To me, this song illustrates the principle in Dao De Jing known as "wu wei" or "empty action", "nonaction". between the extremely simplistic chord progressions and the seemingly straightforward lyrics, "All Is Full Of Love" should be nothing special. But it IS—it is because everyone who listens to it is able to internalize the meaning of the song and see themselves reflected in it. To some, that means that, quite literally, love is everywhere and the world is a beautiful place. To others, it seems, that this is a juxtaposition of incongruities: "If love is everywhere, why aren't we feeling it?" To them, this song is delicately cynical.
If that were not enough, the one thing that actually does seem to color this song—the increasing passion in Björk's own voice as the song reaches its crescendo—evokes pure passion itself, but refrains from imposing specific imagery or past experiences of the artist herself upon the mind of the listener. The result: we feel passion, and we are allowed to make it our own.
That's the true beauty of "All Is Full Of Love" . . . Björk managed to capture the entire range of human experience through subtle and fragile minimalism.
To me, this song illustrates the principle in Dao De Jing known as "wu wei" or "empty action", "nonaction". between the extremely simplistic chord progressions and the seemingly straightforward lyrics, "All Is Full Of Love" should be nothing special. But it IS—it is because everyone who listens to it is able to internalize the meaning of the song and see themselves reflected in it. To some, that means that, quite literally, love is everywhere and the world is a beautiful place. To others, it seems, that this is a juxtaposition of incongruities: "If love is everywhere, why aren't we feeling it?" To them, this song is delicately cynical.
If that were not enough, the one thing that actually does seem to color this song—the increasing passion in Björk's own voice as the song reaches its crescendo—evokes pure passion itself, but refrains from imposing specific imagery or past experiences of the artist herself upon the mind of the listener. The result: we feel passion, and we are allowed to make it our own.
That's the true beauty of "All Is Full Of Love" . . . Björk managed to capture the entire range of human experience through subtle and fragile minimalism.