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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
 Posted - 04/06/2009 : 17:00:27
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Songs About Los Angeles: "Los Angeles" by Frank Black
By David Markland
April 6th, 2009 @ 10:00 AM History, Metroblogging Network, Music
I want to live in Los Angeles
Not the one in Los Angeles
No, not the one in South California
They got one in South Patagonia
The lyrics don’t seem to make sense, and
songwriter Frank Black himself said, “I was under
the influence of a lot of coffee when I wrote this
song, so I don’t really remember what it’s about,
but I think it’s about linguistics.”
But I can’t help think its a personal statement
about how Los Angeles, a city where people
come to realize their dreams, isn’t always what
people want it be. Even longtime residents have
an image of what Los Angeles is, or should be,
that they have yet to find. Its the “grass is always
greener” concept, but that life would be so much
different on the other side of the hills, further or closer to the coast.
Whether or not this is the case overlooks that a number of Black’s other song’s make more direct
references to Los Angeles in, usually, more tangible ways.
Black acknowledged to a fan that “The Hostess With the Mostess” from Teenager of the Year was about
Torrance’s Del Amo Mall. “Calistan,” off the same album, appears to be a look at a modern day post
apocalyptic “valley of tar that once was L.A.” “So. Bay” from Pistolero mentions “shitty sidewalks a number
of times before:
It’s almost night and i just might head to the Strand down by the sea
at the edge edge of the world that’s where i really want to be.
Yet most significant are three songs, perhaps a trilogy of sorts, pointing to Black’s interest in Los Angeles
history.
“Ole, Mulholland” from Teenager of the Year opens with a soundbyte of William Mullholand shouting, “There
it is! Take it!” before Black sings, “Olè, olè, olè from Mulholland. See the water fall. And hooray, hooray the
sky is falling. Down on Bradbury’s mall.” Towards the end of the song, there’s another audioclip, sounding
like an old recording, of a man saying, “The concrete of the aquaduct will last as long as the pyramid of
Egypt or the Parthenon of Athens; long after Job Harriman is elected major of Los Angeles.”
Gavin Bachner, who maintains the Frank Black song database, explains:
Job Harriman was a socialist politition who, after an unsuccessful run for Vice-President of
the United States, ran for mayor of Los Angeles and nearly won. He later organized a utopian
experiment in Antelope Valley, California in 1914 founded on the general principles of “equal
ownership, equal wage and equal social opportunities.” Llano del Rio, as it was called, was
forced to move 3 years later (due to a lack of sufficient water resources) to an isolated area in
western Louisiana.
A few years later, Black revisited both Mulholland and Llano del Rio again, albeit with two different songs,
on the Frank Black & the Catholics album, Dog In the Sand. “The St. Francis Dam Disaster” is a non-
judgemental tale of the damage brought by the collapsed dam:
She carried in her every kiind of thing
House, tree, telegraph pole
Some say a thousand souls
At three am she gave Santa Paula a ring
On the flip side, “Llano del Rio” is somewhat more uplifting, and a more conventional rock’n'roll themed
song about heading into the desert and getting high.
Going out to llano
Going to look for aldous huxley
There between the power lines
And the purple flowers of mescaline
As much as he apparently was fascinated by Los Angeles, Black now resides up near Eugene, OR,
although his occasional tours bring him down to So Cal with some frequency. He’s about to go off on the
road with Grand Duchy, Black’s musical collaboration with wife Violet Clark, and also has a number of
Pixies dates lined up over the summer.
(By sheer coincidence, it turns out that today is Black’s 44th birthday - Twitter users can send a b-day
greeting to @mrblackfrancis. And in the comments, Evan say that Black was born Charles Thompson in
Long Beach, CA… although his Wikipedia entry claims he was born in Boston, but moved back and forth
between Los Angeles and Massachuttes fifteen times in his youth.)
Now, for the vintage Frank Black sound:
YouTube - Frank Black - Los Angeles.
Frank Black aka Black Francis (of the Pixies) aka Charles
Michael Kittridge Thompson IV. (photo by Guillaume
Sautereau / POPnews used under a Creative Commons
license.) |
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darwin
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<
USA
5454 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2009 : 17:09:08
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" And in the comments, Evan say that Black was born Charles Thompson in Long Beach, CA"
Appears floop has a new username. |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2009 : 00:22:33
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quote:
Originally posted by MrBlackFrancis
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In the Brighton section. On Massachusetts Avenue.
about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck
 "Les Blackolero, y sont forts en sacramant" - Czar | 06/26/2007 | 20:10:34
free music | Blackolero | Frank Black & Pixies Tributes |
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BLT
> Teenager of the Year <
South Sandwich Islands
4204 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2009 : 10:57:30
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The good news is that message boards are no longer the lowest form of socializing.
Message boards were the lowest form of socializing until Twitter. |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
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Songs about LA: "Los Angeles" by FB.
