Deres eksistens fylder måske ikke mange linier i den store konkluderende bog om rocknroll, men det er godt de er med. Fra 1989 og tyve år frem fungerede New York-bandet Silver Jews som medie for Dave Berman og hans kuldslåede sange, der først lød meget af en tørlagt countryficeret Lou Reed – hvis man overhovedet kan forestille sig det! – og siden helt som sig selv. En intim, skramlet musik med masser af skønhedspletter, sprækker og knaster, og så ovenpå det Berman’s aparte, sorthumoristiske, skæve, eksalterede men gribende leveringer fra et ensomt hverdags-Amerika. Dave Berman meddelte igår at Silver Jews, der som Mark E Smith’s The Fall skiftede medlemmer så ofte som andre bands skifter guitarstrenge, mod alle odds er startet op igen og arbejder på nye sange – så velkommen tilbage, Silver Jews! Her min egen favoritsang med dem, titelnummeret fra seneste album Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea fra 2008…

I take decaf coffee
Two sugars and one cream
I don’t see the use in staying up
Just to watch tv

I unplug all the neon
Turn the ringer off the phone
Throw my thoughts like tomahawks
Into this world which I disown

Because the pillow that i dream on
Is the threshold of a kingdom
Is the threshold of a world
Where I’m with you

Its a dark and snowy secret
And it has to do with heaven
And what looks like sleep
Is really hot pursuit

I hold your picture in my mind
It makes me warm when I’m cold
It gets me up, it makes me walk
It makes me question what I’m told

Somewhere in a foggy atlas
Lookout mountain, lookout sea
First life takes time, then time takes life
Now the next move’s up to me

Because the pillow that I dream on
Leads to some fantastic glory
It’s a threshold of a world
I can’t ignore

Like time on school from heaven
Did you find me sleeping in your doorway
Now I’m here for good
I won’t leave you anymore…

© Berman/Silver Jews