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Let's talk about Silver Jews again.

styrofoamboots [Edit] [Delete] 59 replies 10:43 March 14th, 2013

Favourite album?
song?
lyric?

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IN 1984 I WAS HOSPITALISED FOR APPROACHING PERFECTION

oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 10:44 | X | ^ This | Reply
- ^ Best ever opening lyric to an album
  
  oojimaflop @oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 10:45 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - most overrated opening lyric to an album
    
    seriously, this comes up every time someone mentions the Silver Jews - it doesn't even make much sense. Was he ill (mentally / physically)? Was he forcefully hospitalised? What is going on?
    
    funkycow @oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 11:22 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - The thing is,
      
      It's completely nonsensical, but it grabs you. I can understand not liking it as an opening lyric, but I bet you noticed it the first time you heard it.
      
      oojimaflop @funkycow | 14 Mar '13, 11:37 | X | ^ This | Reply
      - the fact its nonsensical makes it great
        
        The way its delivered as well just makes me smile
        
        humey86 @oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 11:43 | X | ^ This | Reply
        
        exactly!
        
        oojimaflop @humey86 | 14 Mar '13, 11:49 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - i took it to mean being sectioned during a manic episode
      
      like, people who are manic feel on top of the world and have delusions of grandeur and that, so he'd probably feel he was "approaching perfection". And then the line would be a wry reflection on his lack of insight into why he was hospitalised at the time. It'd fit with the next line, too - "slowly screwing my way across Europe" - people with mania often end up having sex with a lot of people.
      
      No idea if that's actually what it means, might be just my imagination running away with me.
      
      OceanStorm @funkycow | 16 Mar '13, 00:58 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - I'd vote for Arab Strap's 'Packs of Three'
    
    for that:
    
    'It was the biggest cock you'd ever seen, but you'd no idea where that cock has been...'
    
    bruised_blood @oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 11:43 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - I love Arab Strap and I like this song and the opening line but
      
      I've always had a problem with the concept of the song encapsulated by the line 'you say you did it four times but jonnies come in packs of three'.
      
      Seems as silly as suggesting that you can't eat 26 fruit pastilles because you only get 15 in a packet.
      
      saps @bruised_blood | 14 Mar '13, 12:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
      - wtf?
        
        I... don't - what? I don't think you understand the line, then.
        
        KRaudive @saps | 14 Mar '13, 14:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
        
        Hmmm. I thought I did.
        
        Surely it means that the fourth time she didn't use a condom -because "jonnies come in packs of three".
        
        What am I missing?
        
        saps @KRaudive | 15 Mar '13, 09:41 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - And I'd vote this for most overrated opening lyric to an album
      
      Every time that thread comes up (every 3-4 months?), this and the Silver Jews one get spouted out, along with some McClusky gubbins.
      
      -dan- @bruised_blood | 14 Mar '13, 21:11 | X | ^ This | Reply
      - "I wish that I had known in that first minute we met, the unpayable debt that I owed you"
        
        That's a pretty good opening line.
        
        As far as that Arab Strap line goes, I prefer "Another bloated disco, another sniff If romance I'll forget"
        
        ThisTemporaryLife @-dan- | 15 Mar '13, 21:03 | X | ^ This | Reply
On a deeper level of discussion,

my favourite album of their's is, without a doubt, American Water. to me, it's one of those really rare, genuinely 10/10 albums

oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 10:46 | X | ^ This | Reply

saps and pehdtsckjmba this'd this
- It's a good shout
  
  I think Bright Flight takes it though for my money, probably because it's sadder/more romantic and I'm a total sap.
  The Wild Kindness is stunning
  
  styrofoamboots @oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 10:53 | X | ^ This | Reply
- That said, my favourite lyric is:
  
  In twenty-seven years,
  I drunk fifty thousand beers,
  and they just wash against me
  like the sea into a pier.
  
  oojimaflop @oojimaflop | 14 Mar '13, 11:43 | X | ^ This | Reply
I Remember Me makes me cry pretty much each time I listen to it.

