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Screenwriter's Blues Lyrics
Exits to freeways
wisted like knots on
the fingers
jewels cleaving
skin between
breasts.
Your Cadillac breathes
four hundred horses
over blue lines
you are going
to Reseda
to make love
to a model
from Ohio
whose real name
you don't
know
you spin
like the cadillac was
overturning down a
cliff on television
and the radio is on
and the radioman is speaking
and the radioman says
women were a curse
so men built Paramount
studios
and men built Columbia
studios
and men built
Los Angeles
it is 5 am
and you are listening
to Los Angeles
And the radioman says
it is a beautiful night out there!
And the radioman says
Rock and Roll lives!
And the radioman says
it is a beautiful night out there
in Los Angeles
you live
in Los Angeles
and you are going to
Reseda; we are all
in some way or
another going to
Reseda someday
to die
and the radioman
laughs because
the radioman fucks
a model too
Gone savage
for teenagers with
automatic weapons and
boundless love
gone savage for
teenagers who are
aesthetically pleasing
in other words
fly
Los Angeles beckons
the teenagers
to come to her
on buses;
Los Angeles loves
love
it is 5 am
and you are listening
to Los Angeles
I am going to
Los Angeles
to built a screenplay about
lovers who
murder each
other
I am going to
Los Angeles
to see my own
name on a
screen, five feet
long and luminous
as the radioman says
it is 5 am
and the sun has charred
the other side of
the world and come
back to us
and painted the smoke
over our heads
an imperial violet
it is 5 am
and you are listening
to Los Angeles.
You are listening.
You are listening.
You are listening.
You are listening.
wisted like knots on
the fingers
jewels cleaving
skin between
breasts.
four hundred horses
over blue lines
you are going
to Reseda
to make love
to a model
from Ohio
whose real name
you don't
know
like the cadillac was
overturning down a
cliff on television
and the radio is on
and the radioman is speaking
and the radioman says
women were a curse
so men built Paramount
studios
and men built Columbia
studios
and men built
Los Angeles
and you are listening
to Los Angeles
it is a beautiful night out there!
And the radioman says
Rock and Roll lives!
And the radioman says
it is a beautiful night out there
in Los Angeles
you live
in Los Angeles
and you are going to
Reseda; we are all
in some way or
another going to
Reseda someday
to die
and the radioman
laughs because
the radioman fucks
a model too
for teenagers with
automatic weapons and
boundless love
gone savage for
teenagers who are
aesthetically pleasing
in other words
fly
Los Angeles beckons
the teenagers
to come to her
on buses;
Los Angeles loves
love
and you are listening
to Los Angeles
Los Angeles
to built a screenplay about
lovers who
murder each
other
I am going to
Los Angeles
to see my own
name on a
screen, five feet
long and luminous
as the radioman says
it is 5 am
and the sun has charred
the other side of
the world and come
back to us
and painted the smoke
over our heads
an imperial violet
it is 5 am
and you are listening
to Los Angeles.
You are listening.
You are listening.
You are listening.
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
Yes.
"I am going to Los Angeles to see my own name on a screen, five feet long and luminous"
A great stab at the people who write your standard scripts only to get the fame. The deprication of the art of film. I also enjoy the film noire atmosphere. Like he takes us back to old hollywood while criticizing the new.
"You are going to Reseda to make love to a model from Ohio whose real name you don't know"
This part is about the porn industry -- most porn is filmed in the Valley (incl. Reseda)
"and the radioman says women were a curse so men built Paramount studios"
I think it's a pretty accurate hack at the institutionalized misogyny of the entertainment industry.
it seems to be a little deeper to me saying that its not only trashing la, and entertainment, but also anyone who just excepts what they are told and does nothing to question it
...also i forgot to add... if you listen to the song "naked and famous" by the presidents of the united states of america the lyrics have a simillar vibe...
@SixStringSoul Try Ænema by Tool. Very much an f you message there.
@SixStringSoul Try Ænema by Tool. Very much an f you message there.
"Some say a comet will fall from the sky Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves Followed by fault lines that cannot sit still Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits"
"Some say a comet will fall from the sky Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves Followed by fault lines that cannot sit still Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits"
nicely cynical
This is definately one of my favorite SC songs... it seems obvious to me that this song is taking a stab at the fakeness of hollywood and the over-influence it has on people these days. everyone wants to be famous...
I think it's more free-form observation than judgmental. I don't think it's a 'stab'. SC doesn't tend to have much of an agenda. They have a bittersweet response to what they see in the city of LA here.
Besides that it's one of the dopest smooth riffs ever recorded. Damn!
I love how this conjures a film noir feel. I finally have it memorized. Now I need a fedora, a trench coat and a pack of cigarettes.
Doughty wrote this one day in 1992 after driving through Los Angeles at 5 AM.
Really? I was sure that '5 AM' was about the amplitude modulation, not about time.
Really? I was sure that '5 AM' was about the amplitude modulation, not about time.
I love the second mention of reseda, he makes it sound like the radio man is saying really blatantly to all the people who live in L.A. that they are going there and Since kathrynfk said a lot of porn is made in reseda it's like he's being really straight forward and honest and saying everyone likes porn, if this is what the reseda reference means I think the dying part is meant to be an orgasm, as in dying of pleasure. A friend stold me that the french for orgasm is 'le petit mort' which means the little death.
Also love how clever Doughty is with words, when he says 'we are all in some way or another going to reseda someday to die' reseda- 'recede' as in your life is reseding then you die. Not sure if anyone else sees that one but it amuses me!