I agree with Santiagof - it actually makes a lot of sense that the subject of this song would be the band in itself. The lyrics seem to insinuate both how timeless and how rusty their own history is. Their history is inescapable and permanent. It’s almost as though Sonic Youth cannot escape their own narratives about themselves and their place of influence in the music scene. Sonic Youth also doesn’t want to fall into history so they continue to create new music so they don’t fade away. I think that some of these ideas cumulate with the timeless images of New York City in the first verse. New York City is their origin and a place where they constantly go back to. The metaphors of the city being full of grime, gore, sex shows (cruises the street for pleasure) remain cemented in the public’s (and even the band’s) psyche even though there have been drastic changes to the city during the bands 30 year history. The sex clubs in Times Square have been closed, the lower east side is now a tourist venue etc. But, no matter what, there is still a heavy foundation on these images of a past New York and past New York musicians.
I agree with Santiagof - it actually makes a lot of sense that the subject of this song would be the band in itself. The lyrics seem to insinuate both how timeless and how rusty their own history is. Their history is inescapable and permanent. It’s almost as though Sonic Youth cannot escape their own narratives about themselves and their place of influence in the music scene. Sonic Youth also doesn’t want to fall into history so they continue to create new music so they don’t fade away. I think that some of these ideas cumulate with the timeless images of New York City in the first verse. New York City is their origin and a place where they constantly go back to. The metaphors of the city being full of grime, gore, sex shows (cruises the street for pleasure) remain cemented in the public’s (and even the band’s) psyche even though there have been drastic changes to the city during the bands 30 year history. The sex clubs in Times Square have been closed, the lower east side is now a tourist venue etc. But, no matter what, there is still a heavy foundation on these images of a past New York and past New York musicians.