There are some astonishing lines in that song.

saps | 14 Mar '13, 10:53 | X | ^ This | Reply
- ^Total sap
  
  I completely agree
  
  styrofoamboots @saps | 14 Mar '13, 10:54 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - They slow danced so the record wouldn't skip.
    
    saps @styrofoamboots | 14 Mar '13, 10:56 | X | ^ This | Reply
Ok

Album - American Water
Song - Send In The Clouds (maybe)
Lyric - 'When I go downtown I always wear a corduroy suit, cos it's made from a hundred gutters that the rain can run right through"

I fucking love Silver Jews.

saps | 14 Mar '13, 10:55 | X | ^ This | Reply
I used to get baked and sing along to all of Bright Flight

with my strange ginger mate. Loved that album when I was a teenager, not listened to them in a couple of years. David Berman is amazing.

yuggy | 14 Mar '13, 10:55 | X | ^ This | Reply
- with my strange ginger mate
  
  :D
  
  styrofoamboots @yuggy | 14 Mar '13, 10:56 | X | ^ This | Reply
I've never heard the stuff before Starlite Walker.

Is it available? Is it good?

saps | 14 Mar '13, 10:56 | X | ^ This | Reply
- I haven't either really
  
  The Arizona Record is on Grooveshark if you want to give it a go
  
  styrofoamboots @saps | 14 Mar '13, 11:02 | X | ^ This | Reply
One of those bands

whose vocals stop me listening to them. Sorry.

funkycow | 14 Mar '13, 11:07 | X | ^ This | Reply
- vocals are what I love about em'
  
  remember being overjoyed when I found out about Bill Callahan soon after cos he sounds similar. Love monotone word bummers.
  
  yuggy @funkycow | 14 Mar '13, 11:19 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - `monotone word bummers`
    
    :D
    
    WhiteLightWhiteCity @yuggy | 14 Mar '13, 11:21 | X | ^ This | Reply
    
    chasingabee this'd this
- Your loss
  
  pehdtsckjmba @funkycow | 14 Mar '13, 11:21 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - A loss I can live with I think.
    
    funkycow @pehdtsckjmba | 14 Mar '13, 11:23 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - I'M DRUNK ON A COUCH IN NASHVILLE
      
      yuggy @funkycow | 14 Mar '13, 12:01 | X | ^ This | Reply
- All my favorite singers couldn't sing.
  
  ;)
  
  ThisTemporaryLife @funkycow | 15 Mar '13, 21:04 | X | ^ This | Reply
Absolutely love 'em

One of the best feelings in the world for me is to have a few beers and sing along to the entirety of Bright Flight, adopting a faux-Texan accent.

"A black hawk nailed to the sky, and the tape hiss from the trees"

Fuzzy_Dunlop | 14 Mar '13, 11:40 | X | ^ This | Reply
I'D RATHER LIVE IN A TRASH CAN, THAN SEE YOU HAPPY WITH ANOTHER MAN

<3

guntrip | 14 Mar '13, 12:24 | X | ^ This | Reply

styrofoamboots this'd this
AND MY HORSES LEGS WERE LIKE FOUR BROWN SHOTGUNS

yuggy | 14 Mar '13, 12:38 | X | ^ This | Reply
Silver Jews night, yeah?

Whose house?
When?
I'll bring the tortilla chips.

saps | 14 Mar '13, 12:46 | X | ^ This | Reply
- funkycow's
  
  I haven't talked to him yet but I'm sure he won't mind
  
  styrofoamboots @saps | 14 Mar '13, 12:52 | X | ^ This | Reply
  
  saps this'd this
  - Watch it, I've got an Adele and I'm not afraid to use it.
    
    funkycow @styrofoamboots | 14 Mar '13, 13:50 | X | ^ This | Reply
- I would love that.
  
  oojimaflop @saps | 14 Mar '13, 12:56 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - i wish i knew more DiSsers.
    
    the more time I spend on here the more I like yoose
    
    yuggy @oojimaflop | 15 Mar '13, 17:46 | X | ^ This | Reply
    
    funkycow this'd this
I think I have my album order worked out

NaturalBridge>StarliteWalker>BrightFlight>AmericanWater>Tanglewood>LmLs
Pretty Eyes maybe? too many to pick from. "The elephants are so ashamed of their size, hosing down I tell them "you got pretty eyes"'

Shuffles | 14 Mar '13, 13:51 | X | ^ This | Reply
- love love love
  
  Pretty Eyes. Berman wrote some great songs.
  
