smith & jones forever

" The inability to act spontaneously, to express what one genuinely feels and thinks, and the resulting necessity to present a pseudo self to others and oneself, are the root of the feeling of inferiority and weakness. Whether or not we are aware of it, there is nothing of which we are more ashamed than of not being ourselves, and there is nothing that gives us greater pride and happiness than to think, to feel, and to say what is ours...If the individual realizes his self by spontaneous activity and thus relates himself to the world, he ceases to be an isolated atom; he and the world become part of one structuralized whole. "

- from "Escape from Freedom" by Erich Fromm


lifted from David Berman's new blog, MentholMountains. David is (in my opinion) of the highest order of American poets today, dropping out of the music scene two years ago to combat his evil corporate father's dirty work. (you can google "richard berman" for more info on that, though the open letter that David wrote explaining the Silver Jews retirement and explaining his relationship with his father is no longer online.) his contributions to american indie rock and to the collective literary imagination are sadly overshadowed by bandmate Stephen Malkmus' Pavement fame. Berman's poetry on the whole is much more comprehensible than S.M.'s slip sliding free verse, and on Silver Jews albums such as American Water, his wit and low-key delivery are just as cool and smarting as any Pavement track. i suppose it helps that Malkmus sings back up on the whole record, but shit i wish this guy would get his due credit more often. go buy a Silver Jews record at your local record store.



In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection.
Slowly screwing my way across Europe, they had to make a correction.
Broken and smokin' where the infrared deer plunge in the digital snake.
I tell you, they make it so you can't shake hands when they make your hands shake.
I know you like to line dance, everything so democratic and cool,
But baby there's no guidance when random rules.

I know that a lot of what I say has been lifted off of men's room walls.
Maybe I've crossed the wrong rivers and walked down all the wrong halls.
But nothing can change the fact that we used to share a bed
and that's why it scared me so when you turned to me and said:

"Yeah, you look like someone
Yeah you look like someone who up and left me low.
Boy, you look like somene I used to know."

I asked the painter why the roads are colored black.
He said, "Steve, it's because people leave
and no highway will bring them back."
So if you don't want me I promise not to linger,
But before I go I've gotta ask you, dear, about the tan line on your ring finger.

No one should have two lives,
now you know my middle names are wrong and right.
Honey we've got two lives to give tonight.