D. 22. januar udkommer debut-albummet med The Good The Bad & The Queen, bandet der bl.a. består af Blur’s Daman Albarn og The Clash-bassisten Paul Simonon. Dog ingen grund til at vente så længe – hele albummet kan allerede nu streames inde på TGTB&TQ’s egen MySpace-side.

http://www.myspace.com/thegoodthebadandthequeen

…endnu en af de dage, hvor musiknavne fødes i hobetal. Francoise Hardy bliver 63, Mick Taylor (engang Rolling Stones) bliver 59, Ryuichi Sakamoto bliver 55, Steve Earle bliver 52, Paul Young bliver 51, Susanna Hoffs fra The Bangles bliver 49, Andy Rourke fra The Smiths bliver 43 og Shabba Ranks bliver 41.

Og så er der naturligvis Andy Kaufman. Han ville, hvis han ikke var død dengang i 1984, være blevet 58. Kaufman var som bekendt ikke musiker, men han havde en årelang fascination af Elvis, blev besunget af R.E.M. – og foreviget i filmen Man On The Moon.

Mens rockworld stadig ligger sæsonstille, må vi have øje for andre ting. For to uger siden anbefalede vi her engelske Amy Winehouse via dén Rehab-single fra hendes nye, så skarpe rocknsoul-album Back In Black, og der er mere lys fra samme verdenshjørne: London-RnB-sangerinden Jamelia har på sin nye single Beware Of The Dog lånt selveste Nephew’s Movieklip og får faktisk et forrygende uptempo-hit ud af det. Overraskende – som nu især med anderledes personlige og udfordrende Winehouse – hvad der kan ske, når repræsentanter for RnB-karavanen forlader genrens sterile indelukke og kører ind i rocknrollland. Kopiér, paste, hør og se selv her:

Her er svarene på weekendens lille udfordring. Jeg har angivet nummer og album, i visse tilfælde kun album, når de pågældende musikere har samarbejdet om flere numre på samme album.

Napalm Death-R.E.M.:

Mick Harris [Napalm Death] – John Zorn (Painkiller)
John Zorn – Bill Laswell (Naked City)
Bill Laswell – Michael Stipe [R.E.M.] (“Alive and Living”, The Golden Palominos: Drunk With Passion)

David Bowie – Helmut Lotti:

David Bowie – John Lennon (“Fame”, Young Americans)
John Lennon – Elton John (“Whatever Gets You Through The Night”, Walls and Bridges)
Elton John – Cliff Richard (“Slow Rivers”, Two’s Company)
Cliff Richard – Helmut Lotti (“Danny Boy”, Two’s Company)

Simon Kvamm – Neko Case:

Simom Kvamm – Henriette Sennenwaldt (“Milk and Wine”, USADSB)
Henriette Sennenwaldt- Howe Gelb – (“Classico”, Is All Over The Map)
Howe Gelb – Neko Case (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)

Simple Minds – M. Ward:

Simple Minds – Lisa Germano (Real Life)
Lisa Germano – Howe Gelb (OP8)
How Gelb – Neko Case (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
Neko Case – M. Ward (“To Go Home”, Post-War)

Jens Unmack – Aretha Franklin:

Jens Unmack – Kasper Foss (“#1”, Gå ikke over sporet)
Kasper Foss – Steve Lukather (“I Won’t Let Go”, Mike Tramp: More To Life Than This)
Steve Lukather – Aretha Franklin (Love All The Hurt Away)

Joy Division – Robbie Williams:

Bernard Sumner [Joy Division] – Neil Tennant [Pet Shop Boys] (“Getting Away With It”, Electronic)
Neil Tennant – Robbie Williams (“We Are The Pet Shop Boys”, Rudebox)

John Lennon – Neil Finn:

John Lennon – Jim Keltner (Imagine)
Jim Keltner – Neil Finn (“Now We’re Getting Somewhere”, Crowded House)

Crowded House – Sonic Youth:

