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-   -   Thoughts on In the Kingdom #19 (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=6496)

Richard Pryor on Fire 09.28.2006 03:13 PM

Thoughts on In the Kingdom #19
 
I'm doing an analysis for my english class on In the Kingdom #19, and I need a secondary source, which could be any of you knoweldgable SY boardies, so if someone would like to say something insightful here about the lyrics or over all vibe of that song I would be much obliged.

Richard Pryor on Fire 09.28.2006 04:06 PM

*achoo* bump.

Sheriff Rhys Chatham 09.28.2006 04:12 PM

details about a car crash?
over guitars

Everyneurotic 09.28.2006 04:16 PM

first time mike watt played bass on record since d boon died, the firecracker incident, it's overall place in evol, lee ranaldo's lyrical/poetry style.

k-krack 09.28.2006 04:19 PM

When I listen to it i usually think it's about not caring, and just escaping something. ie, life. really nihilistic as well, "nothing is solid...". he knows he's gonna die there, and he doesn't give a fuck.

Richard Pryor on Fire 09.28.2006 04:38 PM

This is what I have so far, it's not much. In the Kingdom #19. Bari Khan


Sonic Youth’s 1986 record Evol is a departure from the avant’ guard noise records of the past, and a step towards more ambient, atmospheric soundscapes created by sprawling dissident guitar tones layered over a grounding recoil of a beat provided by new drummer Steve Shelly. Lee Ranaldo has his first solo vocal performance on this record on the song In the Kingdom #19. The song is a frantic Benzedrine teletype headfuck that moves beyond a stream of consciousness because it leaves the listener exasperated and unable to think. Anything considered has already happened and is now burnt and crashed out. The song is performed spoken word nearly delivered in a monotone voice, with a sense of an ever rising cadence. The lyrics are some of the best the band has had offered us in their 25 year career. It’s the kind of writing that should be championed today but often neglected going unnoticed dismissed as some weird punk freak out jazz.
The lyrics tell a story about an instinctive car crash. I call it instinctive because it seems that the protagonist had no other option, it was all he was meant to do.
He did not deny his existence. He moved in daily stasis. Like an Animal...He did what he had to do. He asked no questions. The tar glistens in the noon heat. He tread across the grass…mirage on the highway.
It’s suddenly and without warning that our protagonist is on the highway crossing the grass and entering an ethereal dream world. The guitars subside for a moment; isolated notes penetrate the air like a key trying to turn in a sticky ignition. And with that broken frustration the guitars launch in to a motorcycle rebel rock riff as he peels out. Our driver now crashes his car trying to avoid a “small mammal”
“Then Screeching along the guardrail scraping paint and throwing sparks like sheets of pure terror for 400 yards. Over and over. With one Final back and forth rocking motion coming to rest. Half the front end ripped away. Sheared off by the guardrails. The beautiful paint job hopelessly marred. Smoke and flames...oil and other petrol-distillates everywhere on its back wheels spinning like a cinema classic”
The description of the crash is the primarily focused on the injury to the car. We have a vivid and complete description of what happens to the car, but the injuries to the drivers are vague only comments on blood and the inability for the protagonist to move. “The Car still rattling and shaking as if with a life all its own. Unwilling to die…blood everywhere mixing with the oil and gas (that other blood). Ranaldo is personifying the car here and maybe going beyond that and actually assuming the car is a living creature.

Danny Himself 09.28.2006 05:10 PM

It would be best to get all of the lyrics- the full story is printed in Lee's "Road Movies" book. Stuff becomes clearer after that.

k-krack 09.28.2006 05:24 PM

Are you sure you mean "dissident guitar tones" and not dissonant?

Richard Pryor on Fire 09.28.2006 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k-krack
Are you sure you mean "dissident guitar tones" and not dissonant?


Yr sure right.

Radioactive Poltergeist 09.28.2006 10:17 PM

existentialist tone. That's something I've always felt about the song.

Brett Robinson 09.29.2006 01:41 AM

What the hell doesn't Richard Pryor have to do with In The Kingdom #19?

connie kreski 09.29.2006 03:53 AM

about the beat generation... kind of related to this to me...

funny how it reminds me (i haven't rad these lyrics for a while)
crash of david cronenberg.

guitarpro 10.02.2006 12:59 PM

Great song SY and Watt together there is nothing better.


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