| Frank Black and the Catholics – Calistan Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I love this song. I've always thought the line "I put down my blanket on cigarette-butt beach / I saw the old man, he was doing okay" was an allusion to or reference of The Pixies' Dig for Fire where he says "There is this old man who has spent so much of his life sleeping That he is able to keep awake for the rest of his years He resides, on a beach, in a town where I am going to live And I often ask him "Are you looking for the mother lode?" No, no my child, this is not my desire and then he said "I'm digging for fire". Whether it is or not, I love his songwriting. |
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| Jens Lekman – Waiting for Kirsten Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Kerstin Dunst was in Gothenburg, Sweden (along with Keifer Sutherland) during the shooting of Lars von Trier's "Melancholia". From the lyrics, it sounds like she name-checked Lekman during an interview with the local newspaper. Lekman, having seen this, was a flood of thought and felt driven to meet her. So he and friend "Joel" found her hotel and waited for her. Speaking to another friend, they discuss how megastar Kerstin Dunst was turned down at a club. "I can't believe that no one ever told her before" > That in Gothenburg we don't have VIP lines. In Gothenburg, we don't make a fuss about who you are. In Gothenburg, we don't have VIP lines. But then I bit my tongue, and the taste of blood was so strong. < In Gothenburg, there is an unspoken mandate to bring everybody to the center, to create a sense of equality on the surface. So for someone of Dunst's stature, being in Gothenburg would be an exercise in humility, being made an example, brought hurling to earth like the rest of us in front of onlookers. Being put in your place and proven that you are not special, is particularly strong in Gothenburg. But its a superficial farce. While there are no VIP lines for clubs, there most definitely are for "healthcare, apartments and jobs". Lekman is very deft with these lyrics as he is battling back and forth with the idea of worth, of value. Who is he, a boy growing up next to the potato ship factory, that Kerstin Dunst should speak his name? Who is she that she should get into a club in Gothenburg? And its the same friction I imagine Lekman deals with his own celebrity in Gothenburg. Though he may be accustomed to it, it's still a bit insane. I'm not 100% certain what the line "But then I bit my tongue, and the taste of blood was so strong" means, but I interpret it to be him being hit with the realization that he too has to deal with this kind of static, and YEAH, this IS messed up! This is revealed at the end of the song where the receptionist turned him away, saying he was drunk. Now, the receptionist may have not known who Jen Lekman is, but even if she had, this is how he would have been treated. You are no one special in Gothenburg. I live here, I know. For further fun reading about the mentality of "You are not special", check out Jantelagen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante |
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