Monday 26 January 2015

Jandek Bomb








Jandek - The Luxury of Knowing Who You Are!




















SIX AND SIX

Feathered Drums (1/1)
Thanks for all the thoughts
Came rolling in on feathered drums
I’ve been in jail before
Been let out too
Oh I am sure of where I am
Clouds came floating by
Have to hide something away
It’s what I’ve done
Print (?) you this, what comes I feel
Oh universe, oh beyond everything to never end
Oh back, oh wheel and tumble
Morning sights and streets of wheat
Oh fanciful and teeming waves
Oh universe and all the days
Point Judith (1/2)
Crestfallen and broken breast
I feel a full shadow
I see a spur digging
Snails on the rocks and it’s low tide and
There’s diamonds in the ocean
But if there’s a moth winging out over the waves
In the sunlight there’s
Two spiders meet on a rock but
They’re the same anyhow so...
It’s all so still here I...
Little waves spill over little rocks
You can peel off mica from the rocks
As it shines like smooth silver
But you know there’s more than this
’Cause you can see the boats sailing
And the gulls fly by fishing
And there’s a lighthouse in the distance, but...
It’s all so quiet that..
Why disturb the silence so
Go away in the moonlight and
Bring back a starfish
Settle back easy
Make up your mind to stay
I’ve earned a fortune and
There’s not much more to say
I’m livin’ easy
As smooth as silk these days
I see that you’re fearful
Haven’t changed your ways
Settle back easy and
Make up your mind to stay
[bangs microphone]
The country’s cleaner and
I’ve earned a fortune and
You don’t have to pay
Just settle back easy and
Make up your mind to stay
I Knew You Would Leave (1/3)
The rocks crumble
Unto dust they die
Once hard stuff of mountains
Now soft powder among the sand
Who dares crush a rock
Oh rock, no rock
Reduced to the winds
Scatter your parts
You are not one but many
To those shall you succumb
Beast of time, you hurl your heavens sporadic
Falling in the great parade
March unto your death
And into what arms will you go
Surely not your own
Oh God, oh God, be you my hope
And all else ruffles in the winds
Magic carpets fly to your planets
You have no place on earth
Who is it creates sand soliloquy
Is it everyone
Nay, you are a heathen
Erupting words of pretense
Oh Lord let my hand be guided
Sometimes I know it not
As the air, no air is still
And the weary sounds refrain
Now the hyena cackles
His clutch has found my heart bleeding
And now you are gone
Where you hear it all
Wide awake from a long sleep
Myself on my hands
Tomorrow in the gallows
Trees in skies
Empty alliterations replenished
By the hand of one who would fall down
And make a light to shine somewhere
What is this
The cavalcade of misery
What depths
How could we think of distances
Ah, it is the gift of man
To live, the days long
The nights longer
Journey to the stars
They worship the sun
Come down treasures
And I like to see a smile
On your lips as we meet
On a journey to the stars
Can I See Your Clock (1/4)
Now this one from the morning came to me
The piper in his high cloud sang to me
Listen, oh my brother, it’s time to rise
Thunder in the heavens of the sky
Free free, what I do is me
What you do is you, what you do is you
Have I, I have not (?)
It’s playin’ on a phonograph
Now listen gently to the call
Riding on the waves that fall
And rise to reach the sun and you
You’re living in a moon so blue
Wild Strawberries (2/1)
Beachcombers in dozens
On raging walls (?)
Sun, salt, and sea
Walkin’ down the halls
I’m wondering where
The murdering town
I’m beating a hundred
From way down below
There’s a place you could call me
Out in Ohio
You’re down in the numbers
You’re listed forty-five
You heard and you answered
“I’m not dead, I’m alive”
You’ll walk on a tightrope
Wear the suit of a clown
You rear back in anger
Don’t forget there’s no answer
Watch your feet and where they’re goin’
Don’t forget you’re a dancer
Forgive Me (2/2)
You know evil, know it well
The tree gave up its fruit at once
Ah! My hand it burns
Scarred with these prints
They will live when I die, that is a fact
The blood will drain
Infection will mix with the blue corpse
But you have it here
You see how it is like the wind
At your back and at your face
Leaves drop or aching branches creak
You walk alone down boulevards
I take you to the sky
Take you to the sky [3x]
Hilltop Serenade Part 2 (2/4)
Well your brain is weary and your manner rough
Well OK but that’s enough
Crazy lights, crazy fights
Cotton’s on the way hey
Walk along sing a song and pray
Mr. Genry on the label
Paint a picture of a fable
On a label a fable Mr. Genry
(repeat)
You’re The Best One (2/5)
You’re the best one that I came to see
You’re the last one that I want to see
You’re one in a million, Lord I think I forgot to come
You’re the top of the mountain, the rest is on the way down
You know I think I could tell you
I think you ought to know
There was somebody new before you
With you I learned to know them all
And all that came before them
And all that go here from now
You go with them gently
With love on your mind
Delinquent Words (2/6)
I always had a bloody lip, always
Those Cadillacs just float over the road
They don’t even know the road is there
How is it they know me well in the wine store
There is no question of it
It’s the blank eyed and boxed face that don’t understand
Age makes no difference
Shape makes no difference
I observe that all collects dust here as everywhere
The most whited things fade and emerge to no color
Dust enters into all being
And man who came from dust, to dust shall he return



