Roc
Year:    1969

If anyone ever needs an evocative song for a funeral, Giant Sand’s version of this PJ Harvey song is perfect. And it’s not so much that it’s sad, but rather it evokes eternity like very few other recordings have. Imagine Nick Cave after being up three days, then sitting down at a piano to try and reflect what has happened to his soul. There is a majestic quietness to the music, beyond fragile, that says existence is teetering on the brink and could go either way: “You were a sickly child/and how the wind knocked you down/Put on your spurs swagger around/the desperate kingdom of love.” If that’s not enough to set a tone of desperation, it gets heavier, with holy water being rejected under the glare of mysterious eyes. The horn arrangement is half church and half whorehouse, played like an unemployed mariachi band wandering around Guanajuato until the two strains blend together into one. A spare piano solo carries the song straight into a sphere of salvation, when Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb ups the ante and sounds like he’s lost control of the ties that bind and is ready to give in to the next world. Considering this is the only song on *proVISIONS* that he didn’t write, Gelb is definitely trying to tell us something. It’s as if “The Desperate Kingdom of Love” is intended as an unspoken album centerpiece, a telegraphed code from the unconscious, and its lyrics are a clue to its center. This is desert music, where the landscape’s question marks reflect Giant Sand’s attempt to answer them. They say the kingdom of heaven is within you. Here’s the map.