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Choir Vandals Lyrics
Burned out like all
Cathie candles
Marked up with the
Choir vandals
Reading, "destroy, destroy, destroy"
Two-speed cycle
Streamered handles
Evenings with the
Roman Scandals
I just want to be someone you know
Cathie candles
Marked up with the
Choir vandals
Reading, "destroy, destroy, destroy"
Streamered handles
Evenings with the
Roman Scandals
I just want to be someone you know
Song Info
Submitted by
toadtws On Apr 26, 2002
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"A Roman Scandal" was a band from AmAnSet's home town (Austin, TX) featuring a member of "....Trail of Dead".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Roman_Scandal
beautiful listen-to-alone song.
Why does it feel like this song is trying to hug me?
I feel like this song is about the author's relationship with a girl, possibly one that has either rejected him or he can't have. "Roman Scandals" is a strange musical comedy from the early 30's.
there seem to be references to the catholic church:
cathie (catholic) candles choir vandals roman scandals (a play on roman candles or the cover-ups by the vatican of molestation)
"burned out" and "marked up" follow the lines of dirty business marring the church
Interestingly enough, "Cathie" (Cathy) was A Roman Scandal's keyboardist Tyler Jacobson's long-time girlfriend. She also made videos for that band, but more importantly Cathy played in Furry Things, an early Trance Records lablemate of AmAnSet whom they frequently shared the stage with.
She was likely once part of AmAnSet's "scene" but perhaps gravitated towards A Roman Scandal's (which was vewied as more "elitist" or "snobby" and was a few years younger than AmAnSet's) as time passed.["Evenings with the Roman Scandals"]
As mentioned, Roman Scandal (and most likely their "scene") featured a member of ...Trail of Dead, a band known for their destructive and chaotic shows and out-of-control partying.["Marked up with the Choir vandals, Reading "destroy, destroy, destroy""]
Just a guess: the author/narrator of this song had an unrequited crush on Cathy and disliked the people she was currently hanging out with but was willing to "spend evenings with Roman Scandals" to "be someone you know". That, or just as likely, the song was written to sarcastically take a jab at Cathy and her new friends.
interesting to know the particular local references to that. sort of builds up an localized frame of reference for this song, a lot of that imagery being familiar enough, to me, to get it across, I think? I mean: maybe this is just me but a lot of the songs on 'know by heart' have what's to me a definitely ironically humorous perspective on social relations, social scenes ("aaron&maria" and "the postman"), and use ("aaron and maria" again) what has also definitely become a familiar type/casting of individual (trying hard not to use the h-word) as characters, images and so...
interesting to know the particular local references to that. sort of builds up an localized frame of reference for this song, a lot of that imagery being familiar enough, to me, to get it across, I think? I mean: maybe this is just me but a lot of the songs on 'know by heart' have what's to me a definitely ironically humorous perspective on social relations, social scenes ("aaron&maria" and "the postman"), and use ("aaron and maria" again) what has also definitely become a familiar type/casting of individual (trying hard not to use the h-word) as characters, images and so on. which is to say that the kind of folks in this song have, at least their attitudes, have been around quite a while, too.
love though how gentle the musical setting, considering how caustic this, and other, songs on that record are.
this would probably make a lot more sense if I wasn't writing through a haze of migraine, but there you have it. (and who is going to see?)
beautiful song
Roman infrastructure is well known in history for its odd, quirky scandals.
"Candles on Bay Street" is a novel by Cathie Pelletier