I choose to take "Dayton, Ohio 1903" as a reference to first powered flight so that I can laugh at the narrator tbh
― $80 is absurd and very ridiculous! (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 23 January 2015 21:02 (nine years ago) link
think I got that interpretation from a comment on songmeanings.com, though.
― $80 is absurd and very ridiculous! (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 23 January 2015 21:03 (nine years ago) link
actually, I laugh with Randy at the person that asked Randy to write that type of song, i.e. "Sing a song of long ago"
― $80 is absurd and very ridiculous! (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 23 January 2015 21:05 (nine years ago) link
listen not to belabor this orcutt stuff but listen to "judas iscariot" off the dawson album and not think of orcutt is pretty ridiculous imo
― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 23 January 2015 21:11 (nine years ago) link
also i really do like this album good job richard dawson ilx poll season makes me combative for no good reason i'm glad this album exists and ppl are digging it
― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 23 January 2015 21:17 (nine years ago) link
Yes we're on the same page
― fgti, Friday, 23 January 2015 21:32 (nine years ago) link
"Robert Wyatt doing George Benson" is a wonderful observation.
― charlie h, Saturday, 31 January 2015 01:33 (nine years ago) link
yeah the first thing my wife compared "The Vile Stuff" to was Wyatt
― parakeetal pancreasface (sleeve), Saturday, 31 January 2015 01:59 (nine years ago) link
An over-reliance on locations and names in lyrics is not to my taste. But: Dawson does it so much and so arrogantly I feel he's doing it deliberately to mock American songwriters who have interstates and national parks they'll namedrop without thinking about it. I mean, I think he's "taking the piss"
I think more specifically, the apocalyptic content of The Vile Stuff, wouldn't be as apparent if he didn't name all of the apostles [Thadeus, James and James Solicitors = James Son Of James, Miss Bartholemew…] so whether he's mocking or not, the list of names is kind of what the song's all about and it wouldn't work without them.
― Doran, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 10:26 (nine years ago) link
I dig this and I love the place-naming. His lyrics remind me of Nigel Blackwell although straining for a darkly surreal and wild poetic quality rather than Blackwell's comedy of the mundane.
― tayto fan (Michael B), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 10:50 (nine years ago) link
amazing detail about the apostles - I totally missed that
― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 4 February 2015 10:52 (nine years ago) link
well i'll be...
― rem remrum (dog latin), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 14:04 (nine years ago) link
^
― pro war Toby Keith songs would rub you the wrong way (imago), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 14:05 (nine years ago) link
Listening to this record with a bit of a wobble on this morning, s'got me all over the place, am a mess
― ineloquentwow (Craigo Boingo), Saturday, 7 February 2015 11:59 (nine years ago) link
:)
think this might be my favourite music of the last few years. Nigel Blackwell gone art-folk makes sense as a comparison bit there's something more wide-eyed and Romantic about Dawson's outlook (not that Blackwell lacks these qualities entirely). I don't think Dawson would be overly given to snipe at things he disapproves of.
― pro war Toby Keith songs would rub you the wrong way (imago), Saturday, 7 February 2015 12:08 (nine years ago) link
I like the press of accumulating, involuntary and unwelcome minutiae vs. and I don't care about these thingsWhy do they remain so clear while the faces of my loved ones disappear? That's life, kid, more and more: the memories you have vs. the ones you *should* have, even want to have. But there can be a liberation or release, relief, in submitting to that, in art, at least.
― dow, Saturday, 7 February 2015 14:43 (nine years ago) link
Although he doesn't sound relieved yet. Letting it spew, though.
― dow, Saturday, 7 February 2015 14:45 (nine years ago) link
The delivery and placement of that line is so great
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Saturday, 7 February 2015 15:56 (nine years ago) link
Olllld karate trophies
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Saturday, 7 February 2015 16:04 (nine years ago) link
just listening to The Ice-Breaker Baikal on the way home, magnificent
― woof, Saturday, 7 February 2015 17:44 (nine years ago) link
The theme of the apostles - and other religious matters - came up in an interview I carried out with Richard Dawson last week if anyone's interested.
― Doran, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 13:53 (nine years ago) link
god's work, doran
― Josh Whitehurst the endowed drummer and backing vocalist (imago), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:16 (nine years ago) link
He knocked on the door and my brother answered. I was frightened so I hid behind the door. I peeped around and saw that he had come in a big old dragster car (we actually had a little dragster racing board game at the time). It was parked at the end of the drive and the engine was still growling. I remember I was really scared. The Easter Bunny understood this and leaned around the door to look squarely at me. He was very serious and not like a cartoon bunny. He was a very realistic looking rabbit, but human sized and wearing quite simple clothes. He looked at me and was very solemn. Then he slowly nodded and handed me a chocolate egg. I cannot stress how melancholy an air this giant rabbit had about him. Then he got back in his dragster and roared off.
brb going to create a sort of cultish wallchart with dawson, julian cope, cardiacs, oliver postgate, dylan thomas and some others until british pastoralia leaps forth connected as a sort of salvation
dawson on religion is as close to my own position as anyone i've read
he is beyond, a marvel
― Josh Whitehurst the endowed drummer and backing vocalist (imago), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:19 (nine years ago) link
great great interview, thanks doran
― woof, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:30 (nine years ago) link
cheers, i've 'pocketed' this for later reading.
― oi listen mate, shut up (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 14:31 (nine years ago) link
Excellent interview, that.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 22:22 (nine years ago) link
yes, thanks
― sleeve, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 22:25 (nine years ago) link
That's great.