Tim Finn [Crowded House] – Eddie Vedder (“I See Red”, 7 Worlds Collide)
Pearl Jam – Cypress Hill (“Real Thing”, Judgement Night)
Cypress Hill – Sonic Youth (“I Love You Mary Jane”, Judgement Night)

Ryan Adams – Metallica:

Ryan Adams – Marianne Faithful (“English Girls, Approximately”, Love Is Hell)
Marianne Faithful – Metallica (“The Memory Remains”, Reload)

Crowded House – Wilco:

Tim Finn [Crowded House] – Ken Coomer [Wilco] (Say It Is So)

Radiohead – Johnny Cash:

Thom Yorke [Radiohead] – P.J. Harvey (“This Mess We’re In”, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea)
P.J. Harvey – Nick Cave (“Death Is Not The End”, Murder Ballads)
Nick Cave – Johnny Cash (“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, The Man Comes Around)

Public Enemy – Suede:

Public Enemy – Anthrax (“Bring The Noise”, Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black)
Anthrax – Angeolo Badalamenti (“The Black Lodge”, Sound of White Noise)
Angelo Badalamenti – Bernard Butler [Suede] (Booth and the Bad Angel)

Tom Waits – Luciano Pavarotti:

Tom Waits – The Replacements (“Date to Church”, All For Nothing/Nothing For All)
The Replacements – John Cale (“Sadly Beautiful”, All Shook Down)
John Cale – Brian Eno (Wrong Way Up)
Brian Eno – Luciano Pavarotti (“Miss Sarajevo”, The Passengers: Original Soundtracks)

The Clash – Grateful Dead:

Paul Simonon [The Clash] – Bob Dylan (Down In The Groove)
Bob Dylan – Jerry Garcia [Grateful Dead] (Down In The Groove)

Crystal Gayle – Metallica:

Crystal Gayle – Tom Waits (One From The Heart)
Tom Waits – Lester Claypool (“Hoist That Rag”, Real Gone)
Lester Claypool [Primus] – Metallica (“Tuesday’s Gone”, Garage Inc.)

Elvis Presley – Elvis Costello:

Elvis Presley – Jerry Scheff (All Shook Up)
Jerry Scheff – Elvis Costello (King of America)

R.E.M. – Red Hot Chili Peppers:

R.E.M. – Warren Zevon (Sentimental Hygiene)
Warren Zevon – Flea [Red Hot Chili Peppers] (“Leave My Monkey Alone”, Sentimental Hygiene)

Jens Unmack – The Ramones:

Jens Unmack – Jacob Høyer (Vejen Hjem Fra Rocknroll)
Jacob Høyer – The Raveonettes (Pretty in Black)
The Raveonettes – Ronnie Spector (“Ode to L.A.”, Pretty in Black)
Ronnie Spector – Joey Ramone [The Ramones] (She Talks to Rainbows)

Tidligere har jeg skrevet om Erdös-tal, som er et begreb man bruger for sjov i de matematiske fag. Paul Erdös (manden på billedet) var en dygtig (og excentrisk) ungarsk matematiker, der rejste rundt og lavede forskning sammen med alle mulige. Erdös-tallet angiver hvor langt man er fra at have samarbejdet med Erdös. Mit eget Erdös-tal er forresten 6.

Man kan lave et tilsvarende begreb i popmusikkens verden. En forbindelse opstår, når to musikere spiller sammen på samme nummer på samme album. Her er et eksempel:

Hilmer Hassig spiller keyboards på Martin Halls album A Touch Of Excellence. På samme album spiller Lars Top-Galia guitar. Dette giver 2 led mellem Hilmer og Lars:

Hilmer Hassig – Martin Hall – Lars Top-Galia (2)

Nu er det jeres tur ude ved skærmene! Find forbindelserne i nedenstående liste, hvor tallet i parentes antal forbindelser. Måske finder vi på en præmie, hvis nogen derude er rigtig gode. Svarene kommer efter en vel overstået weekend.

