Ok, here anything goes, and I am starting with a comment I lifted from another thread:


Sawfish Wrote:
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> Do you feel that they [The Residents] may well have affected David
> Lynch's visual sensibilities?
>

Their song BLUE ROSEBUDS seems to be close, and it also has the word "velvet" in the lyrics.
I find the section in italics, which comes as a reply to the first section, to be inspired absurd cruelty. I am curious, how well does it pass for poetry (not technically necessarily, but imaginatively)?


BLUE ROSEBUDS

I love you and cause I do
My sky has changed
From grey to blue.
But blue's not just
A color of the rainbow.
It's shade is not a hazy hue
But pure and hard
My blue sky blue
It's like a Roman candle
Coming rosebuds.

"Your words are empty hollow bleatings
Of a mental crutch.
They're open festered indigestion
With a velvet touch.
An ether eating Eskimo
Would gag upon your sight,
Convulsed into oblivion
From laughter or from fright.

A coma with a sweet aroma
Is your only dream,
Malignant with the misconception
That a grunt can gleam.
Your lichen covered corpuscles
Are filthy to my fist.
Infection is your finest flower
Mildewed in the mist."

I love you and cause I do
My sky has changed
From grey to blue.
But blue's not just
A color of the rainbow.
It's shade is not a hazy hue
But pure and hard
My blue sky blue
It's like a Roman candle
Coming rosebuds.
Blue Rosebuds.

BU-URRP! Oops, excuse me.

HEY! Stick to the topic, will ya!

I am.

Oh! Right!

In the context of the song (or poem), who or what is the persona who speaks the italicized reply?

I need to get my head around what *might* be going on, then maybe I can look at it more closely.

I mean, at first glance it seems like a legitimate poetic structure, to my inexpert eye sensibilities.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Sawfish Wrote:
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> In the context of the song (or poem), who or what
> is the persona who speaks the italicized reply?

The first section is a man speaking romantic nonsense to a woman. The italicized reply is the whining voice of the woman. That is how I interpret the song.

Well then, it's really *nasty*, isn't it?

Why the repetition of the first stanza as he final stanza, after the nasty commentary, do you think?

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
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> Well then, it's really *nasty*, isn't it?
>
> Why the repetition of the first stanza as he final
> stanza, after the nasty commentary, do you think?


Because he is a stolid blockhead who doesn't get her message, too stubborn and self-occupied to care or even listen. :/

Anyway, I think the stanzas in italics have a rich and imaginative vocabulary. I find it alluring in a horrid way.

By the way, about the "Eskimo" reference: The Residents made another LP record called ESKIMO, which is an acoustic landscapes/musical audio storytelling of Eskimo culture; including walrus hunt, arctic hysteria psychosis with soul disembodied in the dead of winter darkness, evil spirits, and a shaman Angakok sorcerer conjuring with a spell escaping from his lips a giant sea snake that rises above the billows and wiggle before the assembled crowd on the shore with its head in the clouds. Not so far separated in tone from CAS in Hyperborea actually.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Well then, it's really *nasty*, isn't it?
> >
> > Why the repetition of the first stanza as he final
> > stanza, after the nasty commentary, do you think?
>
>
>
> Because he is a stolid blockhead who doesn't get
> her message, too stubborn and self-occupied to
> care or even listen. :/
>

But on second thought, after listening to the song again, no, I would say that is not the case at all. He admires her brilliant biting wit so much, compared to his own lame ability, that he becomes even more obsessed and enamored of her, despite her cruelty and rejection. He repeats his fawning words, because he is under her spell.

Not an uncommon situation at all. For example, it can be seen in the first lines of CAS's "The Enchantress of Sylaire".

Knygatin Wrote:
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> He repeats his fawning words, because he is under her spell.

BLUE ROSEBUDS

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > He repeats his fawning words, because he is
> under her spell.
>
> BLUE ROSEBUDS

Thanks for including the link, K; I'd never actually heard anything they did.

I have two responses:

1) The Residents must be what's termed "an acquired taste", right?

2) It'll be a long time before we hear another band's cover of "Blue Rosebuds".

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks for including the link, K; I'd never
> actually heard anything they did.
>
> I have two responses:
>
> 1) The Residents must be what's termed "an
> acquired taste", right?
>
> 2) It'll be a long time before we hear another
> band's cover of "Blue Rosebuds".

1. Yes, of course. It is not regular rock'n'roll. It is a different mindset and a different approach for the listener. It is avant-garde, it is humor and fun, and it is for a bizarre aesthetic experience. It is not music you dance to. And it is not something you put on the record player when you have invited over a girlfriend. Must all music be pleasant? I might ask the same question of movies, or literature. I had school mates in my late teens who were both horrified and ridiculing me for listening to this, implying that I was sick. Screw them. I think that was simply a mediocre lack of imagination and humor, an overly anxious need to be conformed, only willing to do what is socially approved.

The more you listen to it, the more you will hear that this music really swings in appealing rhythm, with powerful contrasts of sounds. It is primal in its force. Screw social conformity.

2. I don't know about that, other bands have made covers of their songs. But their style is very difficult to imitate. They are unique and genius.

This is a piece of popular music that really appeals to me. Recorded in maybe 1969, I think:


[www.youtube.com]


Let me now if you connected with it, or not, please.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is a piece of popular music that really
> appeals to me. Recorded in maybe 1969, I think:
>
>
> [www.youtube.com]
>
>
> Let me now if you connected with it, or not,
> please.


That is a video of the female Mexican volleyball team. The background music sounds to me newer than 1969... Sounds like popular feel-good music, smooth, streaming out of cars street-cruising down the boulevard, music that panders to either love seeking, social connection, good times, or personal success, or something else I can't quite grasp. Nothing provocative about it, sounds inoffensive. Spiritually sparse. I don't dislike it. But not swept away by it either, ... perhaps would have, if I had grown up in a different social environment.

I generally prefer more aggressive guitar-driven music, different forms of metal, classic 1950s-70s rock'n'roll, Neil Young, or classical music (Mozart, Bach, ...), experimental (The Residents), mystical like Mike Oldfield, Clannad, Ravi Shankar, 1920s jazz (Bix Beiderbecke) and other historical forms that take me away from modern society.