Disarming lyrics

In one word, Regina Spektor’s new album Far is precious. An example of this such preciousness is best illustrated in her disarming lyrics.

From the song Folding Chair (track 4), she says:

“I have a perfect body. Just sometimes I forget. I have a perfect body cause my eyelashes catch my sweat.”

If that’s not utterly precious, I’m not sure what is?!

Folding Chair

Some things are just precious…

Randy Newman live, playing piano & singing Feels Like Home.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland

Listen to: Chains Chains Chains 

Elvis Perkins released his debut studio album, Ash Wednesday  in 2007. His band, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, includes multi-instrumentalists Brigham Brough (bass,vocals, saxophone), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (organ, harmonium, trombone, guitar, vocals) and Nick Kinsey (drums, clarinet, vocals).

I saw them in Austin, TX during SXSW and bought a CD after the show not anticipating the extent to which the music would grow on me. In order to fully appreciate it, I suggest listening to the nuances in his voice, the eclectic instrumentation and the unusual melodies. This album sounds like it’s right out of the early 1970s, accompanying The Band, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan in the record stacks at your local music store.

Upon further research I learned that Elvis Perkins is the son of actor Anthony Perkins who died in 1992 of complications related to AIDS and photographer Berry Berenson who was a passenger on one of the September 11th flights that attacked New York City’s twin towers. Knowing that, the music seems to take on new meaning. I pondered whether to include that personal information in this post as I’m writing about his music and not his personal history but is it fair to say that the two are inextricably linked?

SXSW 2009 – Cold War Kids – Part III.

St. John LIVE – I apologize for the poor quality. Guest appearances by Brigham Brough (saxophone), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (trombone) and Nick Kinsey  (clarinet) of Elvis Perkins in Dearland.

SXSW 2009 – Cold War Kids – Part II.

Brigham Brough on saxophone and Wyndham Boylan-Garnett on trombone of Elvis Perkins in Dearland join the Cold War Kids for their last song, St. John. 

 

SXSW 2009 – St. Vincent

Annie Clark of Saint Vincent is not apologetic and I like that. She performed at the Presbyterian Church- the acoustics were gorgeous! She is a sick guitarist. Her voice is deliciously sweet… Definitely a fantastic performer.

SXSW 2009 – Ceci Bastida

Cesi Bastida, a Latin indie artist from Tijuana, performed at Flamingo last night. She sings in Spanish, dances and plays an array of instruments including the melodica and a tom (drum). She’s pretty darn amiable! The band (James Bairian, Jorge Villanueva, Dave Green, Louis Castle, Danny Rukasin) was very tight and looked like they were having the best time (that’s always a pleasure to witness). I heard quite a few people in the crowd saying “Te Llamó” and in addition to professing their love, the audience was jumping and dancing. Her energy is contagious, uplifting and fun. 

Saint John by Cold War Kids, from Robbers & Cowards

I didn’t fancy the Cold War Kids from the get-go. They were definitely an acquired taste. They grew on me. Now I crave their music like an addict and Saint John is my favorite of their songs (at least right now it is).

SONG: Saint John

There are too many Saints named John to narrow this particular song title to one of them. John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John of Egypt, John the Merciful, John of Ephesus, Saint John of Damascus— you get my point, right? What do all Saint Johns have in common? Living righteously, challenging sinful rulers, calling for repentance, promising God’s justice, anticipating a messiah? 

Starting with a slow electric bass line and a few sporatic percussive sounds, the song stays simple musically while plunging into heavy, deep and profound subject matter (but you wouldn’t think so unless you really listened to the lyrics). I could be reading too far into it? I don’t know, you tell me?!

 I love how loose and imprecise the backing vocals are. I definitely detect a hint of PJ Harvey’s vocal styling (when he sings, “Tell My Sister Jane”). There is also a great and very effective time change in the song, upbeat in the verse, slower in the chorus.

The song actually tells a tragic story, seemingly from a minority’s perspective (as suggested by the line, “All the white boys in the stay-pressed slacks,
they’re home for the summer from college” inferring that the story-teller is not white) and possibly from a different era. It’s bluesy-ness is certainly suggestive of another time. The story: a group of drunk guys attempt to rape the protagonist’s sister. He (the protagonist) enters the scene and violently scares them away. It’s not portrayed as a heroic act as he ends up killing one of them and must go on the run. The protagonist apparently gets caught, living now on death row and testifying against the kids who tried to rape his sister.

 The message: life sure isn’t fair. But why bring Saint John into the song? Maybe a statement about society’s fucked-up moral compass or the lack of God or justice? A person becomes a saint if he/she has demonstrated a life of almost perfect virtue. That’s the irony. This fellow is a saint (or his action was saintly) but he’s still on death row. And, “all us boys on death row are just waiting for pardon.”

Like I said, I may be giving it more meaning than even the Cold War Kids intended. Whatever the case, it’s a fantastic song on all accounts.

LYRICS:  

Supper time in the hole. Supper time in the hole. I shame my family,
shame my home.
Supper time. Old St. John on death row,
he’s just waiting for a pardon.
All the white boys in the stay-pressed slacks,
they’re home for the summer from college.
Stayin’ out late, getting rowdy at the bar
and lookin’ for trouble uptown.
They come up my block, about 5 or 6 of them,
smashing their bottles in the gutter. Yelling all kinds of obscenities,
about women and God and law. Supper time in the hole. I
shame my family,
shame my home. A young girl turning the corner with a clerk dress on,
that girl was my sister.
Just got off the night shift, at Pennington’s place—
just wanna go home and get some sleep.
Well, he grabbed her by the waist with the caffeine eyes, their hands all fidget electric.
I picked up a brick from my papa’s front yard
and threw it at the tallest boys face. Well blood was streaming like a well that sprung.
I couldn’t believe what I had just done. Well the other boy’s ran and this one stayed on the ground and he would never move again. Old St. john on death row,
he’s just waiting for a pardon.
All us boys on death row,
we’re just waiting for a pardon. Jury on trial, I testify.
Got to keep on runnin til the well runs dry.

My favorite band, at the moment…

Someone recently sent me a message saying,

“You remind me of  “Company of Thieves.”

I sometimes discover great music this way. I went straight to iTunes, sampled a track and… purchased the entire album. I’ve been enjoying it since and it’s even safe to say that I’m in love now with this three-piece band from Chicago. The first tug at my heart came with their video for the song, Oscar Wilde. Other than the fact that it’s a great song, the video has so much personality! However, I wasn’t completely won over until I saw that the singer Genevieve Schatz wrote “Hi Mom” on her hand in black ink when performing on Last Call with Carson Daly!