Husk at kun officielle albums gælder. Bruce Springsteen og REM har f.eks. spillet sammen til en koncert, men der findes ingen officiel udgivelse af dette samarbejde. Omvendt medvirker P.J.. Harvey og Kylie Minogue begge på samme nummer på Nick Caves album Murder Ballads, så

P.J. Harvey – Kylie Minogue (1)

I det store udland

Napalm Death – R.E.M. (3)
David Bowie – Helmut Lotti (4)
Joy Division – Robbie Williams (3)
Radiohead – Johnny Cash (3)
John Lennon – Neil Finn (2)
Simple Minds – M. Ward (3)
Elvis Presley – Elvis Costello (2)
Ryan Adams – Metallica (2)
Public Enemy – Suede (3)
Tom Waits – Luciano Pavarotti (4)
Crystal Gayle – Metallica (3)
Crowded House – Sonic Youth (3)
Crowded House – Wilco (1)
The Clash – Grateful Dead (2)
R.E.M. – Red Hot Chili Peppers (2)
Bruce Springsteen – R.E.M. (2)

– og herhjemme

Simon Kvamm – Neko Case (3)
Jens Unmack – Aretha Franklin (3)
Jens Unmack – Ramones (4)

For at overbevise skeptikere – måske selv Pastoren – om, at David Bowie ikke udelukkende var et frådende apotek, da han lavede sin Station To Station, bringes her teksten til dens Word On A Wing, der både i ord og musik er en af de reneste og mest velartikulerede kærlighedssange, man kan forestille sig. Muligvis vores helt ikke havde klaret en dopingtest under tilblivelsen, men mig, jeg synes det er underordnet. Hvis al kunst – jo, Station To Station kan holde til netop det prædikat – der er lavet på illegale substanser skulle diskvalificeres, ville verden blive berøvet ikke så få mesterværker. Station To Station er albummet, hvor Bowie først stillede ind på det Europa, han snart skulle finde og forløse under sit kommende ophold i Berlin. Det høres i den vægtløse udgave af Nina Simone’s Wild Is The Wind, en version der siden dannede blueprint for Suede’s Europe Is Our Playground, og endnu mere i det sofistikerede titelnummer, hvor en forslået men søgende romantisk vision, samt et mærkbart musikalsk input af tyske Kraftwerk/Can, i David Bowie’s hænder bliver til stor, komplet musik. Sjældent har nogen coke-psykose lydt SÅ inspireret.

WORD ON A WING

In this age of grand illusion you walked into my life out of my dreams
I dont need another change, still you forced away into my scheme of things
You say were growing, growing heart and soul
In this age of grand illusion you walked into my life out of my dreams
Sweet name, youre born once again for me
Sweet name, youre born once again for me
Oh sweet name, I call you again, youre born once again for me
Just because I believe dont mean I dont think as well
Dont have to question everything in heaven or hell

Lord, I kneel and offer you my word on a wing
And Im trying hard to fit among your scheme of things
Its safer than a strange land, but I still care for myself
And I dont stand in my own light
Lord, lord, my prayer flies like a word on a wing
My prayer flies like a word on a wing
Does my prayer fit in with your scheme of things?

In this age of grand illusion you walked into my life out of my dreams
Sweet name, youre born once again for me
Just as long as I can see, Ill never stop this vision flowing
I look twice and youre still flowing
Just as long as I can walk
Ill walk beside you, Im alive in you
Sweet name, youre born once again for me
And Im ready to shape the scheme of things

Ooh, ready to shape the scheme of things
Ooh, ready to shape the scheme of things
Ooh, ready to shape the scheme of things
Ooh, ready to shape the scheme of things
Ooh, ready to shape the scheme of things
Ooh…

Lord, I kneel and offer you my word on a wing
And Im trying hard to fit among your scheme of things
Its safer than a strange land, but I still care for myself
And I dont stand in my own light
Lord, lord, my prayer flies like a word on a wing
And Im trying hard to fit among your scheme of things
Its safer than a strange land, but I still care for myself
And I dont stand in my own light
Lord, lord, my prayer flies like a word on a wing
My prayer flies like a word on a wing
Does my prayer fit in with your scheme of things?