  KRaudive @Shuffles | 14 Mar '13, 14:44 | X | ^ This | Reply
.... this melody>

Room games and diamond rain
It's a fox hunt
It's an f stop
It's a ten acre wood
Outbound on a western train
It costs a quarter, man
Out on the border land
I can dance real good

KRaudive | 14 Mar '13, 14:46 | X | ^ This | Reply
The butler hesitates at the top of the stairs

I used to think that line was...
"The butler has a taste at the top of the stairs"
I was lucky to see them live in Edinburgh, did anybody else see them live?

lardsnail | 14 Mar '13, 20:53 | X | ^ This | Reply
- In Chicago,
  
  tensaddler @lardsnail | 15 Mar '13, 03:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - ...At the Metro
    
    It was on their last tour, unbeknownst to me. I kept the ticket stub in my wallet even after the ink had rubbed out. The years/beers/washing against a pier line is my favourite line, song Horseleg Swastikas, album American Water. A gem of a band.
    
    tensaddler @tensaddler | 15 Mar '13, 03:47 | X | ^ This | Reply
THERE IS A PLACE PAST THE BLUES I NEVER WANT TO SEE AGAIN

shoeshined | 14 Mar '13, 22:38 | X | ^ This | Reply
I'm doing a night tomorrow where we only play US/Canadian indie rock

absolutely 100% going to play Punks in the Beerlight

guntrip | 14 Mar '13, 23:37 | X | ^ This | Reply
- Toulouse-Lautrec!
  
  Careful with the prescription analgesics mind.
  
  KRaudive @guntrip | 15 Mar '13, 00:07 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - I ALWAYS LOVED YOU TO THE MAX!!!
    
    Fuzzy_Dunlop @KRaudive | 15 Mar '13, 09:48 | X | ^ This | Reply
- fucking didn't do this
  
  :(
  
  guntrip @guntrip | 16 Mar '13, 11:26 | X | ^ This | Reply
Only ever listened to Starlite Walker and Natural Bridge

stopped paying attention to the after that, even though I liked both albums. Rebel Jew is probably my favourite of theirs, although I really like Trains Across the Sea, too

robluvsnic | 15 Mar '13, 00:59 | X | ^ This | Reply
- Pay attention again, then.
  
  Bright Flight and American Water are wonderful records.
  
  And I should know, I'm a prick.
  
  saps @robluvsnic | 15 Mar '13, 09:42 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - alright, I'm listening, I'm paying attention.
    
    I can't hear anything.
    
    robluvsnic @saps | 15 Mar '13, 13:27 | X | ^ This | Reply
    - Bright Flight is flawless
      
      yuggy @robluvsnic | 16 Mar '13, 00:55 | X | ^ This | Reply
I quite like Silver Jews

I mean, Berman's lyrics are outstanding, but often they just seem too overwrought for me. Like, clever, but just too deliberate and not so natural. I'm not making sense

orangejuice | 15 Mar '13, 17:29 | X | ^ This | Reply
- No
  
  I don't agree imo - you can't accuse DB of not being natural. His heart and failings and addictions and mistakes and fuckups are all there. And he puts it beautifully into lovely melodies.
  
  KRaudive @orangejuice | 16 Mar '13, 00:01 | X | ^ This | Reply
  - And god
    
    you can just hear that he's trying to be good - all the time. He wants to be normal. But then - why not get fucking slaughtered instead, eh? I guess you can relate, or not. Maybe that's it.
    
    KRaudive @KRaudive | 16 Mar '13, 00:03 | X | ^ This | Reply
I've always liked Bright Flight the most

Every song on the album is brilliant, but my favourite is Friday Night Fever.
Lyric: "She wouldn't change me if she could
I wouldn't change her, she's too good
Sometimes a man just needs a change of pace"
So simple it gets me every time. I heard somewhere that this was a cover. Can someone with more knowledge enlighten me?

mclassh | 16 Mar '13, 07:07 | X | ^ This | Reply
- ...
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r6j__VZIJs
  it's kind of interesting that they cut out the bridge sections
  I guess less is more sometimes
  
  styrofoamboots @mclassh | 16 Mar '13, 23:01 | X | ^ This | Reply

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