Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Singer Klaus Nomi's Haunting "Will They Know Me Now" Song...


YouTube embed from YouTube, blog post by John Hoff

Klaus Nomi was a singer with a wide vocal range and "otherworldly" stage persona. He died in 1983 at the age of 39 from complications due to AIDS.

While searching for information a couple years ago about the "Get to NoMi" neighborhood branding effort, I stumbled upon Klaus Nomi's music...



Listening to the lyrics of "The Nomi song," I thought it was almost a prophetic commentary on efforts to rebrand our neighborhood.  The lyrics seem to be alluding to the emotion, the soul-searching, the self-doubt, and the little triumphs which are part of that campaign.

Consider...

If they saw my face
Would I still take a bow
Will they know me, know me, know me now

Now I know my place
If science will allow
Will they know me, know me, know me now

Now I'm all alone
It's like some kind of test
My how I have grown
Will they know me now

If the human race
With their collective brow
With (sic) they know me, know me, know me now

While I certainly don't care to spawn any conspiracy theories that "Get To NoMi" contains a secret wink-wink homage to Klaus Nomi, I'd have to say I wouldn't mind living in a neighborhood named after such a talented human being.

One Youtube commenter said "He never died. He went back to his home planet after his mission of enlightenment was through."