Is Vernon the worst poetaster in the history of popular music? Is he simply incapable of writing a lyric that makes sense—that tells a story, conveys a recognizable human emotion, in English or Elvish or any other language?
Dan Bejar often says that striving to deduce concrete meaning from his lyrics is a mistake. He wants his words to do something rather than mean something, to have an effect rather than to have sense.
I wish someone would inform Jody Rosen of this concept. Lyrics can be poetic and can often be read as poetry. Songs and albums can tell stories. But they don't have to, and reading lyrics apart from their musical context is inherently a mistake. Lyrics constitute a distinct form of art that cannot be judged by the standards of poetry or storytelling.
I'm kind of obsessed with the music on this surf film right now (first song is kind of so-so, but after that...). Very entertaining video, especially if you're even remotely interested in surfing (I'm not, but still found it quite enjoyable).
Favorite song/sequence (minus the Handsome Furs) runs from 17:40 to about 20 minutes.
(Sterling Spencer, by the way, is the cousin of one of my best friend's back in elementary school. Ryan–my friend back in the day–has "Additional Footage" and "Special Thanks" credits.)
I have a presence on Facebook, Google Plus (until HiveMined goes live anyway), my personal blog, two collaborative blogs, a collaborative tumblr, and now Twitter. I find this distressing.
Those of you with similar social-networking overkill: how do you decide what goes in each platform? Some of it is intuitive, but some of it still alludes me.
PS: I've changed my name, you'll note, to "Porter Perkins." I start a teaching job in two weeks and would like to make it slightly less simple for my future inquisitive students to find me.
A weekly sampler of what we're listening to (new and old), and what we think you might like, too.
01. JACK -- "Get Away", Yuck 02. CHASE -- "Follow", Crystal Fighters 03. TONY -- "Northern Lights," Bowerbirds 04. ECON -- "Christmas Bop", T. Rex 05. KYLE -- "Whole Lotta Love," Led Zeppelin 06. DUNN -- "Melekalikimaka", Beach Boys 07. OATESS -- "Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song", Jeffery Lewis 08. MARK -- "Rhythm and Soul", Spoon
