A poem; a story; a very long song!
Act 1
In the streetlight dawn
I wrote the news today
Into alcoholism it went…
The sound of the collective crumbling
There’s been a break in the continuum
You told me I could order the moon, babe
The threads of an argument lost
It’s what’s left of psychedelia
On this day which began as execution day
It’s such a dream-like view from the ceiling
With a map of the endtimes
We’ll burn this hall of justice down
Act 2
The sound of god is the screech of tires
Like cymbal crashes, would the alarm bell sound?
When we peer into the great unknown
Or is it even in the realm of possibility?
One holy ghost for a home made girl
I stole a page from your book
Was it all for swinging you around?
Faking its way through the hallelujahs
Can we control ourselves for once?
While the rest of the girls go bad
And I’ll quote scriptures
In your faith beside me
Because nobody knows the wreck of the soul the way you do
Act 3
Flipping through the photos they send ya
But something keeps turning you on
Two sips from the cup of human kindness
Next thing you know you are asleep in someone’s lap
Look we’ve seen this kind of thing before
The sadness as it passes
Marking the journey of our friends complete
And I won’t let this happen to you
You’ve turned into someone that you only know
Under an embalmed clear sky
Where the past won’t pay no mind
For you there’s not any warning
Come on, come out of the rain
The vantage falling from the ivory tower
Act 4
The medicine, it still won’t work
We knew that we would always be down
In the shade of the sun
I walked into the local record store
With matter removed of divine dimension
To find you at the pavement
The heatwave humming in the house of cards
I wanted it to be me that was with you
Always hoping for the hot flashes to come
And here’s the mutiny I promised you
These adventures in solitude never done
I’ll give you something to be sad about
Act 5
These things get louder
There’s no other show like it ’round here
You can only cover so much territory of course
She was only ever passing through
The living proof of what they’re calling love
You live for flaming, the attractions new
You’re coming around
Wrap yourself around me in the shadow show
It’s half for me, half for love
You live by another set of rules
And somehow I just knew!
Now that half your life is over, if you’re lucky
Leading up to the release of Brill Bruisers, the latest album from The New Pornographers, I was listening to a lot of their back catalogue. Obsessively, I should say. I have a playlist with all their albums in chronological order that I was pretty much listening to on repeat. I saw @ACNewman on Twitter figuring out what songs to play on their upcoming tour and reminiscing about his favourite lyrics. This gave me an idea to compile a list of my favorite lyrics and string them together to form… something. A poem, or an abstract story, or a very long song. Whatever you want it to be. That is what you just read above. I took one line from each song, from studio released albums only, in the order that they play when you listen to the albums in chronological order. It wasn’t always my favourite line, because sometimes it was too hard to choose, or sometimes my favourite phrases spanned multiple lines. But still, it was a fun exercise and I think the result is pretty cool. And yet there are so many other potential combinations that form completely different stories!
Update: Act 6
Looking for searchlights leading the charge
I think we could save lives, if we don’t spend them
Here come the fortune seekers
The rites of spring of a lifetime
I wore out grooves sneaking around the servants’ quarters, so
Let them rust, turn to dust
Are you sure we bought the right thrill here?
I was into the never-ending scene
In the high rise of the morning
Some will have to brave the line
But the city at night was not for you
Now that you are floating untethered in space
Think I could change to become what you want me