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.