It’s been an eternity (almost 2 years!?!?!) since I did one of these posts so I thought I’d ruminate a moment on one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums. The nascent music suprevisor in me has always envisioned this song being used near the end of a film when a man sees his wife in her wedding dress for the first time and then played throughout the credits. Something about the way the song opens with the vibes and acoustic guitar and bass that just puts the picture in my mind of a man looking up to see the woman he loves as she comes towards him. From an album of truly beautiful work, this one continues to take the cake for me even though you never hear it on the radio (even non-commercial radio shies away from the 7 minute running time).  I hear this song and I hear a man that desperately wants a woman to be his, perhaps she’s someone he’s just met, or someone who he used to know who he’s become reacquainted with, but the nature of their relationship seems to make him a bit unsure at various times, such as when he sings “and if somebody, not just anybody, wanted to get close to you…for instance me baby” or “well I maybe wrong, but something in my heart tells me I’m right that I don’t think so.” He also strikes me as a man who feels like he can save this woman, or perhaps she can save him depending on who you think he is describing in the lyrics.

You know I saw the writing on the wall,
When you came up to me,
Child, you were heading for a fall,
But if it gets to you,
And you feel like you just can’t go on,
All you gotta do,
Is ring a bell,
Step right up, and step right up

I’ve never been able to tell here if this is what the singer is telling this woman, or if “when you came up to me,” signifies that the woman is telling the singer, “child, you’re heading for a fall,” Similar themes rise up again later on:

Well it’s getting late,
Yes it is, yes it is,
And this time I forget to slip into your slumber,
The light is on the left side of your head,
And I’m standing in your doorway,
And I’m mumbling and I can’t remember the last thing that ran through my head,
Here come the man and he say, he say the show must go on,
So all you gotta do,
Is ring the bell,
And step right up,

I’ve always loved that line about mumbling and not remembering what’s in your mind. (along with the whole “Grab it, Catch it” verse, which I occasionally still hear as “Grab the ketchup” which really confuses the hell out of me with the whole “Sigh it, Die It” later…) Love can have that kind of powerful effect on you when you meet the person that’s right for you. But I like how the singer regains his senses and when the “show must go on” he’s able to give the advice that serves as the chorus, to get up and keep on moving.  I’ve never read anything directly from Morrison on the exact inspiration behind Ballerina. Strangely a number of people seem to be convinced that this song is about a prostitute, perhaps because of some of the other somewhat shady characters that populate Astral Weeks (especially thinking of “Madame George”), but there’s nothing in the lyrics that give me that sense at all. I more apt to believe that he wrote this after meeting one of his wives, who I believe was an actress and dancer. The song’s lyrical narrative seems to tell double stories, one about this newfound rush of love the singer feels and another that seems to be related to either the struggles of the singer or of the woman he loves as they attempt to “keep a-moving on, little bit higher” through their life. But those are just my thoughts, what do you hear when you hear “Ballerina”?

Van Morrison – “Ballerina” from Astral Weeks (1968)

Spread your wings,
Come on fly awhile,
Straight to my arms,
Oh little angel child,
You know you only,
Lonely twenty-two story block,
And if somebody, not just anybody,
Wanted to get close to you,
For instance, me baby,

All you gotta do
Is ring a bell,
Step right up, step right up
And step right up,
Ballerina

Grab it, catch it, fly it, sigh it, try it

Well, I may be wrong,
But something deep in my heart tells me I’m right that I don’t think so,
You know I saw the writing on the wall,
When you came up to me,
Child, you’re heading for a fall,
But if it gets to you,
And you feel like you just can’t go on

All you gotta do,
Is ring a bell,
Step right up, and step right up,
And step right up,
Just like a ballerina, stepping lightly

Alright, well it’s getting late,
Yes it is, yes it is,
And this time I forget to slip into your slumber,
The light is on the left side of your head,
And I’m standing in your doorway,
And I’m mumbling and I can’t remember the last thing that ran through my head,
Here come the man, here come the man and he say, he say the show must go on,
So all you gotta do,
Is ring the bell,
And step right up, and step right up,
And step right up,
Just like a ballerina, yeah, yeah
Grab it, catch it, fly it, sigh it, c’mon die it, yeah
Just like a ballerina,
Just like a just like a, just like a, just like a ballerina
Get on up, get on up, keep a-moving, movin on, movin on, movin on
little bit higher, baby,
Get on, get on, get on, get on, get on, get on, get on up baby,
Alright, a-keep on, a-keep on, a-keep on pushing, keep-on, a-keep on pushing,
Stepping lightly,
Just like a ballerina,
Ooo-we baby, take off your shoes,
Working on,
Just like a ballerina

I’ve been thinking about this track a lot since finally tracking down the original 12″ during my recent Birthday binge. Rhythmically it’s one of my favorite all time songs, even before Biggie and them sampled it for “Get Money,” and stands directly next to “Daylight” at the top of Roy Ayer’s productions. Striplin’s vocals, slink and slide all over that rhythm, making this song one of the most enduringly enjoyable listens I’ve ever had.

