Interesting that my second entry in this series is also a Los Angeles band. Hmmm....
And that my third entry will be The Minutemen.
I'm an East Coast guy, so I don't really need to write about Patti Smith, Minor Threat and Corrosion of Confomity, right?
Fine.
Despite my continental alignment, I am a HUGE fan of the West Coast conteingent, punk rock-wise.
Lesson #2.
Jeffrey Lee Pierce. And his The Gun Club.
Seminal, guttural, and bombastic, animalistic, evangelistic groans and grunts - his blues - all to Kid Congo Powers' guitar whines and winces.
Jeffrey Lee Pierce died in 1996 of a brain hemorrhage. He was 37 years old. He held his own with X, The Germs, and just about every godamned body else.
He is missed. At this point, I've lived longer than him...
His legacy is readily available here, although I think you should start with "Miami."
Because it doesn't make any sense. The name of the album, NOT the music.
Mark Lanegan worked with Jeffrey and covered The Gun Club's "Carry Home" on his brilliant album "I'll Take Care of You."
Listen.
"Come down to
The willow garden with me
Come go with me
Come go and see
Although I've howled across fields
Until my eyes turned grey
Are yours still the same?
Are you still the same?
Carry home
I have returned
Through so many highways
And so many tears
Your letter never survived the heat of
My hand
My burning hand
My sweating hand
Your love never survived the heat of
My heart
My violent heart
In the dark
Carry home
I have returned
Through so many highways
And so many tears
Come down to the willow garden with me
Come go with me
Come go and see.
Although I've howled across fields
Until my eyes turned grey
Are yours still the same?
Are you still the same?"
Mark left out the lines from Jeffrey's original, which I think are important.
REALLY IMPORTANT, like what the whole fucking song is about:
"Carry Home to where I am from
Carry to the place that I have come
Carry to the dust and flies behind me
Carry to the cracks and caves on the face of me
Oh, but I didn't change, I just had to work
Yeah, but I didn't change, I just had to work
And now I'm home, and now I'm home
Do you still want me?
Now, that I'm home
Come down to the willow garden with me
Come go with me
Come go and see."
Jesus.
Do you still want me now that I'm home?
That's why I love me some Jeffrey Lee Pierce...
RIP
Compare and contrast.
Ahhh covers...
One of my favorite things in the world, and only when an artist makes them their own.
See: Jimi Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower." Even Robert Zimmerman gave that one up....or Cat Power's cover of "Satisfaction."
I've played that one for countless musically educated peoples and they have no clue who did the original...
Katy with the Konica half-frame.
My girl might try to steal this camera from me, so I have to be steadfast about keeping it, even though it is literally falling apart...
4 comments:
Whenever I feel sad, I think about how lucky I am to have my limbs in tact.
Try it. Dismemberment imagery works.
Tonight I met the beautiful Carmen Del Orifice - in her 70's - and she said some profound wise-woman things that really struck me i.e. 'I know where you are...'
Another conversation is due. Lenny Kaye will surely eavesdrop.
You know I got your back, mister.
xo a
profound!!!
Man I saw them in Detroit just after Fire of Love was released....It's my fave I think, I also loved The Las Vegas Story and Miami...and the damn Death Party EP.
punk music.. I don't get it.
I leave it to the angry nihilists.
give me a deep backbeat groove any day over a jackhammer assault on the senses...
maybe if i had a stronger taste for alcohol I'd have found something of meaning in there??
no wonder i preferred Zeppelin to The Who.
Has anyone seen the bridge??
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