© David Bowie

Jeg afbryder Bowie-seancen for en kort stund for at gøre opmærksom på at Henrik bidrager med et nummer til et kommende hyldestalbum. Læs mere på http://www.henrikhall.dk.

David Bowie var en af de første, der fortolkede Bruce Springsteens sange. “Growing Up” og “It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City” blev begge indspillet, men ikke udsendt dengang.

Under indspilningerne af Young Americans mødtes de to omsider. Så vidt jeg kan se (og regne ud fra hvad jeg har læst), er det Mike Garson og Tony Visconti sammen med dem på billedet ovenfor. Bowie ser heldigvis en hel del sundere ud i dag, hvor han er mere end dobbelt så gammel. Læs mere i den gamle artikel fra “The Drummer”, der kan ses på bl.a.

http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/press/70/741123springsteen.htm

Det er forresten “Growing Up”, der rummer linjen “I was a cosmic kid in full costume dress” – Ziggy Stardust beskrevet med få ord!

Et meget fint dansk program, om David Bowie’s tid i Berlin og hans trilogi derfra, i går aftes på DR2. Men midt i al den lovprisende snak om Low, Heroes og Lodger skal ikke underkendes betydningen af Iggy Pop’s The Idiot og Lust For Life, der også begge blev til i 1977 i Die Mauerstadt, selvfølgelig under Bowie’s blomstrende supervision. Fremragende albums begge to, som på ingen måder står tilbage for hans egne. Hvor ville Iggy Pop have været i vores bevidsthed, uden lige de to under bæltet!?

Vi blev forslået en top 5 over David Bowie’s post-Let’s Dance-karriere, men den ørkenvandring er svær at finde lyst til. Men da der tales personlige lister, så lad os istedet tage et par stykker, der drejer sig om den direkte grund til, vi fejrer manden, hans musik og betydning. Alle bud er velkomne!

Top 5-Bowie-albums:
1. Diamond Dogs
2. Ziggy Stardust
3. Scary Monsters
4. Aladdin Sane
5. Station To Station

Top-5-Bowie-singles:
1. Helden (Heroes’ original-versionen på tysk)
2. Rebel Rebel (fra Diamond Dogs)
3. Boys Keep Swinging (fra Lodger)
4. Ashes To Ashes (fra Scary Monsters)
5. Young Americans (fra Young Americans)

Top-5-Bowie-album-tracks:
1. We Are The Dead (fra Diamond Dogs)
2. Station To Station (fra Station To Station)
3. Sweet Thing (fra Diamond Dogs)
4. Wild Is The Wind (fra Station To Station)
5. Fascination (fra Young Americans)

Top-5-Bowie-sange-jeg-simpelthen-også-er-tvunget-til-at-nævne:
1. The London Boys (single-B-side)
2. Because You’re Young (fra Scary Monsters)
3. Velvet Goldmine (single-B-side)
4. Moonage Daydream (fra Ziggy Stardust)
5. Drive-In Saturday (fra Aladdin Sane)

I anledning af Bowie’s runde fødselsdag i dag – se Pastorens indlæg nedenfor – bringes her et tidslomme-fint skriv om ham, som Patti Smith begik i 1978 for musikbladet Hit Parader – enjoy!

Hit Parader, April 1978

HEROES:
A COMMUNIQUE
By Patti Smith

….I had the fortunes with me. 10/20. Rimbaud”s birthday. I was in Koln. So were the several young and lusty terrorists. The tone of the country was meditative, metallic. West germany had an extreme distaste for overt military tactics. Murder. Hi jack. The need for counter militia was an embarrassment for the new middle class as well as detrimental to the tourist trade.

….The customs official found my sunglasses offensive. Italian bodyguard shades. Lying on the table with my keys and tools they seemed to take on the flesh of a dangerous drug. I refused to part with them and soon hit the streets with an armed escort. There was no one around save servicemen and teenagers. I arrived at galerie Veith Turske late greasy and mean.

