You're just too, too obscure for me

[sovay]

I'm not entirely sure what to call this mix. I haven't made one in a while. It accreted around my discovery of the Verlaines earlier this evening; it seems to be mostly about historical figures, with a couple of works of art for metonymy. They are probably not all that obscure. Recommend me some really unknown stuff. Also, enjoy!


Art of Noise, "Il Pleure (At the Turn of the Century)"

When Debussy died on March the 25th, 1918, in Paris
It was being bombarded by the Germans
And it was raining

Billy Bragg & Wilco, "Ingrid Bergman"

If you'll walk across my camera
I will flash the world your story
I will pay you more than money, Ingrid Bergman

Coil, "Ostia (The Death of Pasolini)"

Throw his bones over
The white cliffs of Dover
And murder me in Ostia

The Cranberries, "Yeats' Grave"

And you sit here with me on the isle Innisfree
And you're writing down everything
But I know by now
Why did you sit here in the grave?

The Decemberists, "When the War Came"

We'd made our oath to Vavilov
We'd not betray the solanum
The acres of asteraceae
To our own pangs of starvation

The Divine Comedy, "The Booklovers"

Call me William Makepeace Thackeray

The Dresden Dolls, "Christopher Lydon"

Christopher, I was your listener, Christopher
I've never felt love like this before, Christopher

Gogol Bordello, "Mussolini vs. Stalin"

Mussolini was shaving, whistling tarantella
Stalin was keeping eye on barbecue
When their fish line bell started to jingle
Mussolini caught nothing, Stalin caught two

Human Sexual Response, "Anne Frank Story"

How does it feel to walk through walls when
The walls are landscapes for our heroine?

Kate Bush, "Houdini"

Through the glass, I'd watch you breathe
Bound and drowned and paler than you've ever been

Le Tigre, "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes?"

Hey, where's Gena?

Matmos, "Enigma Machine for Alan Turing"

The Enigma machine featured on this song was recorded at Cryptography Research in San Francisco. We are grateful to Paul Kocher for granting us access to this fragile, historic object. MIDI information within the song is being encrypted by a MAX patch which hosts a java emulation of the Enigma machine's encryption process.

Mission of Burma, "Max Ernst"

People did not like that man Max Ernst
(The Blessed Virgin Chastises the Infant Jesus)
He was so irrational, Max Ernst
(Garden Airplane-Trap, Garden Airplane-Trap)

The Mountain Goats, "Lovecraft in Brooklyn"

Rhode Island drops into the ocean
No place to call home anymore
Lovecraft in Brooklyn

My Favorite, "James Dean (Awaiting Ambulance)"

It is a terrible fall
When your teen idol is proved mortal

Nick Cave, "There She Goes, My Beautiful World"

Well, Karl Marx squeezed his carbuncles while writing Das Kapital
And Gauguin, he buggered off, man, he went all tropical
And Philip Larkin, he stuck it out in a library in Hull
And Dylan Thomas, he died drunk in St. Vincent's Hospital

Pere Ubu, "Heart of Darkness"

Image, object, and illusion go down to the corner

The Pixies, "Alec Eiffel"

Oh, Alexander, I see you beneath
The archway of aerodynamics

PJ Harvey, "Yuri-G"

Yeah, I wish I was Yuri-G
It's just the things that she does to me

Robyn Hitchcock, "I Saw Nick Drake"

As we were carrying the ice together
Beneath the glass, I saw his face
The net was gone
And all the strawberries of English weather
I saw him pass right through this place

Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)"

Reunion begins with a glass of mercury

They Might Be Giants, "The Mesopotamians"

This is my last stick of gum
I'm going to cut it up so everybody else gets some
Except for Aššurbanipal, who says my haircut
Makes me look like a Mohenjo-daran

Tori Amos, "Garlands"

Let's go see A Day in May
From The Winged Painter

The Verlaines, "Death and the Maiden"

Do you like Paul Verlaine?
Is it going to rain today?
Shall we have our photo taken?
We'll look like Death and the Maiden

The Watersons, "Hilda's Cabinet Band"

Swing your lady half a mile up the center aisle
Wage-cut your neighbor—do it with a smile
Bow to the caller, do-si-dole the men
And deregulate the couple at the bottom end

And as a bonus track, after all these specifics—

Volcano Suns, "Jak"

Jack of all trades and a master of none
How can a person get anything done?
If you can live with yourself, you can fool anyone

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love Kate Bush's song "Houdini"--it gave me chills the first time I heard it.

[sovay]

I love Kate Bush's song "Houdini"--it gave me chills the first time I heard it.

It's one of my favorites.

[kerrickadrian.livejournal.com]

I always enjoy and appreciate your mixes. Thanks for this one; there are already several tracks I like a lot that are completely new to me.

[sovay]

Thanks for this one; there are already several tracks I like a lot that are completely new to me.

You're welcome. Thanks for telling me!

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

Sorry, no download links but I did put youtube links where I could. Here are some songs that seem to fit your theme. I think only one of them is really 'obscure' though. ;)

They Might Be Giants, The Edison Museum
Ghosts float up the stairs
Like silent moving pictures
The loyal phantoms of his in-house staff

They Might Be Giants, James K. Polk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGCuDDAPggw)
From Nashville came a dark horse riding up
He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the stump
Austere, severe, he held few people dear
His oratory filled his folks with fear

They Might Be Giants, Meet James Ensor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFiNAGP1KlY)
Meet James Ensor, Belgium's famous painter
Dig him up and shake his hand
Appreciate the man!