By sheer coincidence I was listening to this in the car on my way to Amoeba Hollywood and by the buyers counter they had the DVD of Obsessed. As I was watching Stringer Bell from the Wire trying to convince the girl from Heroes that nothing was really going on between them, I started thinking about this song and now I honestly can’t decide if this is a situation where this woman is pleading with a man to recognize that her love is what is real and what is best for him or if this woman is seriously stalking this man, fatal attraction style?

One their face, I don’t think the lyrics really help to answer that question, instead it’s something about the way Striplin sings, (especially in the second half when she’s seems to be everywhere thanks to overdubs) which seems to sound a bit dangerous, slightly unhinged and borderline unstable. Instead of this plea for this man to respect her love, some parts of the song almost sound like a threat.

Don’t Try, Don’t Try,
To turn me away,
‘Cause you can’t!

It’s like this woman is the one who really gets to decide when the relationship is over, no matter what her lover thinks. Maybe not, but now it’s stuck in my head…what do you think?

Sylvia Striplin – You Can’t Turn Me Away

Sylvia Striplin – You Can’t Turn Me Away – from a 12” on the Uno Melodic label (1980)

(Chorus)
You Can’t Turn Me Away
You better believe in your heart I always want to stay

Don’t try to turn me off
When you think you found somebody new, No No Noooo
Don’t Try (3x) to Put me Down
Just because she came around, and I said that you can’t

Chorus (2x)

You know in your heart I’m the best for you
So don’t try (3x), to turn me away
Don’t try to put me down
Just because she came around
Don’t Try (2x) to turn me away, ‘cause you can’t

Chorus (2x)

You know in your heart I’m the best for you
Don’t Try (3x) to put me Down
Don’t think that you can put me down, oh no
Just because she came around and you can’t

Chorus (2x)

I Need Your Lovin’ I’ll Never Give In (Baby You Got It)
I Need Your Lovin’ I’ll Never Give In (Baby I Need It) + (Chorus & Vocalizing) (at least 7X)

D. Boon & Mike Watt had Serious Ups!

I’ve been listening a lot to Double Nickels On The Dime, one of my favorite records and in my opinion perhaps the best American punk album ever produced. D. Boon & Mike Watt were known for writing whimsical and esoteric lyrics, but this particular song has stuck in my mind lately. It’s so short that this is one of the few times where I can actually take a look at every single line of a song without writing a dissertation.

Musically, the song is mostly upbeat and funky, which makes the lyrical passages more arresting, beginning with this opener.

As I look over this beautiful land I can’t help but realize, that I am alone.

It would make sense to me that this was written on the road, given how much touring the Minutemen did. What’s interesting about the line is that with such a close relationship with his bandmates, particularly Mike Watt, that Boon still felt lonely, I’m guessing in his romantic life. It’s a definite truism that when you see a beautiful thing but can share it with someone you love, it only intensifies the loneliest that many times throughout your day you never really feel. It’s often in the best moments that actually miss someone.

Why am I able to waste my energy,
and all this life being so beautiful,
Maybe partying will help.

After the opening, there are a couple ways of looking at this. Perhaps the “waste” of energy is related to feelings of depression, or the reprecussions of those feelings. Perhaps the “waste” is related to the drudgery of everyday life, or an everyday life that feels like it doesn’t have much meaning. In either case, it’s clear from Boon’s tone that partying isn’t really going to help.

What of the people who don’t have what I ain’t got?
Are they victims of my leisure?

This has always struck me as one of the most perplexing lines I’ve ever heard. For years I thought it must have been a strange misread on Boon’s part. It would seem like the line should be “What about the people who don’t have what I got?”, that makes all the logical sense in the world, but I think it was intentionally sung this way. Boon and his bandmates were never well off, never saw themselves as achieving major rock’n'roll stardom and thus lived the “econo” life, happily. But living in the US, even if you’re not privy to a privileged life, you are still aware of it. So perhaps the line is in reference to that, with Boon thinking about people who are significantly more unfortunate than him. Perhaps also he’s wondering, as most earnest leftists musicians likely would, if he’s doing the right thing. Maybe singing songs about rebellion and liberation are just “leisure” compared to the hard work of directly organizing for social change.

