dmb sent lyrics: ...courtesy of a beautiful, evil genius by the name of Rennie Sparks. She's the lyrical half of a band called The Handsome Family.
Marsha replied: Well, the music helps. I will forever think of you when these songs play on my iPod. dmb says: Its an honor to be a part of your iPod. Yes, the music makes the lyrics more than twice as good. The Handsome Family is a married couple. She studied literature and is a writer of fiction. You can check out her book of short stories called "Evil" and her wierd paintings on their website, I think. He studied medieval music and is a writer of alternative-country songs. (There first album or two was more like punk rock.) The lyrics are generally bizzare, dark and humorous, like the Giant of Illinois (who died from a blister on his toe). The topics often involve murder and dead things while the music itself is steeped in tradition. The juxtaposition is what makes them most interesting. As one critic said, they straddle the line between doing a tribute and doing a parody of traditional American music. Oddly, they're much bigger in Europe than they are at home. (You can see them in that documentary about Leonard Cohen and in another film, the name of which also escapes me.) They do all this without any "help" from the big corporations. They put their recording equipment down on the coffee table and make albums while sitting on their own couch. And the best part is... they're both completely insane. Once, during a psychotic episode, Brett Sparks wrote his own version of the Bible. Apparently, he had some problems with the standard version and felt it needed a fresh take. I guess that pretty well sums up the way they make songs too. I've seen them live a few times. Their on-stage banter is funnier than most comedians. There are free recordings of live shows for your iPod out there on the internets. See if you can find the one where Rennie asks the Dutch audience where she can find a 20 pack of pencils so late at night. She needs them to put between her fingers and toes, she explains, because they are too close together and she's very afraid of what might happen if they should one another. And don't we all know what that's like, to live in fear that one toe might push against another? "But that only takes 16 pencils!", an audience member complains, objecting to the math but not the premise. Without missing a beat, Rennie says, she's needs the other 4 pencils for her ears and nose. This is just what happens between songs, which is the main appeal, but it makes the live shows extra fun. Besides the free internet stuff, they also have one offical live album. Can you tell I'm a fan? This stuff is not for everybody. If jazz or classical music is your favorite, then these guys will probably strike you as crude and unsophisticated. If you like dance-able, up-beat stuff, these guys will strike you as depressing, maybe even ugly. But if you like Hank, Woody, Bob, Bruce or are otherwise a fan of Americana you'll likely get a kick out of it. On a more explicitly philosophical note.... I told Marsha about this already, but wanted the whole forum to know about Douglas Anderson's "PHILOSOPHY AMERICANA: Making Philosophy at Home in American Culture". In the introduction, which is all I've read so far, Anderson names Pirsig as one of his main influences. He's at the University of Southern Illinois. The book has chapters Emerson, James and Dewey, etc. and my favorite musical genre somehow plays a role all the way through. If anyone is even half as excited as I was, you're jumping up and down right now. And even with the shipping charge, it was still under $30. >>OUR BLUE SKY... >>why do you dream >>of pearly white gates >>high in the air >>where no bird flies >>no tree grows >>beyond the sky >> >>our blue sky >> >>why do you dream >>that worms and dogs >>hills and clouds >>are not like you >>burning light >>that never dies >> >>our blue spinning sky >> >>why do you leave >>a trail of death >>air turns brown >>trees fall down >>burn green fields >>and drive on by >> >>our blue sky >> >>could you love god >>if he didn't love you >>more than rivers >>snakes or wind >>could you share heaven >>with black buzzing flies >> >>our blue spinning sky >> >>what if this dream >>you dream with pigs >>you dream with dirt >>and this is home >>is it so wrong >>to love this light >>our blue sky >> >> >> >>Your Great Journey... >>like four million tons of hydrogen >>exploding on the sun >>like the whisper of the termites >>building castles in the dust >>you're no longer leaving foot prints >>you left your wallet on the bus >> >>Your great journey has begun >> >>When automatic sinks in airports >>no longer see your hands >>and elevator doors close on you >>when buses drive right past >>when the only voice that answers >>is the whir of a ceiling fan >> >>Your great journey has begun >> >>staring out hotel windows >>at planes taking off >>walking round the parking lot >>you will never find your car >>you've begun to dance the ghost dance >>stray dogs gather in your yard >> >>Your great journey has begun >> >> >>_________________________________________________________________ > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ _________________________________________________________________ You keep typing, we keep giving. 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