the morning after, run for cover
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The last thing one wants after the fact is too much information. So goes a song that illustrates by example the lesson it preaches in the end (way down below).
Chapped lips. Tongue, kissed.
[Insert expletive] fluids of a summer night.
With slight duress, forced imperatives
find me quoting Pennington.
A delicate blend of sweat and menstrual blood
seeping into trampled grass.
On one hand, the original by Parenthetical Girls, from the debut full-length (((GRRRLS))) (Slender Means Society, 2004), never begs to be altered. Main man-vocalist Zac Pennington's uncurbed enthusiasm sets the appropriate tone, enveloped in some heady Everett, WA / Portland, OR experimental chamber pop. It may be considered a case of don't fix what ain't broke.
So, take my lip between your teeth
and taste me by devouring,
and I'll start watching my weight again.
Oh, oh, oh.
On the other hand, the cover by Owen Ashworth a.k.a. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, from the fourth studio album Etiquette (Tomlab, 2006), demonstrates that there are, in fact, two sides to a story. He hits home just as hard through the very much curbed enthusiasm of his San Francisco, CA lo-fi rock, helped by some fragile but removed singing by guest vocalist Jenn Herbinson.
Woke up at dawn, face down on the lawn,
head awash with what had been.
Rest cheek to cheek, fingers underneath
soft impressions of your teeth.
Some hours, lost, and at such a cost-
stains and scars I can't explain.
For me, the sleeper detail in all these is one minute word change, from "find me quoting Donovan" (which Donovan, I don't know) to "find me quoting Pennington" (as in Zac). Most likely a little nod to the songwriter, it nevertheless makes a few unintended suggestions: a recollection is a remake; to express is to summarize, or paraphrase; who knows what anyone ever really means? I put the lyrics up so you know where I stand.*
Some things are best left unsaid.
*On the side of brutal honesty
The Parenthetical Girls original, live, 8:47 minutes.
Comments (7)
....I have never heard any version of this song 'till now. I definitely like the Paranthetical Girls' version more, even with the god-awful lo-fi sound. I think the Girls' version is a nice ominous exploration of the unexplained stains & scars, at once fragile and dangerous. The Casiotone version is an ice-cold, detached...burned-out satalite.
I've been lucky enough to catch the Parenthetical Girls a couple of times and seen them sing this song. Lovely to see them get some MOG attention.
Love both versions, BTW
interesting to me was how much more engaging the lyrics were as delivered by the ice-cold (thank you, Jeff) Casiotone with Jenn. The context changed dramatically for me. Zac's vocs are as chilled as Casiotones musical background. Not that that's bad, either version makes me feel a bit uncomfortably voyueristic...as well may be the point.
Pretend.. thats all it is.
This song seems odd enough to make me feel as if I'm out of my depth. I like how both versions allow one to actually hear the lyrics. The lyrics are poetic in that they juxtapose concrete observations with unexpected emotions and abstract thoughts. The melody and its relationship to the instruments doesn't transform itself for me into more than a bunch of notes, but I'm almost 63, so templates of the past beckon me. These tyros innovate, so, in the end, that's copasetic.
"He hits home just as hard through the very much curbed enthusiasm of his San Francisco, CA lo-fi rock..."
Pretttttttty good.
Jeff, I'm with you on preferring the Parenthetical Girls version, and the band itself, although CFTPA has its merits, too. Ominous, "at once fragile and dangerous" - I like that. Your Mogging chops and mine should get together some time. ;p
Oh, yeah, lousy video. I was shocked to find too few choices of PG videos, actually.
Amber, I'm pretty sure you've been lucky in far more things, like an eye for passing detail, but ooh consider me jel that you've been to the PG shows. I love their onstage energy, based on ...uhrm... YouTube. :D
Scott, that's just about what I thought, that the context changed dramatically along with the change of tone. Love when that happens. PG's is almost defensively sardonic, CFTPA's is so disenfranchised- oh, never mind, deadman already explained it awesomely.
Ghost, a succinct yet enigmatic retort.
Charles, the disjointedness of the cover swings both ways, I have a like/hate for it and it isn't among my album favorites ... I think of the song as a study in lyric writing. You're on point, as always, the concrete observations are well-placed.
I looked "copasetic" up. (:
Colin, muahahahahah! Muahahahahah!
PS- Muahahahahah! (Good to have you back. :D)