To fail is to be a victim,
To be a victim by choice,
Maybe partying will help.

These lines also are interesting to me on a personal level. Here Boon seems to ascribing to a kind of existentialist perspective, where life is what you make it. I’ve always thought that failure isn’t about a momentary success or setback, it’s about what you do next. When you fall on your face, do you stay down or do you get up and get back on the path. I’ve always felt that the only time you truly fail something is when you give up. Giving up on something is a choice that has to made, just the same way you hav eto make a choice to continue fighting for whatever it is that you love. It’s only when you make that choice to not fight on, to try one more time that you truly fail.

That line of “maybe partying will help,” once again offers no real comfort. It’s almost like, “well…these issues are too heavy to deal with, I don’t want to tackle them now…maybe partying will help me forget or at least allow me to escape.”

But then we have the music to contend with as well, which as soon as the lyrics are done, gets right back to the funky, along with a trademark blistering solo from D. Boon. Hard to tell what to ultimately take away from this one…what do you think?

The Minutemen – “Maybe Partying Will Help” – from Double Nickels On The Dime (1984)

As I look over this beautiful land I can’t help but realize, that I am alone.

Why am I able to waste my energy,
and all this life being so beautiful,
Maybe partying will help.

What of the people who don’t have what I ain’t got?
Are they victims of my leisure?

To fail is to be a victim,
To be a victim by choice,
Maybe partying will help.

No one sings quite like Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon. The voice is one thing, which has some similarities to soul singers past, but what sets her apart is her phrasing and completely singular sense of timing. Of the many gems in her sparkling, though very fresh career, is “After The Rain” from Little Dragon’s debut self-titled release of 2007.

Like this reading of the song, I did the stereotypically American thing and thought perhaps the song was related to Hurricane Katrina and the shock of the man-made aspects of that catastrophe. Taking a deeper look, I feel like Nagano’s theme is probably not so specific, but might still be related to man-made disasters, real and metaphorical.

After the rain the temperature drops
And covered in ice was my window top

I’d like to take these two lines more or less on their face as being related to seasonal weather changes and what should be a recognition that coming with those changes come the regular spate of bad weather, perhaps given its location, Gothenburg gets either a bit of flooding or some heavy snow.  Just from what I can tell online it seems to have a very Bay Area kind of climate, but even in the Bay, you know that it will rain pretty much all Spring and then never again til the next spring.  How people forget that cyclical nature to weather is always surprising to me.  It’s not a mystery.  It happens every year, but somehow we’re always surprised.  In SoCal, there seems to be some genuine surprise when wildfires break out in the summer, even though it happens every single year in more or less the exact same places! 

But this line could just be an opening location, for something a bit less directly weather related.  Perhaps the “rain” refers to relationships, whenever something major and catastrophic happens, that causes the rain, or tears to fall, the temperature definitely drops between those in the relationship.

After the rain we forget
We make sure we gain then we leave it
‘Cause we’re a nation of forgetters
Oh after the rain we pretend
It’s easier to begin without looking back

Now this verse, which repeats a couple of times could be literal or metaphorical, especially that “nation of forgetters” line, which does really speak to a mindset in many parts of the world, where people think “it won’t happen here” or “it won’t happen to me” and eventually they get caught up in the same cyclical disasters.  I think this constantly about the people who refuse to live in a “safer” environment and instead choose to reside in wildfire/mudslide zones in Southern California. 

But these lines can also refer to something broader in our culture (or perhaps cross-culturally) when it comes to love and all the drama connected to it, we often choose to forget about what just happened, in one relationship or in the next, in many cases repeating the very mistakes that caused the “disaster” to occur, again and again.

People where have you been
Have you been hiding
In your big houses
People after the rain
Will your life
Will it ever be the same
(Ooh!) people what will you do
When your luck
When it turns on you
(Woo!) people after the rain
Will your life
Will it ever be the same

To me, this series of lines towards the end of the song seems to be the strongest case for a social commentary in “After The Rain.”  Nagano appears to be calling out people who have the ability to change things for the better, but who remain disconnected and aloof, hiding in their big houses.  But this could be metaphorical as well, after all we do erect pretty big houses for ourselves and when someone comes along and blows that house down, we are rarely the same.