Jandek - Myths and Realities













READY FOR THE HOUSE

Naked in the Afternoon (1/1)
I got a vision, a teenage daughter
Who’s growing up naked in the afternoon
I know a brother close to his mother
Who stays out late in the evening time
I keep repeating, it takes a beating
To grow up naked in the afternoon
You are a cowboy if you wear those boots
You are a cowboy when you wear those boots [3x]
Big time in the city [4x]
I got a letter
I read in the paper
It said a man was shot to death
It said a cow gave poison milk
Big time in the city when you wear those boots
I keep repeating, it takes a beating
To wear those boots in the afternoon
You call it a question
You call it a color
I got a letter
I think it’s a vision
Big time in the city
I got a vision
I know a brother close to his mother
After the morning
You’ve had your rest
Well I got a letter
You are a cowboy
Big time in the city
Time to go naked in the afternoon
Take off your hat, take off your coat
Big time in the city
You’ve had your rest
I got a letter
You are a cowboy
Read in the paper
Big time in the city
It’s time to go naked in the afternoon
First You Think Your Fortune’s Lovely (1/2)
Everything’s so restless
The wind has come again
Blowing me so far
I think I see a star
First you think your fortune’s lovely
And you fly out through the door
Grandmama I feel so lonely
My rapture’s painted on the floor
The roads lead all to Jacob’s kitchen
I’m sitting moon eyed at the table
Sitting blank-eyed by the door
Oh Lord, do you really think I’m able
Well I chose this love completely
When you took away the charm
Set your mind on breaking burdens
Said you done no one no harm
I feel a bit like floating water
Headed for the rocks at bay
Crash upon some ocean liner
Comes upon my lonesome way
Thought I see your eyes a-flashing
Thunder in your hair
I burnt a match for your complexion
The lights went out and you weren’t there
Seated by the ranch I’m owning
Staring at the cellophane
Somebody came in for a question
I poured a glass out in the rain
The reason I have been accepted
Is that I failed to come on strong
Found a chair beside a window
Found a place where I belong
Inside myself there is no question
Just the jangle of our brain
Three times four is twenty-seven
Only fragments still remain
I curse the day I found my freedom
You took the mirror from the wall
Placed it in a single suitcase
Pointed down a hollow hall
You said you see your true direction
I’ll be there behind the sun
And I’ll go with you in the springtime
When all your travels have been done
What Can I Say What Can I Sing (1/3)
What can I say what can I sing
You always knew about everything
What can I show what can I do
Is it all for me, is it all for you
Well I don’t know, we’ll have to see
Everyone needs, ’cept you and me
And then sometime I’m not so sure
There’ll never be another cure
The early morning sun shines through
And all my thoughts are shades of blue
Oh I don’t know, I’ll have to go
Oh I don’t know the reason for
I already left
It’s no surprise
I saw it in your raining eyes
Adrift a dream
A time we spent
Much more than that
Forever was all that we meant
Show Me the Way, O Lord (1/4)
Would you show me the way, O Lord
Show me the way
I got an ace to tell the time
I got my face all red with wine
I got my eyes above all men
I don’t even listen to them
Would you show me the way, O Lord
Show me the way
I’m walking on a planet
I take everything for granted
The stars are falling
Emptiness, and I am calling
For your caress
Would you show me the way, O Lord
Show me the way
Know Thy Self (2/1)
You think I got time for you?
You’re just somebody in the snow
I don’t even know why I think about you
Somehow I just keep seeing you around
Everybody’s coming and going
I thought I’d stay for a while
It had to be you threw me out
I didn’t know you were so cruel
But thanks for all the gifts
Hang on silver branches
And now we’re all out here
And your eyes find me in the glass
They Told Me About You (2/2)
They told me about you [2x]
Sneaking up on me
I’m crazy about you [2x]
Forever to time (?)
Forever do mine
Take it up and lock it
Arrange a new day
Placate a new way
Gangrene in two legs
Drunken I’m up on pegs
Leaning, a month or so
Wrestle with a wandering
See the lights up in the sky
Vagrant in your cripple eye
Wandering’s been creeping by
Cave In on You (2/3)
A stick would do the trick
A dog would jump all over you
A mine cave in on you
Jump out the window
Hit the floor
Tap tap tapping at your door
In the moonlight behind the sun
The blind man’s coming
He’s the one to read about you
To see your name
My blind man
I’m glad you came
Blind man blind man
Be the one behind the moonlight
In the sun
You tell my fortune
Wait, you are my fate
My hands are bleeding
Am I too late
You walk outside
A moon is low
Round the corner
An Eskimo
Gently tapping
Whispers your name
Says hi how are you
From the blind man I came
To read you a message
They Told Me I Was a Fool (2/4)
You got real fancy instincts
But your mouth is so large
I think I see a hundred people in it
I guess you like it that way
Because you’re a flop
And there ain’t no more wringer washers
To roll your fingers through
I see your insides aren’t the same since 1951
You’re dying inside a window
I saw your face all cut with glass
And underneath the window
The hands you dug your grave with
You could have built an empire
He would have helped you now you know
You’re going to fetch the wind
On a unicorn
Feet all dangling down
Wish them well at the marketplace
I fear a fiery face
Is staring from the future
It’s not the way
They told me I was a fool
Well it’s your friend and mine
And ???
The sky is black in a blue night
The winter is true or so it may seem
Carnival tricks in the corners
The floor is made of tracks
That follow your footsteps
European Jewel (2/5)
You sure are cool, a European jewel
I dig you most
A letter came, it’s not the same
The ink was blue
A relative stopped by to say he saw you, hey
A walkin’ down a lonesome town
Some time ago
He said you had a mouth so bad
The lips were rotting off
You dropped a tear to end his fear
You seem quite well
It’s a long time spell
I’m wondering where you got that infection
There’s bugs in my brain
I can’t feel any pain
Just a shaking sha—
[song ends abruptly]


