I've Seen It All

"I've Seen It All" is a song by Icelandic singer Björk, with lyrics by Sjón and Lars von Trier. It was released as the first promotional single from the Dancer in the Dark soundtrack, Selmasongs. The song features vocals from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Lyrically, it speaks of one coming to terms with the fact that they are going blind.^[1]

The album version from the soundtrack album Selmasongs is a duet with Thom Yorke and Björk,^[2] whilst the version performed in the film Dancer in the Dark is a duet with actor Peter Stormare and Björk.

Reception

Alexandra Flood from MTV gave a positive review, saying "The centerpiece of the record is, "I've Seen It All", her duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke. Björk describes the song as Selma's manifesto. It's a beautiful and eerie track, the pair's vocals careening over a techno beat, but just under a lovely set of strings. It's a minor masterpiece".^[3]

Music videos

There are three music videos for this single. The main version of the video is an excerpt from the film Dancer in the Dark in which Björk, Peter Stormare and others sing the song on a train. The second version was directed by Floria Sigismondi and was an interactive "webeo" (a web animation) for an MTV promotion. Björk appeared with her face painted and the viewer could change the scenes and special effects by clicking on the video.^[4] A third version was going to be directed by M/M Paris, but there were several problems with the distribution of the song, and finally the video was cancelled. Later, the idea for this video was used for the "Hidden Place" video.^[5]

Live performances

"I've Seen It All" was performed by Björk and Brodsky Quartet for the very first time on December 1999 at Union Chapel, Islington, almost one year before Selmasongs was released. Björk performed "I've Seen It All" at the 73rd Academy Awards, where "I've Seen It All" was nominated for Best Original Song, with a 55-piece orchestra wearing her swan dress. She said before performing on the show, "I'm really excited [to perform]. I won many awards [and] I've been to a lot of [award] shows. This is the most exciting one for me. I'm not just gonna go and grab a fancy frock. It's about singing, so it's a completely different headspace, which is sort of why I'm doing it. I'm really excited. Really, really excited".^[6] Billboard ranked it as the ninth "most awesome" Oscar performance of all time, saying that Björk's "outfit may have cemented her place in Oscar lore, but Bjork's performance was just as memorable, and refreshingly unconventional".^[7]

Cover versions

"I've Seen It All" has been performed by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy in Ask Forgiveness. The song was sampled by Specii in the song Vezi.

References

External links

• List of releases of "I've Seen It All"