Toy Matinee, Turn it on Salvador (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKQco9y87Bo)
Turn it on Salvador
Drag the bound priest across the floor
Skin to shed, God is dead
What to do, so are you

Great Big Sea, Captain Kidd (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lpVaJ1l7ms)
My name is Captain Kidd
And God's laws I did forbid
And most wickedly I did as I sailed

Jason Webley & Jay Thompson, Eleven Saints (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP21zUrMh7s)
Man, oh man, what's that guy got in his hand?
It's an egg, it's a spoon, it's a snapshot of the moon
It's a coffee percolator going 'wheeeee-eeeee'
Me oh my Michaelangelo and I were just sittin' by the train tracks
reading Kafka to the sky
With a coffee percolator going 'wheeee-eeeeee'

Pizzicato Five, Twiggy Twiggy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z22nzBVLCto)
Twiggy no mini skirt de
Twiggy mitai na pose de
Twiggy no mini skirt de
Twiggy mitai ni yassepochi no watashi

[sovay]

I think only one of them is really 'obscure' though.

Are you kidding? All but one of these are new to me. Thank you!

[gwynnega]

The Verlaines! I haven't thought of "Death and the Maiden" in years. They were on Flying Nun, the New Zealand record label that some friends of mine were also on. You might like the band The Clean that recorded for Flying Nun...

[sovay]

They were on Flying Nun, the New Zealand record label that some friends of mine were also on.

Oh, cool. Who are they?

You might like the band The Clean that recorded for Flying Nun...

So noted.

[gwynnega]

Oh, cool. Who are they?

Several bands from the 1980s--the Clean, Tall Dwarfs, the Bats, Bailter Space.

Another couple of bands from NZ you might like: the Chills ("Pink Frost") and early Split Enz (particularly their first album, Mental Notes). Here's a YouTube clip of Split Enz from 1975 (slightly dicey video quality, but amazing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFa0_qqjNDI

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Thank you--I've taken five, partly because all of the songs and more than half the artists are new to me.

[sovay]

I've taken five, partly because all of the songs and more than half the artists are new to me.

Enjoy! You can always come back; the links should be good for a couple of weeks.

[sovay]

I really love your taste in music.

Thank you! Glad you approve.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Ah, wonderful. You also got ahold of one of my favorite GB songs. I am still looking for my CDs, but I finally found my Murder by Death, which is, at least, something.

[sovay]

You also got ahold of one of my favorite GB songs.

I broke down and acquired several of their albums. Are there any other songs you particularly want?

I am still looking for my CDs, but I finally found my Murder by Death, which is, at least, something.

Speaking of whom, I assume you have seen?

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

peaking of whom, I assume you have seen?

Oh yes, indeed. I have been rocking out to that recently.

As for Gogol Bordello, I think I know where they are, I just have to look there.

[eredien]

What's up, directors? Grab your knives!
It's time to take all all of the lives
Of the people who cannot see
The somnolent genius of Tarkovsky

"Art Snob Solutions," Of Montreal

You hit me so hard like a Wong Kar Wai beginning
I'm exploding in smiles my equilibrium is spinning

"Rapture Rapes the Muses," Of Montreal

I loved the Enigma Machine for Alan Turing song; I was listening to it just the other day and it's gotten stuck.

[sovay]

It's time to take all all of the lives
Of the people who cannot see
The somnolent genius of Tarkovsky

Please be warned that next time I come to your house, I am stealing your Of Montreal.

I loved the Enigma Machine for Alan Turing song; I was listening to it just the other day and it's gotten stuck.

It is probably my favorite musical discovery of the last year. These are the other two tracks on the EP:

"Messages from the Unseen World"

The text is taken from a series of postcards sent by Alan Turing to Robin Gandy before his suicide; each as titled "Messages from the Unseen World." Three have survived but the fourth was destroyed.

"Cockles and Mussels"

Faced with an imminent trial on charges of gross indecency, Alan Turing insisted upon playing "Cockles and Mussels" on the violin for the police officers who came to his home to take his statement.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

The two I could immediately think of:

“Christina the Astonishing”, Nick Cave (http://www.box.net/shared/tevknk4fz8)
“Pablo Picasso”, Burning Sensations (http://www.box.net/shared/918qrbkxqg)

Oh, but wait a minute: Morrissey's "Last of the Famous International Playboys": "Reggie Kray, do you know my name..."

[sovay]

The two I could immediately think of

I know neither of those! Thank you.

Oh, but wait a minute: Morrissey's "Last of the Famous International Playboys": "Reggie Kray, do you know my name..."

That song gets stuck in my head like you wouldn't believe.

Speaking of (one of) whom—

Sparks, "Lighten Up, Morrissey"

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I suggest Kate Bush's 'Oh! England, My Lionheart' (Peter Pan steals the kids in Kensington Park/ You read me Shakespeare on the rolling Thames/ That old river poet that never never ends) and Poe's 'A Rose is a Rose' (But Gershwin, Tristan Tzara and Man Ray saw her too/ There was never any doubt/ All would try to take her home). You probably have both of those, though.

[sovay]

You probably have both of those, though.

I do, but they're terrific songs. I had to weed out a lot of Kate Bush and the Mountain Goats in order for this mix not to acquire legendary proportions.