Buttoned Up (nb) Flesh!.. E (R) (we) go / plus Full transcript of our interview with Jandek

























Hey Chuck.Here You Go!..

Full transcript of our interview with Jandek













In the latest edition of The Out Door, we asked many of Loren Connors’ collaborators for their impressions of the legendary guitarist. One whom we were extremely honored to talk to was Jandek. The representative from Corwood Industries has only granted a handful of interviews over his four decade career. The following is our full conversation.  —Marc Masters

The Out Door: When did you first meet Loren Connors?
Jandek: I didn’t know Loren Connors before I first played with him. I met him through Barry Essen, a curator from Scotland. He curated the first festival we performed at [2004’s Instal Festival]. He invited us to play a show in New York in 2005 [at Anthology Film Archives], and he selected who he thought would be the best players to play with— Matthew Heyner on bass and Chris Corsano on drums. But then I wanted to add someone on guitar, kind of spacey guitar, and Barry recommended Loren. I didn’t know any of these musicians, but I had seen Loren’s name as Loren Mazzacane many years ago in Op Magazine and other underground music review magazines, so I had heard of him.
The Out Door: You rehearsed beforehand, right?
Jandek: There was a two-hour rehearsal. On the DVD of that show [Manhattan Tuesday], some video clips of that rehearsal are included.  I thought what Loren brought to the picture was perfect. I could not have asked for better. I liked his stage presence— how he came out and just nailed the guitar, in a way that fit in with everything else but in no way was soft. It was present, it was in your presence in a strong way, but in a way that I have never heard the guitar come out before. There was no riff involved. Everything was unique. Just the whole picture of the way he is, what he projects from his persona, and the way he draws that into the guitar and produces the sound is overwhelming. It’s a large part of the performance.
The Out Door: Did you talk much with him before the performance about what to play?
Jandek: We didn’t talk a whole lot between rehearsal and the performance. I do remember before the show, he went out and looked at the audience from the side, and came back to the green room beaming and saying, “It’s full! There are no seats available!” He was like a kid when he saw that.
The Out Door: What happened the next time you played with him?
Jandek: I played with him again in Glasgow in 2006. We did a duet, he played guitar in a different way, and I played harmonica and sang. It was a 20 to 30 minute set. He was sitting down as opposed to standing up. He had a seat in Manhattan, but it’s when he got up from the seat and stepped forward seven or eight steps that he appeared to me to be dynamic. In Glasgow his dynamism was different. It was a unique projection of sound from the guitar, with less volume. It was a quieter kind of performance for both of us. And it told a story. The line of vocals was from a dream and it went through a distinct story, and he augmented that in a much different way.
I also sat in on a Houston show, but we didn’t record or release it. David Dove who puts on concerts in the Houston area had invited him. He and Alan Licht were playing guitar, and I was invited to play bass for the second set. If you’re familiar with Loren’s performances with Alan, they’re extremely eclectic. I listened and tried to communicate within the context of what they were doing. There’s no way that anyone can lead in what they do, although you could say that Loren was leading, but I couldn’t see how I could lead in that. I tried to blend in with what they were doing.
