For this video, Lorna Simpson recorded 15 professional singers separately humming along to jazz saxophonist John Coltrane’s haunting interpretation of Rogers and Hart’s It’s Easy to Remember. Simpson then combined the recordings to create a choir of voices. This layered tune becomes the soundtrack for a grid of moving images, each focused tightly on one singer’s lips. The individuality of each participant emerges in variations among the mouths, a part of the body integrally linked to expression and physicality. The video demonstrates that even within a collective experience, including one of songs and the emotions they conjure, independent voices persist and disrupt. It’s Easy to Remember was made famous by Bing Crosby in 1935 and again by John Coltrane on his 1963 album Ballads. The lyrics are: Your sweet expression The smile you gave me The way you looked when we met. It’s easy to remember But so hard to forget. I hear you whisper “I’ll always love you.” I know it’s over, and yet, It’s easy to remember But so hard to forget. So I must dream To have your hand caress me, Fingers press me tight. I’d rather dream Than have that lonely feeling Stealing through the night. Each little moment Is clear before me And though it brings me regret It’s easy to remember But so hard to forget.