….One of the boys followed us. His name was Dominique. He sat across from me in the music room. I imagined cradling him. Picking him up and drawing him in. He had all the motion of a twelve year old girl. The perverse sensuality of innocence.

….Another boy came in. he was older and very cute. Maybe around 22 and very eager. He had an offering in a wax bag. He said it was the new Bowie album. I was very happy. I was nervous and alien in this town and the record was a connection. It was also his contribution toward the raising of souls in this domestic domain.

….I asked Dominique to display the drugs. He unrolled what he had from a piece of grey felt lined in smooth rubber tubing. It was green devil and very sticky. He divided the drug. I was given twice as much. I took this as a token of respect and did not protest. Veith came in with hash and alcohol. He also brought an exotic dessert composed of the foam of various liquors whipped with egg yolk. Boy-2 put side one on. I had difficulty focusing. Being among others I was unable to relax and submit into a groove of total aural adventure. It was also impossible to glitter and obliterate before a trio of languorous young men.

….I was expecting a thrill though. Since Young Americans I have been a quiet yet ecstatic fan. Station To Station inspired Radio Ethiopia. Message units are sprayed liberally between the buds of poppies. When Low hit I was in a period of disgrace. Of total immobility. Low. The fall and potential rising of Thomas Jerome Newton. The soundtrack of Bowie’s escape into film. A backdrop for months of head-motion. Low provided a state of connective id- mutual non-action. Of dream and beyond into creation. A stiff neck person can indeed inter/enter the wrath of the creator. and so I was remembering. I was sliding into the dark backward. Revisiting all the carnal landscapes of the bruised interior.

….The boys were discussing Bowie’s pronunciations. In Koln Heroes is sung in sectioned german. I asked them what they thought of Bowie’s interpretation. They said it was not rock n roll. It was cabaret. Behind my shades I can imagine him. There in Berlin. In the abandoned section. I imagine him stumbling through old boxes and props in the street. I imagine him in love with the whole world or totally dead. I imagine the last show of Thomas Jerome Newton escaping into life.we are interrupted by a profile. Bowie- the- neo- somnambulist enters the atelier of hugo ball. He is the angels of Kadinsky. He is the incredibly spiritual phony. A member of the most expiring racean actor. Specifically designed for the silent screen. One w/the conceit and innocence of the true silent actor.

….In Sons Of The Silent Age he is the metropolis valentino- very mythic very manic and very misunderstood. Harmonious gossip resounds. Everyone is murmuring German. I get some kind of anger/anguish out of Blackout. Dehumanised speed of the Japanese laborer. We can’t compete we just get wiped out. I think of my mom losing her job in a factory cause the Japs do it faster. I think of transistor you can get for only seven dollars that really works made in Japan.

….His new work is not immediately accessible but neither was exile on main street. Beauty And The Beast is a shock that is eventually absorbed into shining acceptance. Joe The Lion is startling too and stretched out by some great guitar. It takes some time to get under the skin.

….Records sound different in Europe. I think the turntables are faster. Theres more treble. I couldn’t enter into V-2 Schneider the way I wanted to. Not til much later when I came home. I got off the plane and went downtown and brought the record. I wanted to keep the feel of being in transit. New york- Koln. I don’t usually buy a record unless I’m in love (stones) or in a state of hot suspense (idiot).

….I listened to the record for 72 hours. Day and night. Watching tv and in my sleep. Like Station To Station and Low, Heroes is a cryptic product of a high order of intelligence. Committed to survival. The rythum tracks are intel-disco. Lysis-discos. the disintegration of brain into lingua into pulse of rythum. High east coast wherein all the musician play w/grace and taste. The title song is wonderful. It exposes us to our most precious and private dilemma. He has captured in this song that desperate moment when one will die for love. The track is pure. I am waiting for my man. But I love the song too and what we love we love repeated. The lyrics are really beautiful. One falls in love and gets lost in its swirl. One projects far aware and across the boundaries of space and placement. We are in dream alive. we are not planets away but seperated by a room or a wall of wire. Thats all. Heroes is theme song for every great movie. Made remade or yet to come. We the living. We are the girl in a torn wedding dress escaping thru wire into the crown of a bullet. We are the soldier blowing kisses from the back of a train.We are drunk and raging and kneeling in/time in a dead hotel room. We are the heroes of rimbaud’s poem royalty. 2 people mystically colliding.