Incidentally, there is a music video for this song and it’s no real help at all in terms of elucidating anything about the song’s meaning, unless Nagano and crew are suggesting people should move their houses (perhaps not on snails) instead of staying around in the same place where these disasters continually occur.  At least that’s my take, let me know what you think!

(After the rain)
After the rain the temperature drops
And covered in ice was my window top
I say goodbye I wave my hand
As a thousand doves fly
Across the blackened night

(Wooo!) After the rain we forget
We make sure we gain then we leave it
‘Cause we’re a nation of forgetters
Oh after the rain we pretend
It’s easier to begin without looking back

‘Cause all at once air so thin
And there’s nothing left to breath in

After the rain we forget (2x)

Behind the dream so rosy and red a pile of things to forget
A voice of the past tiptoes in a cracking ghost whispering

(Wooo!) After the rain we forget
We make sure we gain then we leave it
‘Cause we’re a nation of forgetters

After the rain we forget (2x)

People where have you been
Have you been hiding
In you big houses
People after the rain
Will your life
Will it ever be the same
(Ooh!) people what will you do
When your luck
When it turns on you
(Woo!) people after the rain
Will your life
Will it ever be the same

After the rain we forget (4x)

Driving home from work today, for whatever reason, this song from Jeff Buckley came to mind and I started thinking about it. Though it’s fairly clear what the subject of the song is, a man reflecting on a love he wishes he hadn’t lost, there have always been a couple of unanswered questions for me in regards to its lyrics.

For instance, is the funeral that he can see outside the window, does he know this person? Does the funeral spark the memory of the lover? Or, in a turn that would make the song extraordinarily tragic, is the funeral for his lover?

I’ve always wondered if that opening line relates to the title. I’ve often wondered if this “lover” is not just away from him and possibly with someone else, but is in fact dead and gone, never to return. I often interpret the “It’s Not Too Late” line as not being about the possibility that they can rekindle the love they once shared, but instead relating more to what the singer should have said when their love wanted to see them. I wonder if because their lover didn’t come over that night something terrible happened to them.

If that’s the case the series of lines where he sings “It’s Never Over,” (including maybe Buckley’s best lyric, that gorgeous line, “she is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever”) isn’t about a man trying to win back a former love, it’s more about someone who cannot forget the person they love, their love is never over, it is eternal. But since this lover will never return, the singer can only mourn and thirst for their love and dream about everything they would give up to have this person living again.

My body turns and yearns for a sleep that won’t ever come,
It’s never over, a kingdom for a kiss upon the shoulder,
It’s never over, all my riches for her smile when I step so soft against her,
It’s never over, all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter,
It’s never over, she is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever

I’m sure having lost Jeff Buckley at such a young age clouds the way I hear this song. I can still remember the night I heard he had died, having to literally take a seat in the office at WRAS, sitting there thinking about how incredible, playful, and full of life he had been during a performance at our station a year or two before. Though Buckley had better vocal performances (“Hallelujah,” where he holds that note near the end for what seems like forever and a day still being one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard) and wrote better love songs (“Last Goodbye” and “Everybody Here Wants You” for example) “Lover” remains my favorite, perhaps because I can’t reconcile whether or not the subject of the song has a chance to reunite with his lover or if she’s really gone from him forever.

Jeff Buckley – “Love, You Should’ve Come Over” from Grace (1994)

Looking out the door I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners
Parading in a wake of sad relations as their shoes fill up with water
Maybe I’m too young to keep good love from going wrong
But tonight you’re on my mind so, you never know

Broken down and hungry for your love but no way to feed it
Where are you tonight, child you know how much I need it
Too young to hold on and too old and to just break free and run

Sometimes a man gets carried away
He feels like he should be having his fun
Much too blind to see the damage he’s done
Sometimes a man must awake to find that really he has no one

So I’ll wait for you and I’ll burn
Will I ever see your sweet return
Oh will I ever learn
Oh lover, you should’ve come over
‘Cause it’s not too late

Lonely is the room, the bed is made, the open window lets the rain in
But, burning in the corner is the only one who dreams he had you with him

My body turns and yearns for a sleep that won’t ever come
It’s never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon the shoulder
It’s never over, all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her
It’s never over, all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter
It’s never over, she is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever

But maybe I’m just too young
To keep good love from going wrong
Oh (5X) lover, you should’ve come over

Yes, I’ve been too young to hold on
I’m much too old to break free and run
Too deaf dumb and blind to see the damage I’ve done
Sweet lover you should’ve come over
Oh, but I’ll wait for you

Lover (8x) you should’ve come over,
Cause it’s not too late.

