'Ten Celebrities, Four of Whom I Might Assassinate'
No doubt thousands of us internerds (tm sfj) will be linking to the tune Ryan Catbirdseat posted today: I Started a Blog Nobody Read, which I can't help thinking of as the 2000s' sequel to the Bee Gees' I Started a Joke, tho unlike the latter it is tough to read this tune by the Sprites as a Christian allegory.
Meanwhile in the land of The Mountain Goats - whom I should have mentioned in that list earlier today of heirs to Randy Newman, by the way (John Darnielle even has covered one of my favourite Newman songs ever, A Wedding in Cherokee County) - there is widespread shock and confusion that they reportedly performed the song Golden Boy in a concert this weekend in Athens, Georgia. Golden Boy (hear here [scroll down]) is one of the most beloved and requested Goats semi-rarities - originally recorded for a set of music about consumer products for Paul Lukas's legendary Beer Frame zine, later included on the Ghana compilation - but Darnielle has always responded to such requests in the past by saying that he didn't remember how to play it, which was generally taken as a ruse. It was always hard to say whether he found the song too corny and jokey to play, or whether it held some special personal significance, or whether he just thought he could never improve on the recording, which certainly is one of the best Goats performances ever. And now, after years why has he reversed himself and played this absurdist paean to the transcendent, nay, divine powers of a certain brand of Asian peanuts with a "young Chinese farmer" appearing on the label? Fans are abuzz, I tell you, abuzz.
If thine enemy oppresseth you,
You must let him oppress you some more,
So that when you go shopping in Paradise,
You'll find those magnificent peanuts from Singapore. ...
There are no pan-Asian supermarkets down in hell,
So you can't buy Golden Boy peanuts.
It's unclear whether Golden Boy peanuts from Singapore exist or ever have existed. (This Canadian company seems determined to confuse the issue.) However, there is a Thai fish sauce by that name.
The new Mountain Goats video, for Woke Up New, is here. It's directed by the same fella who made that recent "high-school noir" movie, Brick.
It is, in case you haven't noticed, Monday. Raining where I am. Howzabout you?
| Posted by zoilus on Monday, August 14 at 3:19 PM | Linking Posts | Comments (2)
COMMENTS
Having somewhat coincidentally stumbled here a mere 2 days after seeing the Mountain Goats’ San Francisco free show, I feel duty bound to report that he performed “Golden Boy Peanuts” for us as well. Told a charming story about the moment he decided to stop writing songs “like that”: He got onstage at his local open mic night and heard one girl say to her friend, “Oh, this guy’s funny.”
Posted by NFD on August 24, 2006 1:18 PM
Gaaaaaaaaahhh! I was all set to go to that Mountain Goats show, had been looking forward to it for weeks, and then I was too tired from working in the garden and I stayed home. I suck.
Raining here, too, by the way.
Posted by Jamie on August 15, 2006 12:11 PM