Underwear Sometimes

"When I was a youth, much youthier than I am today..." I probably wrote this song after reading Lawrence Ferlighetti's poem "Underwear". I owe much to the Beat Generation writers that I read so much of in high school. When I lived in San Francisco, I would see him at a coffee shop in North Beach up the street from his City Lights Bookstore. Never had the courage to speak to him, but we nodded politely at each other once.



The version you'll hear on the 25th Anniversary album "This Machine Eats Bacon" features the four-piece Universe I mentioned in a previous post. I later added the keyboards to give it a fuller psychedelic sound for the only post-Ypsilanti release "The Hot Melting Ones vs. the Pleasure Goddess" in 1990.

When I was a youth much youthier than I am today
I had a pair of polyurethane pants
and I thought that God lived in the sky
trembling shaking hands with relatives
fifth floor second floor
are you possessed by evil?
why did you set my shoes on fire?
restless parasite drifting in the sea of life
tell me, did you find your sould this time?
I know that I can't read your mind
but I can see your underwear sometimes
although I cannot see your face
underwear makes the world seem like a better place
I can hear things in my mind
small children and sirens
a big band plays "That Old Black Magic"
stretch your hands into the darkness
you will find a naked body
when your conscience goes on a vacation
is there anything to take it's place?
hopeless terrorist
she doesn't know what she wants from this life
it's just a place to be absurd

     

Guns in the Closet

In this new version of the classic Vladimir song I used elements from various early recordings, but gave it a reggae twist. The spoken back-up features long-time collaborator Joe C. Schweinbagel which I snagged from the first demo version of the song recorded on July 15, 1989. I was never fully satisfied with the lyrics, so I revised them for this latest version.

His oracles are much too cryptic
he's in a bathrobe on the stairway drinking soda pop
hot water drips from the shower
he's waiting for the revolution riding the bus every day
there are bugs in his apartment
there are guns in his closet
and he's waiting for the landlord to fix the faucet
marshmallow maple syrup Marx & Engels
sardines and socialism
caffeine and nihilism
his eyes are full of wonder
his heart full of hope
his mind is a sponge
it's 100 degrees
he has a nightmare:
this hand smells like mercy
this hand tastes like pain
razor wire and goose-stepping
and a bullet to the brain