Back in 1973, some Swedish desperados robbed a Stockholm bank at machine gun point, holding four people hostage for nearly five days. When the whole thing was over police and Swedish society were shocked to find the captives defending the captors. The bond that had been struck during the siege was so strong that one of the women held later became engaged to and paid for the defence of one of her captors. Psychologists, as is their wont, noticed this to be a pattern and decided to give it a name. Thus, was born Stockholm Syndrome, which was given its most famous moment by American millionairess Patty Hearst who, after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army actually ended up joining forces and robbed a bank with them.
Fast forward to the Eighties, and a guy called Buffalo Bill was knocking people off in and around Baltimore, after having first held them captive for a while and before eating them. These were truly horrific crimes. One of his victims Catherine Martin was captured leaving a nightclub and then bundled into a van, before spending several weeks at the bottom of a well under Buffalo Bills house. Luckily for Catherine she was saved by pasty, tomboyish FBI Agent Clarice Starling, who with help from popular cannibal Hannibal Lector managed to track down the killer. Catherine was free.
You may be familiar with the tale, as it was made into 1991 horror film Silence of the Lambs. Though, due to society’s tendency to focus on the most morbid, lurid angle of any given story Catherine’s tale has been largely relegated to a bit part in the story of Hannibal Lector, about whom there have been a string of movies. Catharine’s tale is one worth telling though. Whilst Agent Starling managed to rescue Catherine from Buffalo Bill’s cold basement, she could not stop her from falling in love with him. Catharine’s tale is textbook Stockholm Syndrome.
Having been trapped in Buffalo Bill’s cellar for a long and no doubt terrifying period, Catherine began to foster an attraction for Buffulo Bill. His behaviour went beyond that of the usual captor, as night after night he tucked his Johnson between his legs and minced around in front of her and the mirror to the sound of Q Lazarus’ Goodbye Horses, pretending to be a lady of sorts. It is debatable whether it was Buffalo Bill’s curious mix of Michael Bolton meets Otto the bus driver good looks or simply the enigmatic, ethereal beauty that is Goodbye Horses, but love captured the captive’s heart. Did Bill feel the same? We will never know.
It seems hardly to matter, as the type of love experienced by those suffering Stockholm Syndrome tends not to need reciprocation. Indeed, given that the Swedes earlier mentioned spilt-up after a short while, it is arguable that the love is stronger if it goes unrequited. What we do know is that Catharine Martin’s love is as strong as ever.
In the wake of Silence of the Lambs’ success she changed her name to Walter Jones and moved to New York to avoid any potential publicity. Having taken up music on the advice of her therapist, she has been producing electronic music as a way of channelling the effects of her captivity. Last year a couple of her tracks graced the nifty Nobody Knows Anything on Xaver Naudascher’s Supersoul imprint. Her links with the electronic music scene mean that she has record promos given to her all the time. In 2008, she found a disc of vinyl with a white label, on her doormat. When the needle hit the groove, her heart almost melted. It was the Krikor edit of Goodbye Horses. Since then she has been locked in the studio with memories of Buffalo Bill.
That is, until now. DFA have just released I Will Always Love You, which sees her address those dark days and the eternal love she feels for Buffalo Bill. Available, for the moment, on vinyl only, it is a swooning, hypnotic, heartbreaking slice of new wave house, that is not only the best thing to have come out of a hostage situation, but one of the best tracks released by anyone, anywhere this year.
Listen here.
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