DOROTHY IANNONE

“When I was living in France in 1975, I made an audio cassette singing some lines from a famous German song: “Wenn keiner treu Dir bliebe, ich bleib Dir ewig grün, Du meine alte Liebe, Berlin bleibt doch Berlin.” (When no one stays by you, I'll remain forever true, my old love, you, Berlin will always stay Berlin.) Maybe the song was on my mind because I had just received the news that I had been awarded a DAAD artist's grant for the following year. I was home alone that evening and, after painting for some hours. I decided that, since I still had a lot of energy, I would make an audio cassette. And so, I set up my simple equipment on the floor by my bedside. I didn’t have any particular plan when I started to sing, but, somehow, as I went along, I began caressing myself. It was interesting how my voice changed according to my feelings. But despite what I was feeling, the discipline was to keep singing those same four lines. The voice itself expressed the stages of sexual arousal. Shortly before orgasm, I was almost completely breathless and could hardly continue repeating the lines between gasps, and then suddenly, as the orgasm began, my voice became really strong and loud, soaring into the air for some moments before subsiding as I, very softly, managed to finish the last few lines.”

Dorothy Iannone, text on the back cover of the original vinyl

► CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO