Some Flare Out In Love, Love, Love

King Saul fell on his sword
When it all went wrong
And Joseph's brother sold him down the river
For a song
And Sonny Liston rubbed some tiger balm in his glove
some things you do for money
and some you do for love love love

Raskalnikov felt sick
But he couldn't say why
When he saw his face reflected
In his victim's twinkling eye
Some things you do for money
And some you'll do for fun
But the things you do for love
Are gonna come back to you one by one

Love love is gonna lead you by the hand
Into a white and soundless place
Now we see this
As in a mirror dimly
Then we shall see each other
Face to face

And way out in Seattle
Young Kurt Cobain
Snuck out to the garden
Put a bullet in his brain
Snakes in the grass beneath our feet
Rain in the clouds above
Some moments last forever
And some flare out with love love love

Mountain Goats, "Love, Love, Love"

There Are Some Things Our Heroine Will Do For Money And Some Things She'll Do For Fun, But It's The Things She'll Do For Love...Well You Get The Idea

Our Heroine is terrible at music reviews. Just truly terrible. You know, I just like what I like and I can almost never explain why in any meaningful way. So please have some patience with me as I write a little about a band I like quite a lot -- The Mountain Goats -- and bungle it dreadfully.

I don't like all their music, but there are three songs in particular that I have always admired: No Children, Song for Dennis Brown and Love, Love, Love.

There are three Biblical references in Love, Love, Love, as well as one to Raskolnikov, and that always made me wonder about John Darnielle (the lead singer/songwriter) and God. I never did any research about it, and I'm still not clear, but later this year they have a new album out titled, Genesis 3:23 which features 12-songs made entirely of Bible verses. Here's the tracklist:

01 "1 Samuel 15:23"
02 "Psalms 40:2"
03 "Genesis 3:23"
04 "Philippians 3:20-21"
05 "Hebrews 11:40"
06 "Genesis 30:3"
07 "Romans 10:9"
08 "1 John 4:16"
09 "Matthew 25:21"
10 "Deuteronomy 2:10"
11 "Isaiah 45:23"
12 "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace"

Says John Darnielle on the direction of the album, "It's twelve new songs: twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of. " Doesn't that sound intriguing? (especially song 12) Anyhow, I don't know what I'm more fascinated by, the hard lessons, or the delta implied by "kind of."

I'm really not talented enough to write more about it than that. I don't know if the songs will be any good, either, but if only one song comes close sharing to the poignant, beautiful lyrics of Love, Love, Love, Our Heroine will be very happy.

Our Heroine (Dines With Michel Foucault In Paris, 1961)

Oh! oh! oh! I'm...just...a little excited...can't think of anything intelligent to say right now. I just heard...can't believe it...The Weakerthans are coming to New York for a show! (must calm down and write something intelligible)

Ok, about 10 months ago, Eve Tushnet, amazing lady-blogger and all around smart cracker, turned me on to The Weakerthans. In particular, Reconstruction Site, their latest effort. I am the worst, absolute worst, music critic of all time, so I won't even try to explain why they're awesome. I'll quote Eve, who was also a little breathless with excitement, but did a pretty bang-up job:

...Um, the sound is sort of rock-y, not in an especially exciting way. It's got guitars and drums and stuff.

(no! tell them why it is so great!) It's... crazy geeks, with their Michel Foucault and their Ernest Shackleton (one of the best songs on the album) and their longing and their ability to recognize sublimity even when they can't quite enter into it (the heartbreaking "Hospital Vespers"). It's wandering through the snow trying to find the house you think you remember, it was right around here.... It's an album about need and inadequacy and what St Augustine would call the memory of Adam's happiness (and how we get that memory wrong, misinterpret it, corrupt it in a thousand ways). It's also hooky, full of tunes that will bother you for weeks. It isn't just about one or two great songs; it's about a whole album. Oh, you really need this.

She's not lying, you really do need this album. And if you're a friend of mine and not opposed to rock concerts, you also need to come with me on June 22 to see them live on a boat during their Small and Fantastic Extra Tiny-Mini-Tour. I'll even make you a mix CD to prepare.