I saw him in Glasgow last March, he was there with Suzanne, doing a show together. I watched him. I was playing with a Japanese soloist afterwards, sitting in with bass, invited by the curator. So we were sound checking, and he was there also, and he was going on first, so I watched him from the moment he set up and plugged in, for about 20-25 minutes, and I caught part of his show later on.
The Out Door: Have you heard his records since you first played with him?
Jandek: I never heard any of his music until we played together in Manhattan. I got some of his CDs, he sent me some, someone else sent some, a compilation. I like some of his earlier blues things, and I also like the kind of things that he does when he just sits down and goes off somewhere.
The Out Door: Do you think he’s influenced your music?
Jandek: There’s no way that I could not be influenced by his playing. Once you hear it you can’t take it out of your mind. I would say that it did create an influence on me, but I couldn’t pinpoint it…maybe just the freewheeling way to strum.
I never thought of this until now, but occasionally now I tap the strings over the pickups with my fingers. I’ll play something and then I’ll tap it, and he does a lot of that, and I don’t think I did it before [I played with him]. So it might have been a natural evolution on my part, a new way to produce sound, or maybe I  had a unconscious image of him doing that.
The Out Door:  What are your impressions of him as a person? He’s a man of few words…
Jandek: I wouldn’t say he speaks that abruptly…though I guess I’m kind of that way myself. He never talks about Parkinson’s— he never indicates that it interferes with anything. I wouldn’t say he denies it, but he just sails right past it and does what he wants to do, and that’s a beautiful aspect in life. To know your shortcomings and not care— you do what you can, you do what you want to. You get up there and you play guitar and you perform in an exhilarating manner even if your hands don’t work the way they used to. He finds another way to do it which goes beyond any debilitation, [where] so many people get stuck in their problems.
The Out Door: Do you hope to play with him again?
Jandek: I would be open to playing with him again, but it would probably have to be in New York. I rode in a taxi with Loren and Suzanne in Glasgow. She’s very nice. I also visited them at their home in Brooklyn— a Chinese fellow named Raymond Jow, he worked his way into Loren’s world, even recorded with him in a church, and worked his way into the Jandek phenomenon and attended a lot of concerts in Fort Worth and so on. He wanted us to get together in Loren’s house, which we did, and it was filmed and recorded. I think I brought my bass guitar, and Loren had a lot of guitars, and I said what do you want me to play, and he said guitar. That’s the only time I played guitar with him— we played for about 45 minutes. That was ethereal. Whenever he plays he is sparse, and I was sparse. I think this was particularly sparse guitar playing. Loren was cutting out things from newspapers and making collages and had some on his walls. He was really excited by those collages. 
Excuse me for a second. [walks away from phone; returns a minute later.]
I had to retrieve one of my favorites of his musical works. It’s called Calloden Harvest. It came out in 1997 when he was using the name Loren MazzaCane Connors. It was put out by Road Cone from Portland, OR. I like that one— I find it intoxicating. It’s just kind of haunting. It also has an excellent photographic portrait of Loren from the top of his head to the middle of his thighs. He has a sad face. It’s a beautiful picture. 
image
(photo from the back cover of Calloden Harvest)
The Out Door: Does Loren’s music remind you of anyone else?
Jandek: Nothing that Loren does reminds me of other people. He’s a great man, everybody knows that. And a great artist too.

(Jandek - the Beauty in Defeat / the Beauty of Defeat)
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After Skkrip..