Ether

It's a wonder I've never felt the need to post about these songs before, given that All About Lily Chou-Chou may well be one of my favourite movies. Iwai's unique vision (there are some truly stunning, heartbreaking shots), the haunting music and childlike innocence combine to create a film that will always have a special place in my heart. It is even more surprising that I've neglected to mention this album if you take into consideration the fact that this is a film that would not really work without its soundtrack. And that is not a hyperbole because, apart from the emotional effect of Takeshi Kobayashi's string arrangements and Salyu's ethereal voice, the music here is also a vital part of the plot. The fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou (played by Salyu) and her music is the centerpiece around which the whole story revolves. I won't go into details about the film, trying to convince you to watch it because, hopefully, the music will do just that. This may be a fictional singer, and a fictional album, but that heartbeat getting stronger with every note is damn real.

Lily Chou-Chou - Kaifuku Suru Kizu (Breathe, 2001)

Lily Chou-Chou - Erotic (Breathe, 2001)

Summer Here Kids! (part 1)

"It can't be just me
That's working it out
These songs that we've chosen
And what they're about
 

Are we after the same thing?
Am I crossing a line?
I'm checking the lyrics
I'm pressing rewind

All through the night
They begin to take shape
From the crack of the vinyl
To the hiss of the tape!

Play and record
Held down together
Tabs pushed off
So you can't tape over it ever

A couple of friends
Hanging out with each other
Just swapping songs
To soundtrack our summer"  

Art Brut - Sound of Summer

 

Grandaddy - Summer Here Kids

   

    "Ice baby,
I saw your girlfriend and she was
Eating her fingers like they’re just another meal
But she waits there
In the levee washes
Mixin’ cocktails with a plastic-tipped cigar"

Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter version)

   

    "That summer feeling is gonna haunt you the rest of your life"

Jonathan Richman - That Summer Feeling

    

 "On an island in the sun
We'll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can't control my brain"

Weezer - Island in the Sun

In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection

Choosing a favourite Silver Jews lyric is a bit like choosing a favourite jelly bean. When asked, you might reply ‘apple’, or ‘cotton candy’, or even ‘cherry’. Yet, your favourite will change the very next time you eat another.

And you listen to Silver Jews for words.

The music itself is almost incidental to the words contained within. The icing on a cake if you will. Or a dress on a pretty girl.

To say David Berman has a ‘way with words’, well, is a bit like saying the Sun has a way with heat…

I won't even begin to mention the amount of times Silver Jews were the soundtrack of something in my life. Lonely nights and early mornings. Falling in and out of love. Growing up. Dreams. Above all, dreams.

Random Rules (American Water, 1998)

"In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection"

"I know that a lot of what I say has been lifted off of men's room walls.
Maybe I've crossed the wrong rivers and walked down all the wrong halls."

"I asked the painter why the roads are colored black. He said, "Steve, it's because people leave and no highway will bring them back.""

Horseleg Swastikas (Bright Flight, 2001)

"I'm drunk on a couch in Nashville
In a duplex near the reservoir.

And every single thought is like a punch in the face, I'm like a rabbit freezing on a star.

On the wrong side of Sunday morning, shattered in the terrible light. Working for a bankrupt circus, on the wrong side of Saturday night"

Pet Politics (The Natural Bridge, 1996)

"Guard my bed, while the rain turns the ditches to mirrors. By a vase of carnations from central Ohio where the looking machine can't hear us. Deep in the night we dream of positions, there's a line for the phone in the hall. And in the cold places where Spanish is spoken, most wars end in the fall"

I remember me (Bright Flight, 2001)

"Out the window, in the harbor he saw a little ship The moon was worn just slightly on the right. And they slow danced so the needle wouldn't skip, until the room was filled with light"

Inside the golden days of missing you (The Natural Bridge, 1996)

"The shattered glass cussed, and when it broke it spoke to us, it said "Hey... I know you... what's your name?" I wish they didn't set mirrors behind the bar cause I can't stand to look at my face when I don't know where you are. Then the feeling fades away but you sort of wish it would of stayed, inside...the golden days of missing you"

We are real (American Water, 1998)

"Up the hill past 694, at the stone wall make a left, and I will see you soon my friend if these old directions still direct.
Is the problem that we can't see or is it that the problem is beautiful to me?"

Trains across the Sea (Starlite Walker, 1994) "I just got back from a dream attack, that took me by surprise. And in there I met a lady, her name was Shady Sides and she said: It's been evening all day long, it's been evening all day long and how can something so old be so wrong? Sin and gravity drag me down to sleep to dream of trains across the sea, trains across the sea. Half hours on earth, what are they worth? I don't know. In twenty-seven years I drunk fifty thousand beers. And they just wash against me like the sea into a pier"

Suffering Jukebox (Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, 2008)

"While these seconds turn these minutes into hours of the day all these doubles drive the dollars and the light of day away"

Links:

Silver Jews on Myspace

A place for all things Silver Jews

The Corduroy Suit (lyrics, poems, drawings etc)

Silver Jews on Allmusic.com

Stephen Malkmus

BUY Silver Jews albums here

When the rain hits you, it hits you slow...