punchdrunklove

i once read somewhere (i think on last.fm) that “only prince could get away with a song title like that” (or something like this).

it was nice to discover in the other thread that photo from the juke joint book that clears the matter up (http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_911_144158_birney-imes.jpg). i’ve always defended those numbers, but since i’ve seen the picture they don’t need any defenses – it is what it is. the junebug vs. hurricane thing doesn’t matter anymore (i mean, if there’s some hidden meanings behind junebug and hurricane). the only solid thing is that photograph, the red wall. i love this song even more after that – because of all its randomness, a collection of images that features significant insight over lucinda’s creative process.

since i’ve never seen the book, i wonder if the last part of the song (the girl and her boyfriend on a lake charles bridge) is in any way hinted at the book, or if it’s “pure” lucinda. can anyone help with this?

thanks for your reply, mr. overby.

i don’t have a clue about the work behind pulling together an international tour, but i gather that it’s not an easy task. you said something about a “right opportunity”, but i can’t imagine what exactly that entails, i wonder if it’s essencial to get someone, a music promoter (is that the right term?) here to start the arrangements? i don’t understand this stuff, but i realize it’s not entirely up to you guys and appreciate the fact that lucinda’s open to the possibility and willing to do it.

i can’t say much about the demand, but i think it’s safe to assume that gigs in south america’s largest cities (especially rio & são paulo, brazil, buenos aires, argentina, and santiago, chile) usually don’t go unnoticed, most of them end up sold out. i was just in são paulo, where i attended some gigs. i never in my life would have guessed that gigs from a newcomer folk band from scotland like trembling bells or john pizzarelli would eventually sold out, but they did. joanna newsom came to são paulo (over 20-million people inhabits the city + a large expat community) in 2007 (touring her YS album), and while i don’t think it was sold out, it attracted a massive amount of fans and newcomers alike. i think the same thing would happen to lucinda. once the show is promoted, people that never heard her before will listen to her songs and things will hopefully work out.

i was pretty much confident in a SA tour after last year’s first ever spanish tour, but this only because it brought lucinda closer to a latin-speaking country. now this seems a pretty silly reason, but i wholeheartedly believe that gigs in brazil/chile/argentina would attract a considerable crowd.

i love girl from ipanema, it’s the unofficial hymm of rio and perhaps of the beginnings of the 60s throughout brazil, before the military dictatorship. sometimes, when i caught myself wondering about a gig here i remember that lucinda included “eclipse”, a particularly hidden jewel from the joão gilberto catalogue (probably because it’s a cover song sung in spanish), in her artist’s choice compilation. it’s like, she knows who he is! ok, of course he is famous worldwide, but she once heard this song performed by a brazilian singer-songwriter and that song stucked in her head ever since. it’s silly, i know. and now that i’m aware of this girl from ipanema trivia, i’ll wonder that lucinda at least once in her life wondered about the beaches of rio…

i’d love a first ever south american tour. is there even a remote possibility of that happening?

great! speaking of costello/lucinda, there’s a great collection of songs from cmt crossroads (a program, i think) out there on the internet. blue, drunken angel, wild horses, crescent city, change the locks and a few more. it’s a must.

i watched the TRUE BLOOD pilot a few days ago and was disappointed with how they used lake charles to minimum effect. the song was fully played (and a little extended as far as i remember, there was a repetition of the “did an angel…” chorus at the very end), but since it was played at a bar quite far from the actual scene little could be heard. i’ve seen somes episodes ever since and i don’t like much of it.

now moving towards a much better take on louisiana, i really hope to listen to some lucinda on a TREME episode. can’t imagine a more appropriate place on tv for her songs. and, well, we got 2 kool 2 be 4-gotten on a WIRE episode, the last tv show from the TREME creator.

sometimes i whistle the opening of angels laid him away and jackson – and i can’t whistle properly, in fact i can’t whistle at all. i can’t think of a nicer compliment.

i’ve been listening to lucinda quite a lot in the last 11 months, and i have specific memories concerning tiny bits of each song.

i love the neverending “willing'” in the end of hard road, the la la las from out of touch and side of the road, the hey heys from 2 kool, the oh ohs from greenville, the way she sings “just for the love of someone, and a big red sun” (big red sun blues), “did they lay down a law and lock up your heart” (steal your love) and “every time i see you, i wanna fall in love again” (king of hearts); the storytelling of memphis pearl and pineola, the images that i get from car wheels (“cotton fields stretching miles and miles”) and minneapolis (“snow covers the street lamps and the windowsills”); the last “of mine” of “little angel, little brother”, the “i love you, mama you sweet” over and over, the “baby sweet baby” from fruits of my labor. love the opening of people talkin” (especially the “tryin’ to teeeear us apart” bit), the unbelievably sing-along quality of concrete and barbed wire and sweet old world.

you know what, the drums, the wonderful drums of 2 kool top everything. in my opinion the last part of this song contains the most striking attempt on lucinda’s part to make sense of an event that is in itself incomprehensible (to me), the whole “he asked me ‘would you jump into the water with me'” and “it’s your own death you see”. and then you just get another unsolvable enigma (“junebug vs. hurricane” stamped on a wall, a single photo from a book as an inspiration) and those very weird, very beautiful, very disturbing hey heys. i have no idea what to make of this song, but this is possibly the best i’ve ever heard.

i also love the gurf morlix version, it’s quieter and lovelier, but i don’t think it’s better. the album version just goes in a wondrous crescendo of a finale, while this one tries to “make sense” of everything by repeating the kind of conforting, just-let-it-go first lines “you can’t depend on anything really, there’s no promises, there’s no point” before the final hey heys.

it’s very hard to write in english. sorry for any mistake/misspell.

and, oh, come to south america one day, please! there’ll be a nice crowd awaiting, and a beautiful natural setting, nice bridges and rivers.

thanks to lafayette/lucinda, now i know what a po’ boy is.