….En effet ils furent rois toute une matinee morning in koln, side 2 is still on. Sometimes we are the victim of the senseless anxiety accompanied with Sense Of Doubt. The man desires the immediacy of sense in/life. He stalks the stars like alien candles. Birthday scars and scars of truth and immortal love. Man desires to drift shamelessly into the realm of beauty. In the garden the birds chirp. The garden imprisons an egg which encases the breath of a quivering question. The question mark becomes the curve of a saxophone. Bowie is going to bend and pucker and blow like the pusher (pierre clemente) of steppenwolf. Instinctive as to beauty down and thru a cellar of noise into a relaxed system of notes and merge with the actor he truly is. The boys of koln cut out. The younger stayed longer. He had passion for MC5. He was going to quit school and play guitar all day. Secret life came on. I was packing for america. He was telling me how it felt when he plugged in and connected with his weapon. He was saying a lot of stuff and I was thinking about Heroes. Find them where they’re sleeping. Know them where they lie. Deep in another system. Deep in the heart and motor of the most despised cities in the world.

© Patti Smith

Jeg deler fødselsdag med David Bowie (og fødselsår med denne blogs anden forfatter, men det er en anden snak). Denne forbindelse til Bowie gik først op for mig nogle år efter, jeg begyndte at interessere mig for ham dengang allerførst i firserne. Og i dag bliver han så tres (og det gør jeg ikke).

Fra tiden før min interesse for Bowie for alvor blev vakt kan jeg huske videoen til “Life On Mars” på TV, da jeg var dreng. Manden med flammehåret gjorde et stort indtryk! Og nogle år senere hørte jeg “Sound and Vision” på et kassettebånd. Senere, da jeg for alvor begyndte at forstå rock’n’rolls forandrende kræfter, begyndte jeg at købe mandens utallige albums, og jeg er stadig ikke færdig. Hverken færdig med at købe albums eller med at lytte til David Bowie.

David Bowie: Sanger, sangskriver, saxofonist, stildanner – men også engang stofmisbruger, selviscenesætter, særling – og i perioder småkedelig.

1970erne var Bowies storhedstid; han kunne næsten ikke gøre noget forkert eller få en ligegyldig idé. Han var producer og samarbejdspartner med Lou Reed, Iggy Pop og Brian Eno og sang duet med John Lennon.

David Bowie skabte og gjorde op med sin særlige egen hippie-optimisme, var derefter ophavsmand til noget af den eneste langtidsholdbare glamrock afsluttet med en afskedskoncert for Ziggy, flirtede med soulmusikken og genskabte derefter sig selv i samarbejdet med Tony Visconti, der på én gang foregreb og var stor inspiration for den bølge af new wave der skyllede ind over rocken sidst i 1970erne og først i 1980erne. Efter Let’s Dance kom Bowies kunstneriske nedtur med ligegyldige albums og underlige stilmanøvrer.

Retfærdigvis skal det siges, at de forkætrede Tin Machine-forsøg faktisk var indledningen på det senere så frugtbare samarbejde med Reeves Gabrels og nok i virkeligheden et lidt undervurderet kapitel.

Fra og med 1. Outside kom opturen. Denne gang ikke med så uomgængelig musik som tyve år tidligere, men med udgivelser, der både var værd at høre på og atter tog sig selv alvorligt. Samtidig fik man indtrykket af en mand, der omsider var ved at få fred med sig selv, sin alder og sin tid. Især Heathen er et lytteværdigt album fra den sene, modne Bowies hånd.

Jeg ville lave en liste over musikere, der er inspireret af Bowie, men endte med at lade være, fordi listen blev alt for lang. Herhjemme kan man tydeligt fornemme Bowies aftryk i f.eks. Michael Strunges digtning og i musikken fra Lars Hug (da denne endnu havde noget interessant på hjerte) – og Love Shop i sidste halvdel af deres karriere. Prøv at høre de lange instrumentalpassager på Anti og lyt så til Low.

