I’m beginning to hate you all
And I think I’ve worked out all your rope tricks
And sleights of hand
But your terrible humour and based mentality
Destroys the image of Houdini’s before
And the wonderful circus posters in the 1920s
That part of me wants to collect
You just piss all over it
And you leave a bad taste in my mouth
Like I just watched modern boxing
If I close my eyes
And concentrate
I can still hear your voice
The sky is fascinating
I wish you could see it from here
And I don’t know why my parents always fought
I thought people in love had to get along
Til I met you and that thought was gone
I’m just on your bad side
And I’ll never make it back
But look me in the yes
and tell me you don’t see through them
And the person there is someone
You don’t get or understand
That you don’t know when I’m lying
And I’ll tell you it’s over
I’ve been randomly going through boxes and pulling out my fave records from over the years. So, Nick Hornby can do that book, and he’s a cunt, so I can do this too. The first in a series of 257 entries…
1. Clem Snide – Your Favourite Music
Such a beautiful album. There’s like a hi hat, cello, a double bass, some guitar and Eef’s voice and it’s so wonderful. Their cover of ‘Donna’ is the best version of that song.
I discovered this album through those weird circumstances you discover a fave album. Someone mentioned them to me, two weeks later I see the album at Landspeed and the cover looked cool. Then a month after that, someone I knew was throwing it out. So I saved it.
The strongest memory I have for this album involves lying face down, lights off, on the lving room couch, destroyed and distraught, slinently crying and smoking, and this album washed over me.
“Your beautiful African friend
Next to him I look so white”
You know that stuff you learn about King Kong? The fear of the white man of having their pure white women taken by black savages with huge cocks…well I digress. But the Song “African Friend”, completely summed up how I felt about not being cool enough, or tough enough. Next to people, I look so white.
I don’t know what the hell Eef, the lead songwriter, was going through at the time, but he really managed to make a sad album, but also, one that doesn’t make you sadder by the end. It’s kind of defeatist and accepting.
“The window wont shut
But the breeze does feel nice.”
The album’s title comes from a song, “Your Favourite Music”, another tender lullaby about listening to music to help, to make you feel special, but how that’s a dead end too. And the opening song, “The Dairy Queen”, is a wonderful, sadly sung, light hearted ramble of just beautiful images.
“Knowingly blowing a bubble
As the ginger ale tickled her nose”
It’s very Salinger…the innocence of youth to redeem the sins of the old. Or something.
It all crashes with Donna, anyway. The Richie Valens. You know the song…Ooh Donna, ooh Donna, since you’ve been gone, you left me all alone. And it’s funny, that such a sad album amde me happy, or at least, stopped my plummelling further. And it still sounds great to this day. They’ve released a couple more albums since, including the theme song for the TV show Ed. But Your Favourite Music is it. I keep it on hand to save my life.
On the street!
And on my way eat
Pass the servo and ‘back together’
Australia St and buried treasures
To Hum to say hi to Steve
And pick up some DVDs
British TV and Woody Allen
Then Spicy Beef Noodles with Wontons
IGA for some choclate and coke
As the rain plattered lightly on the roads
Pass Fish where they only stock crap
Stopped by German tourists looking for Jazz
And I almost took their whole night
Telling them about Newtown, and the bends and lights
And I pointed meekly down south
Towards the Sando where music might be out
As I batcaved into the backstreets
With my takeway and DVDs
Hiding under the lightpath and plane sounds
That remind me I’m back in Newtown
I don’t wanna talk about the future
With somebody who is living in the past
You’re wishing, waiting for another ’94
And all you do is talk about before
It’s never gonna work out right
With everything that’s wrong inside
And I’m sorry if I told you lies
But there’s monsters tearing at my eyes
I had a wonderful dream
Just last night
You were with me
It felt right
Then a woke up
And realised
It’s never going to be
I still go for
Girls your type
Guess I never
Got over you right
I’m still clinging
To a life
That’s never going to be