― ineloquentwow (Craigo Boingo), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 22:44 (nine years ago) link
Great interview. Fascinating that he works on the lyrics for so long. Apart from maybe Leonard Cohen, I don't think I've heard someone talk about working on a lyric to a single song in that way.
― Eyeball Kicks, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 23:50 (nine years ago) link
Fucking hell, that's an amazing interview.
― mike t-diva, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 08:56 (nine years ago) link
just broke open a coconut and because of the cautionary tale on this album all I could think of was not to use a screwdriver under any circumstances
ftr I hit it with a big wrench and did not injure myself
― hot takes: audit in progress (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:37 (nine years ago) link
Who's going to the Lexington tonight?
― Unsettled defender (ithappens), Thursday, 12 February 2015 10:43 (nine years ago) link
sold out by the time I found out - but hunting a spare ticket today & strongly tempted to go along and see if can get one there
― woof, Thursday, 12 February 2015 10:52 (nine years ago) link
Ruth Flecknell We did go on a ghost hunt at featherstone but the real spirit was definitely in that bottle and the trip to haltwhistle was in my car- a helicopter would have been much more well driven! It was definitely a weird experience for the adults as well as the youngsters we took. The genius is in the way you narrate the event and from the adult perspective looking back I can see how bizarre it was on so many levels for some of the children on the periphery of events. Good luck with your tour, I will catch your next one, the tickets were sold out this time before I woke up to how in vogue you are Like · Reply · 1 · 10 February at 15:05
RICHARD DAWSON Mrs Flecknell - there will always be room for you at a gig, please remember this!Like · Reply · 10 February at 15:15
Ruth Flecknell I will. Thanks richard. You deserve your success.Like · Reply · 1 · 10 February at 15:16
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 12 February 2015 13:16 (nine years ago) link
the best person. 'Mrs Flecknell'!!!
didn't get a ticket for tonight :( and scarletmist is gone :(:(
― not that sort of birdwatcher (imago), Thursday, 12 February 2015 13:27 (nine years ago) link
thinking there's no great hardship sitting in a pub for a couple of hours and keeping an ear open for spares & returns.
― woof, Thursday, 12 February 2015 13:47 (nine years ago) link
maybe we might join you tbh
― not that sort of birdwatcher (imago), Thursday, 12 February 2015 13:50 (nine years ago) link
how big is the venue? slightly surprising he has such a followingcity boys paying high three figures on the secondary no doubt
― nakhchivan, Thursday, 12 February 2015 13:51 (nine years ago) link
by 'we' i mean me and my fifteen friends, all of whom like to barge in front
the lexington is what i'd call a 'large pub venue'
― not that sort of birdwatcher (imago), Thursday, 12 February 2015 13:52 (nine years ago) link
i reckon I'll recognise you lj, so I'll say hello, shake hands before the fight to the death over the single spare.
Vile Stuff as city boy drinking anthem, I can see it
― woof, Thursday, 12 February 2015 14:03 (nine years ago) link
If I wasn't feeling like shit I would have joined you, but no doubt he'll be playing Cafe Oto at some point soon.
how big is the venue? slightly surprising he has such a following
I'm not at all surprised!
― Nut-bloody-rageous (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 February 2015 14:48 (nine years ago) link
we are here (it's near my gf's work)...let the hunt begin
― not that sort of birdwatcher (imago), Thursday, 12 February 2015 18:52 (nine years ago) link
Awww man Mrs Flecknell
― ineloquentwow (Craigo Boingo), Thursday, 12 February 2015 18:55 (nine years ago) link
He was incredible last night. Did an 80 minute set, felt too short. I got a little overexcited and drank a whole bottle of red wine during the set and could barely walk afterwards, I blame him doing The Vile Stuff last, if he'd done it first I'd have felt forewarned.
http://photos-f.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t51.2885-15/10979611_1413180728981101_1236214605_n.jpg
― ineloquentwow (Craigo Boingo), Saturday, 14 February 2015 13:49 (nine years ago) link
Had to leave the Lexington after four songs because I was getting besieged by texts about Steve Strange and had to go and sort out coverage. Unfortunately I was right at the front in the corner, which made getting out horrible for me and everyone I had to get past.
― Unsettled defender (ithappens), Saturday, 14 February 2015 17:46 (nine years ago) link
Didn't scrounge a ticket, but booked in for May at Bethnal Green WMC.
― woof, Saturday, 14 February 2015 18:20 (nine years ago) link
the qawali element of the vile stuff hadn't really struck me before, but hearing everyone clapping along to it and with dawsons voice wailing high above the rhythm, it was so damn obvious. Could have done without people tunelessly moaning along to poor old horse though, felt like dawson was altering his phrasing every time on that chorus just to try and shake them off his tail
― let me be your fan taytay (NickB), Saturday, 14 February 2015 18:23 (nine years ago) link
The Lex gig was amazing. Poor Old Horse. What an upsetting song.
― Doran, Saturday, 14 February 2015 19:15 (nine years ago) link
Cambridge gig tonight was so good. I've been ill for a few days and thought about not going but reading this thread convinced me - thanks guys! Highlights included stories about his cat, Poor Old Horse, when his guitar string broke halfway through The Vile Stuff and he ended up singing "In Dreams" instead with audience participation.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8654/16555073335_29d5b781a3_z.jpg
― kriss akabusi cleaner (seandalai), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 01:16 (nine years ago) link
seandalai i had no idea he was playing cambridge. damn!
― oi listen mate, shut up (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 February 2015 11:25 (nine years ago) link