Albums som Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Low og Scary Monsters (og mange flere!) bør findes i enhver ordentlig samling af rockudgivelser fra det 20. århundrede.

P.S. Jeg ledte efter mit eksemplar af Young Americans mellem de 1500 andre cd’er her til morgen – men forgæves. Det er ikke tit, jeg hører netop dét album, men når det sker, husker jeg det af en eller anden grund altid… Har nogen set min cd?

Først cyklede han Memphis og skrev autografer, siden kørte han mest i limo og drak sodapop. Her nedenunder står ordene fra hans egen fortælling om sorte biler, ambition og for tidlig død, fra det perfekte 1969-comeback-album From Elvis In Memphis. Det er hans fødselsdag nummer 72 i dag. Tillykke Elvis!

LONG BLACK LIMOUSINE

There’s a long line of mourners
Driving down our little street
Their fancy cars are such a sight to see, oh yeah
They’re all rich friends who knew you in the scene
And now they’ve finally brought you
Brought you home to me

When you left you know you told me
That some day you’d be returnin’
In a fancy car, all the town to see, oh yeah
Well now everyone is watching you
You finally had your dream, yeah
You’re ridin’ in a long black limousine

You know the papers told of how you lost your life, oh yeah
The party, the party and the fatal crash that night
Well the race along the highway, oh the curve you didn’t see
When you’re riding in that long black limousine

Through tear filled eyes I watch as you pass by, oh yeah
A chauffeur, a chauffeur at the wheel dressed up so fine
Well I never, I never, never, never
Oh my heart, all my dreams yeah, they’re with you
In that long black limousine

Yeah, yeah, they’re with you in that long black limousine
Yeah, yeah, they’re with you in that long black limousine

© Vern Stovall/Bobby George
El skudt i 1968 med ung fan ved NBC Studios.

Faldt over en hvidglødende 1982-liveoptagelse med amerikanske The Gun Club, bandet der havde Jeffrey Lee Pierce som desperat frontfigur. Med deres helt egen geografiske blanding af westcoast-punk, dryppende sydstats-gloom og blues-riffs fra en nedre verden viste The Gun Club i starten af 80’erne vejen for ikke så få andre nye bands. Her i DK blev The Gun Club således krediteret som hovedinspirationskilde for den ko-punk, som DAD startede ud med, men det er at give sidstnævnte band mere credibility end dets ultrakonservative og overfladiske vaudeville-show fortjener. The Gun Club’s kreative flamme brændte hurtigt ud, sikkert som følge af Jeffrey Lee’s seriøse drugabuse, men over 3 plader – debuten Fire Of Love, Miami (+ Death Party-EP’en) og The Las Vegas Show – lykkkedes det at forløse personlig intensitet i en sangskrivning af høj, høj klasse. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, der bizart nok omkring 1980 var formand for Blondie’s amerikanske fan-club, døde i 1996, kun 38 år gammel. Da eksisterede The Gun Club stadig, men kun som en skygge af sit eget tidligere format. På billedet ovenfor ses Jeffrey Lee sammen med Kid Congo Powers, ace-guitaristen der udover Gun Club også har spillet med The Cramps og Nick Cave. Men det er en helt anden historie…

SEX BEAT

Johnny’s got a light in his eyes and Shirley’s got a light on her lips
Jakes got a monkeyshine on his head and Debra Ann’s got a tiger in her hips
They can twist and turn they can move and burn
They can throw themselves against the wall
But they creep for what they need
And they explode to the call and then they move
Move
Sex beat, go

They’re stupid like I told ya, very stupid like ya saw
Very stupid as the simple thought of ever thinking at all
And all their mind, all their souls all their bodies all we know
All we know all the things that should a made us whole
All the colourless security was all that someone could go and move, move
Sex beat, drop