Do Not Mess With Ms. Case!

Geez…it has been sometime since I did one of these, I’d intended for it to be a monthly addition to the blog, but this semester has been a monster. Of late, given that it’s that time of the year, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the best records of the year. On of my early favorites was, and remains, Middle Cyclone from Neko Case. So, on the last day of the month, I take a deeper look at a lyrically perplexing song from one of the better records of the year.

This song, like probably 75% of all songs, appears to be about love, more specifically a woman who wants a man to know that she loves him. It’s the kind of woman that makes this song a bit perplexing. It might be autobiographical, Case has been described as a “force of nature” in her style and manner of singing, but she never seemed like quite THIS kind a woman.

I left them motherless, fatherless,
Their souls dangling inside out from their mouths,
But it’s never enough

To be completely honest, that sounds like the kind a woman I don’t ever want to meet. But just for good measure, Case continues to endear this “Tornado” to the listener…

Carve your name across three counties,
Ground it in with bloody hides,
Their broken necks will lie in the ditch,
Till you stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it,
Stop this madness,
I want you

Broken necks lying in a ditch, grounding my name into the bloody hides of lord knows what…This woman scares the hell out of me. When Case repeats certain phrases, such as “Stop it, Stop it, ” or “I miss, I miss…” it only cements the fact that this woman is Krazy, that’s right with a Capital K!

My love, I’m an owl on the sill
In the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing

Okay, not only is she a destructive force of nature, Krazy with a Capital K, she’s also damn creepy. She’s both a Tornado and an Owl, that means she’s a double harbinger of death, but some how her paramour survives. Perhaps because she’s still on the outside and not inside their heart completely.

I can completely understand why the object of her affection is on the run and unwilling to commit. After all, who wants love from a Tornado, they swoop in all the sudden, destroy every single thing in their path and then disappear leaving the destruction for someone else to clean up. Come to think of it, that does remind me of a few ex-girlfriends…

That the Tornado of a woman loves me or that her love is believeable isn’t the point. The point is, as sweetly as Case sings, as desperately as she pleads, what person in their right mind would want love from a Tornado!?!!?! Maybe I missed something…what do you think?

Neko Case – “This Tornado Loves You” – from Middle Cyclone (2009)

My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls dangling inside out from their mouths
But it’s never enough
I want you

Carve your name across three counties
Ground it in with bloody hides
Their broken necks will lie in the ditch
Till you stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it
Stop this madness
I want you

I have waited with a glacier’s patience
Smashed every transformer with every trailer
Till nothing was standing
Sixty five miles wide
Still you are nowhere, still you are nowhere
Nowhere in sight
Come out to meet me
Run out to meet me
Come into the light

Climb the boxcars to the engine
Through the smoke and to the sky
Your rails have always outrun mine
So I picked them up and crashed them down
In a moment close to now
Cause I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss
I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss
How you’d sigh yourself to sleep
When I’d rake the springtime
Across your sheets

My love, I am the speed of sound
I left the motherless, fatherless
Their souls dangling inside out from their mouths
But it’s never enough

My love, I’m an owl on the sill
In the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing

This tornado loves you
What will make you believe me?

Phoenix Performs on KCRW

It took me a little while to jump on the Phoenix bandwagon, but it’s hard not to like this band, great melodies, fun punchy electro rhythms, English lyrics for all the Yankees to sing, but with slightly French phrasing, so it still cooler than any “regular” American could sing. In fact their sound can be so enticing, that you might not pay attention to the lyrics. Case in point, is “Countdown.” The first 4 or 5 times I listened to this song, I was pretty convinced that it was all about sweet remembrance of youth, perhaps youthful discretions or other reckless behavior that just seems right when you’re young and oh so wrong once you turn 30. (more…)

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter foto © Justin Hollar

Our first post in this new feature is a sweet bit of indie-rock from Atlanta, GA (my hometown) based group Deerhunter.  This song, “Agoraphobia,” was featured on their 2008 album Microcastle, one of the best releases from last year.  “Agoraphobia” is defined as an abnormal fear of open or public spaces.  On the face of it, much of that comes across in the lyrics to the song, where it seems the subject wants to be locked away, perhaps in an asylum, isolated from the world.

However, when I listen to this song, especially the way Bradford Cox sings the beautiful use of alliteration in the opening, I’m strangely reminded not of a person who is scared of being in public and wants to be alone, but instead someone who is madly, blindly, obsessively in love (more…)