Spiro’s Sight

Listen!

With Jen and Rob!

This my excavation, today is Qumran
Everything that happens is from now on
This is pouring rain
This is paralyzed

I keep throwing it down two hundred at a time
It's hard to find it when you knew it
When your money's gone
And you're drunk as hell

On your back with your racks as the stacks your load
In the back the racks and the stacks are your load
In the back with your racks and you're unstacking your load

I've been twisting to the sun, I needed to replace
And the fountain in the front yard is rusted out
All my love was down
In a frozen ground

There's a black crow sitting across from me
And his wiry legs are crossed
And he's dangling my keys, he even fakes a toss
Whatever could it be
That has brought me to this loss?

On your back with your racks as the stacks your load
In the back the racks and the stacks are your load
In the back with your racks and you're unstacking your load

This is not the sound of a new man or a crispy realization
It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away
Your love will be
Safe with me

QUMRAN (or Kumran): "It’s referring to the excavations where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. When they found them it changed the whole course of Christianity, whether people wanted to know it or not. A lot of people chose to ignore it, a lot of people decided to run with it, and for many people it destroyed their faith....That excavation, I love that because it shows how people really need to wake up and learn; they can choose to look things like that in the eye or they can ignore them and scoff at them or whatever. And that’s how things felt to me, like a closing of an era. It felt like I literally got to be a new person.”

WORDS and MUSIC: Togai Atac
RECORDED by: Spiro Bolos @ killjoy

--
We got to get some peace in here
My mind's crowded with thoughts
I'd had a few hopes for what you'd bring
But it's not what you brought

A new world unfolds where you go
A different world for each of us
I hear about it on the phone
Fate can be so treacherous

The new world order tolerates
Miles too far to walk
I been walking these streets
Keepin' a deaf ear to the talk

One last match burning out slow
Frail as a leaf in the snow
Keeping my eyes steady on the glow
I care for you honey but it's time to let go

I was certain we would win
Of that I was sure
But who's on what side
I ain't so sure anymore

At some point you learn to give in
You can't win it all
I'm starting to wonder if we had
A chance at all

One last match burning out slow
Frail as a leaf in the snow
Keeping my eyes steady on the glow
I care for you honey but it's time to let go

I carved my life into you
Then lost you in a photograph
The picture's getting blurry
I'll see you in the aftermath

My eyes are dry from the wind
The books are on the shelf
Now I care less for their words
Than the Gatsby himself

I saw a flag wave in the heavens over me
I saw the Virgin and for a moment I believed
You said you'd save me
But I don't want to be saved
I just want to be loved, and to love, always

I felt my lips move
But the words they were not mine
I heard you crying and for a moment
I could see
You said you'd save me but I don't want to be saved
I just want to be loved, and to love, always

And it's OK, I know what's confusing me
I know what I want to see
And I know where I want to be
 
And an angel was flying next to me
No hesitation
For a moment I was free
You said you'd save me
But I don't want to be saved
I just want to be loved, and to love, always

Trying to lighten the mood on the Song Pong with a little R & R (religion and romance). This is from Shea Seger's debut, The May Street Project (2000). I believe I am the only person in the country that still owns a copy of this CD. Want proof? You can walk into any used CD store in America and find it for $0.99 or lower. She was only 20 years old, from Texas, and moved to London to record this at the same time Britney Spears was all the rage — and the album tanked. The production (by Martin Terefe) is so much fun on this record -- and it's all over the place, too. Each song is in a different style, and though this duet relies heavily on the amazing pipes of Ron Sexsmith, Shea can belt out the tunes like a Rickie Lee Jones when the mood calls for it.

Now that I've met you
would you object to
never seeing each other again
cause I can't afford to
climb aboard you
no one's got that much ego to spend

So don't work your stuff
because I've got troubles enough
no, don't pick on me
when one act of kindness could be
deathly
deathly
definitely

Cause I'm just a problem
for you to solve and
watch dissolve in the heat of your charm
but what will you do when
you run it through and
you can't get me back on the farm

So don't work your stuff
because I've got troubles enough
no, don't pick on me
when one act of kindness could be
deathly
deathly
definitely

You're on your honor
cause I'm a goner
and you haven't even begun
so do me a favor
if I should waver
be my savior
and get out the gun

Just don't work your stuff
because I've got troubles enough
no, don't pick on me
when one act of kindness could be
deathly
deathly
definitely

Apart from the devastating impact of the first three lines, I have always admired the production of this song by Aimee Mann. It was first heard in 1999 on the soundtrack of Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, but then later re-recorded for Mann's unmatched Bachelor No. 2, in 2000. There are two aspects of the song production I want to highlight.

1. The soaring guitar solo. I can admit that I have broken my unspoken rules of listening to unbroken albums, and have actually skipped right to this song. Hell, I have even gone so far as to skip to the solo, just to figure it out. I know it's an electric guitar, but the near infinite sustain made me think of strings or synth. However, according to the song credit, it's both: Scientologist Michael Lockwood plays the guitar, and the solo is matched, note for note by Patrick Warren on the keyboards. It's a brilliant idea as the two are similar but different enough to be slightly out of tune with each other.
2. The fade-out ending. When sequencing an entire CD, artists always have to make these difficult decisions. Oftentimes, the fade-out is a sign of a weak song: no one has a clue how to end it, so it's mercifully cut short. But this song exhibits the strength of the fade-out: listen to the guitar/synth solo in the outro — at the fade-out the synth clone drops and all that's left is the electric guitar. But the guitarist is just getting started: you can feel that he can elaborate on the solo for another 8 measures, at least, but the mixer, most likely Bob Clearmountain has made the tough decision — he cuts this way short, making you want more. I think this is the reason I keep coming back to this song.

So Sorry

I'm sorry, two words
I always think after you're gone
When I realize I was acting all wrong
So selfish, two words that could describe
Oh, actions of mine when patience is in short supply

We don't need to say goodbye
We don't need to fight and cry
Oh we, we could hold each other tight
Tonight

We're so helpless
We're slaves to our impulses
We're afraid of our emotions
No one, knows where the shore is
We're divided by the ocean
And the only thing I know is
The answer it isn't for us
No the answer isn't for us

I'm sorry, two words
I always think, oh after you're gone
When I realize I was acting all wrong

We don't need to say goodbye
We don't need to fight and cry
No we, we could, we could hold each other tight
Tonight...
Tonight...
Tonight...
Tonight...

----------

After being turned on to Broken Social Scene by a good friend of mine, I am constantly amazed by all of the "side projects" that come out of that band, most recently (for me), Feist. She has collaborated with some of my favorite artists, including Wilco (on Wilco: The Album) and Beck (for his Record Club).

I never used to care much for song lyrics (featured above), but that has changed recently. However, the production of this track from The Reminder is what always draws me in. It's a collaboration of Gonzales, Feist, and Renaud Letang. It's deceptively minimalist -- just enough reverb on her starkly affecting voice, married with a dry acoustic guitar, and brushes. Of course, as you listen to it repeatedly, you understand how genius the added warbling Mellotron vibraphone, then piano, then backing chorus sneak in as her voice ramps up the emotion. You don't realize it intellectually. You just feel it.

Sent from my iPhone (just in case you needed to know!)