And yes you do look cool and by the floodlights so blue
You make my tropical apartment bed, your sacrificial pool
My body in the water and my heart is in your hand
So this is the way you choose to send me to the judgement land
So you can’t move, move oohh..sex beat, go

And every day I agree you throw me down by the christmas tree
I watched your lights blink on and off while you start your fun with me
I, I know your reasons and I, I know your goals
We can fuck forever but you will never get my soul
Just so you can move
So you can move
So you can move
So you can move so you can
Oohh…sex beat

© Jeffrey Lee-Pierce

Når man ser og hører dem i dag, som en meget fasttømret enhed, der nærmest synes lidt udmattet af sin egen mægtige historie, er det svært at huske R.E.M. som det lille band, der voksede ud af Athens, Georgia og næsten egenhændigt reddede amerikansk rockmusik, som vi har lyst til at kende den. Men sådan var virkeligheden og de fleste af os, der hørte deres første forfinede musik, der på én gang lød lidt af The Byrds og lidt af The Band og meget af noget helt nyt, endnu ikke kortlagt, har siden haft svært ved at glemme den oplevelse af uspoleret skønhed, vi fandt der. R.E.M. voksede sig med årene kæmpestore og mistede undervejs, som det selvfølgelig sker, meget af den soniske uskyld og charme, vi umiddelbart faldt for. Michael Stipe, forsanger og tekstforfatter i særklasse, bliver i dag 47 år – det fejrer vi her med en ordret gengivelse af den for Stipe så typisk stream-of-conciousness-skrevne E-Bow The Letter, et bevis på at han og R.E.M. endnu, selv i de senere, for dem lidt fattige år, er leveringsdygtige i sublime oplevelser.

E-BOW THE LETTER

Look up, what do you see?
All of you and all of me
Fluorescent and starry
Some of them, they surprise

The bus ride, I went to write this, 4:00 a.m.
This letter
Fields of poppies, little pearls
All the boys and all the girls sweet-toothed
Each and every one a little scary
I said your name

I wore it like a badge of teenage film stars
Hash bars, cherry mash and tinfoil tiaras
Dreaming of Maria Callas
Whoever she is
This fame thing, I don’t get it
I wrap my hand in plastic to try to look through it
Maybelline eyes and girl-as-boy moves
I can take you far
This star thing, I don’t get it

I’ll take you over, there
I’ll take you over, there
Aluminum, tastes like fear
Adrenaline, it pulls us near

I’ll take you over
It tastes like fear, there
I’ll take you over

Will you live to 83?
Will you ever welcome me?
Will you show me something that nobody else has seen?
Smoke it, drink
Here comes the flood
Anything to thin the blood
These corrosives do their magic slowly and sweet
Phone, eat it, drink
Just another chink
Cuts and dents, they catch the light
Aluminum, the weakest link

I don’t want to disappoint you
I’m not here to anoint you
I would lick your feet
But is that the sickest move?
I wear my own crown and sadness and sorrow
And who’d have thought tomorrow could be so strange?
My loss, and here we go again

I’ll take you over, there
I’ll take you over, there
Aluminum, tastes like fear
Adrenaline, it pulls us near

I’ll take you over
It tastes like fear, there
I’ll take you over

Look up, what do you see?
All of you and all of me
Fluorescent and starry
Some of them, they surprise

I can’t look it in the eyes
Seconal, Spanish fly, absinthe, kerosene
Cherry-flavored neck and collar
I can smell the sorrow on your breath
The sweat, the victory and sorrow
The smell of fear, I got it

I’ll take you over, there
I’ll take you over, there
Aluminum, tastes like fear
Adrenaline, it pulls us near

I’ll take you over
It tastes like fear, there
I’ll take you over

Pulls us near
Tastes like fear.

Nearer, nearer
Over, over, over, over
Yeah, look over
I’ll take you there, oh, yeah
I’ll take you there
Oh, over
I’ll take you there
Over, let me
I’ll take you there..
There, there, baby, yeah

© Stipe, Buck, Mills, Berry

http://youtube.com/watch?v=a1RRNiHzSbM