| Author | Message | ||
     Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1676 Registered: 03-2006 |
I enjoy the Luna, but get the feeling Wareham intentionally tries to cultivate the sense that his lyrics are tossed off, without a lot of thought. Or, maybe they just really are tossed off, but anyways, I offer this example: "You're out all night, chasing girlies/You get to work late, then go home earlies".... "Earlies"? What is that some NY hipster equivalent of the dogwalkin' Brit lady's "time for walkies"? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1052 Registered: 03-2005 |
I think that's a cute little songwriting joke. You're too picky Hardin. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1256 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've never cared for that line either LK. I know it was a joke, but still... | ||
| Michelle M Member Username: Michelle Post Number: 30 Registered: 09-2004 |
Is it laziness? "Ah, that'll do." | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 184 Registered: 01-2006 |
the singapore noodles rhymed with oodles & oodles from romantica is bad but most of the lyrics to the owl & the pussycat from rendezvous are terrible, but i like the tune. has there been a worst go-betweens lyrics thread? surely there'd be a few entries in there too.. And I can't remember the last time morrisey wrote good lyrics but then i haven't bought anything by him in over 10 years... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1682 Registered: 03-2006 |
It should be noted that I'm a fan really like the Luna and, basically, would like to live in LunaWorld, as depicted on the cover of the "Best of Luna". I've, for some reason, been listening to a lot of Luna in the car, lately, and noticed that line, which kind of takes you out of the song. Otherwise, their stuff really goes well with driving by the beach... And, there was a thread on Worst Go-Between Lyrics - they've had their share... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 288 Registered: 09-2006 |
The way he sings "chasin' girlies" is kind of odd as well...at first I thought he sounded smug, but now it comes off like he's slightly embarrassed to be using any slang or vernacular at all, so he's putting tiny quotes around it. Don't know if that has any effect on his choice for the rhyming word or not. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1687 Registered: 03-2006 |
According to the extremely fascinating and fun liner notes written by Dean Wareham on the "best of" comp, those lines were about a real life record co. executive they knew who ended up getting canned for said activities. Basically, DW's observation was, don't get too attached to those kinds of people, chances are they won't be around long... I guess the main sin (and, admittedly, this is completely nerdy over analysis on my part), is that those lines take you out of the song...up until that point it conjures up such a great mood of dissipated, slacker ennui... Part of me posing these kinds of questions, or observations, about Luna is to..."solve" them. They are way more alluring and interesting to me than they should be on paper...They were not particularly great musicians, DW is not much of a singer at all, and the songs are not the most innovative or complex ever written...Yet, what they do (did) is extremely appealing... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 290 Registered: 09-2006 |
That might be what sounds like quotes to me - "chasin' girlies" isn't his phrase, it's the record execs, and Dean's using it in a sort of bemused way. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 291 Registered: 09-2006 |
Though that still doesn't explain "earlies"... | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 185 Registered: 01-2006 |
LK wrote...They were not particularly great musicians, DW is not much of a singer at all, and the songs are not the most innovative or complex ever written...Yet, what they do (did) is extremely appealing... That's it in an nutshell for me, i can forgive the odd dodgy lyric, if i couldn't then half the bands i like would be out the window... They were a great live band and would certainly be one of my top 5 desert island bands...hmmmm i feel a new thread coming along... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 466 Registered: 08-2006 |
This discussion of Luna on the GBs message board puts me in mind of Christgau's review of "Penthouse." To wit: "If the war is over/And the monsters have won/If the war is over/I'm gonna have me some fun," confides born noncombatant Dean Wareham, whose only recorded partisan act is rooting for Nixon to expire. Wareham creates his music from the vantage of a slacker of independent means. Once darkness falls, all Manhattan (or Tacoma, Brussels, wherever he gets to tour) is his playground. But he spends most of his life in what sure sounds like a high-rise, where he drinks in the afternoon, wheedles his good-for-nothing girlfriends, studies his record collection, and cooks up guitar parts. Being as he's discovered the Go-Betweens, that seems like redeeming social value enough for me. A | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1691 Registered: 03-2006 |
I noticed that review, Rob, and wondered about the GBs reference. Of course, discovering the GBs would be redeeming social value, but how does Xgau know that DW has? Is it something about some development in their music, or does just Xgau just happen to know, NY being a small town when it comes to arty bohemians? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 467 Registered: 08-2006 |
I figured he probably knew Dean, and knew he'd gotten into the GBs around the time of "Penthouse." Or maybe he just heard something in the music. It's such a definitive statement, though, I assumed it reflected first-hand knowledge. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1696 Registered: 03-2006 |
Christgau, I've noticed, actually knows a lot of the folks he writes about, if they happen to be from New York. For instance, you might read a review of a Yo La Tengo album, then find another piece about how he had dinner with them at their house in Jersey... I remember reading that the Del-Lords, who I used to like a lot and who also hailed from that area, would actually physically confront writers who gave them bad reviews, if they saw them on the street or in a bar. That's a helluva note, I bet - you're sitting in some cafe enjoying your latte and all of the sudden you've got some pissed off rock and roller opening up a can of whoopass...That would, I think, tend to have a definite "chilling effect". But I bet they didn't try that with Christgau, because I've read that he's not afraid to mix it up and would, likely, fight back. Was it that book, "Smash It Up" that had him punching out some punk rocker that tried to start something with him? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1301 Registered: 05-2005 |
A guy whose album I was about to review for The Irish Times about six years ago personally delivered the disc to me at the office. It was really f*%^ing disconcerting. I made some small talk with him and then made my excuses (well, I probably really did have a police update or whatever story to write). I didn't give it a very good review but I spent more time looking for positive things to say than I would bothered with if I hadn't met the bloke in question. |