Inspired by recent, polarizing Silver Jews vs. Smog thread - name your favorite David Berman lyrics / one-liners here!

My favorite Berman lines are all in Self Portrait At 28 in Actual Air.

Best one-liner live:
He had just read a longer piece with a lot of sexualized imagery, though not succinctly "about" anything so concrete, when, in the same breath he drawn to read the last line of the poem he says "That one was about a handjob."

That was very very good.

"Tanning beds explode with rich women inside."

Robot walks into a bar / Orders a drink, lays down a bill / Man says I'm sorry we don't serve robots / The robot says, "Oh, but someday you will"

Bumping this thread for "souvenirs only reminded you of buying them" from Governors on Sominex in Actual Air

Yeah, that's a killer line. When is that new album out again?
I hope he does another book.

About a month I think. It's one of the best things of 08 IMO and there are some pearlers on it

"I throw my thoughts like tomahawks into this world which I disown" is such a badass line.

^^^ yes. also loves when he says "what looks like sleep is really hot pursuit" in that one

I love all of Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer especially

Aloysius woke at 5 am and the hungry girl was gone
There was blood on the bedding, forks in the ceiling and bones all over the lawn

new album sux

You're crazy

you probably like Band of Horses

anyone have anything to say about the new jews record? i had lost all faith after tanglewood numbers, which i found for the most part crushingly dull and oddly charmless, but having heard the jukebox one several times on the radio i'm ready for berman's rumours. am i about to be disappointed?

That's kind of how i felt about tanglewood numbers, but haven't heard the new one

i think the new one is quite good. but i need some more listens for a valid verdict. just heard a couple of the songs at the concert and heard the album maybe twice.

DB is on the new avalanches album!

is it cowboy eclipse ? that's a beautiful poem. 'it gets late so early, now'

IDK why I woke up with "San Francisco B.C." stuck in my head today. I go back and forth on the rest of Lookout Mountain, but that song certainly deserves a spot in the canon (... the canon of what, though? not for me to decide)

So many evocative turns of phrase: dollhouse lightning, fist cuisine, sarcastic hair, a jeweler's hands and a blurry face.

Best of all, there are moments on the record when Dave is so clearly having FUN... just like the crooks in the movies when they do that bit.

he said the power of metal will never be harnessed
I thought the wages of metal should be heavily garnished

that's not bad. but it's still the only Silver Jews song that's a They Might Be Giants song

When they turn on the chair something’s added to the air

Forevah

What’s “swa disantra “ anyway? Anyone know?

"soi-disant roi"... pretty sure it's a call-back to the title of REM's "World Leader Pretend".

Oh, neat. Thanks Al

How long can a world go on under such a subtle God?
How long can a world go on with no word from God?

Life finds a limit at the edge of our bodies

day after day up on this beautiful stage
we've been playing tambourine for minimum wage

But nothing can change the fact that we used to share a bed

Still wearin' last night's mascara
Now that her pet was gone for sure
She was shiverin' so hard
It looked like there were two of her

moments can be monuments to you
If your life is interesting and true
It's just the same for a man or a girl
The meaning of the world lies outside the world

the alleys are the footnotes of the avenues

holding up their trousers with extension cords

I suspect we could be losing now. Please guard my bed.

instead of time there will be lateness
and let forever be delayed

I had this friend his name was Marc with a "c"
His sister was like the heat coming off the back of an old TV

:)

this happy hour has got us by the balls

Songs build little rooms in time
And housed within the song’s design
Is the ghost the host has left behind
To greet and sweep the guest inside
Stoke the fire and sing his lines

his brother who was missing the part of the brain that let's you make out with your pillow

I passed an abandoned drive-in
With ivy growing over the screen
It was like I caught Hollywood sleeping-
Asleep without the dreams

if your dreams are your body telling you it's confused
then I've got a dream I think you could use

All this new technology
will eventually give us new feelings
that will never completely displace the old ones
leaving everyone feeling quite nervous
and split in two.

no one should have two lives
now you know my middle names are wrong and right
honey we've got two lives to give tonight

When you feel that first ice cold twist in the wind
Will you hang a lamp at the end of the lane?

Holding hands, starlit walks
Making plans, silly talk
All I see are couples in the street
I always had a hunch
I would crumble in the crunch
Yeah, maybe I'm the only one for me

^That one was co-written with Dan Auerbach, so I'm not sure how much of it was him and how much of it was DCB. A great song regardless!

it was from an aborted attempt at auerbach to produce the record, he must have contributed enough to the chord progression or arrangement to get a credit, but if auerbach could write lyrics like that i'd imagine he'd have done it at least once before in his life

hahah fair enough, I'm actually pretty unfamiliar with his stuff, never been a Black Keys fan, etc.

We’re off to the land of club soda unbridled
We’re off to the land of hot middle-aged women