Teenage Wasteland

Not a cover of that Who song.

I came up with the chorus for this based on Pound's famous saying but couldn't come up with lyrics until I got the idea, because of the song's kind of Vampire Weekend-ish riff, to conflate Ezra Pound and Ezra Koenig, that band's singer/songwriter, and then I just kind of went off on tangents/jokes related to authenticity issues and problems of poetics involving King Sunny Ade, Rolling Stone, the Strokes, the song "Chopped and Skrewed" and et cetera. Kind of a confused indie rock diss track, I guess, although it's all in fun.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by raisindebt (16 comments total)

lyrics:

i've been think of you
i've been thinking that i love you
but i don't know if it's true

cause i want to love you more
than lovers ever loved before
but we've got to make it new

make it new
make it new
that's all i really wanna do
is make it new
new
with
you

ezra's pound pounding on the door
and he's sounding like a vampire's giving him the screw
but it's really africans
telling him he african't
be a cracker who plays juju

king sunny delight sings that miller highlife music

that postcolonial boloney
is not for us cause we're not phonies
you're alone and i am lonely
so let's me and you

[chorus]

twin guitar leads as seen on television
rolling stone said they're what visionaries use
but the strokes as a band
are like the strokes of my hand
before i reach for another tissue

i play with genres
yeah i hit and quit it
we all self conscious
i just admit it

oh we all, all fall down...

we're in teenage wasteland
but we're not teens we're just wasted
and the wasteland is me and you

cause we can't make new shit
so we remix and edit
a poem from 1922

i've been thinking of you
i've been thinking that i love you
but there's no way I can say it to you

cause the words have all been used
phrases cliched and abused
and i can't make it special and true

make it new
make it new
well we can't
we're all screwed
what the fuck are we gonna do

chopped and skrewed
chopped and skrewed
now you've officially
been chopped
chopped and skrewed

make it new
make it new
well we can't
we're all screwed
this is all that we can do

chopped and skrewed
chopped and skrewed
now you've officially
been chopped
chopped and skrewed

oh we all, all fall down...

(ezra pound: "with the drawing of this love and the voice of this calling, we shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time")
posted by raisindebt at 9:31 PM on May 2

This is awesome
posted by BrnP84 at 5:55 PM on May 3

Great voice, both your actual vocals and the voice your songs have. I said this in the other song you posted, but the relationship between your words and the music is unique. Playful sorrow isn't easy to pull off.

Nice quote at the end, too. I'd never heard it. And a belated welcome to Music!
posted by Corduroy at 4:48 AM on May 4

I love this. Burst into a smile at least twice.

Seriously, it's stupid how great this is. Dittoing the welcome aboard. Post more.
posted by cortex at 1:12 PM on May 4

Great song. The two songs you've posted are very good. Is it you by yourself, or are you in band?
posted by micayetoca at 1:15 PM on May 4

Thanks so much, guys!

micayetoca: It's just me and the laptop crammed into a closet.
posted by raisindebt at 7:38 PM on May 4

oh yeah,

corduroy: I think I ripped that sample out of some random youtube clip, but if you're interested, UBUWEB has a crazy amount (like hours) of samples of him reading.
posted by raisindebt at 7:41 PM on May 4

It's just me and the laptop crammed into a closet

Lose the laptop, it's dead weight, you are the star here.

Jokes aside, I was pretty sure you were going to say it was a band. The song sounds very organic and it has enough actions that they seem like the result of an interaction among different people.

Also, last time I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, but they are brilliant, you also have a knack for words. I guess I should just declare myself a fan already. Keep 'em coming, no?
posted by micayetoca at 6:53 AM on May 5 [1 favorite]

it has enough actions should say "it has enough changes", sorry about that
posted by micayetoca at 6:59 AM on May 5

Great song. Immediately, I really wanted to remix it.

The vampire weekend part made me immediately think of the fact that vampire weekend and extra golden were given the same dressing room for the pitchfork festival. It was awkward.
posted by umbú at 8:04 AM on May 5

Thanks again, everybody.

micayetoca -- Ha, I actually do throw the laptop out of the closet a lot of the time (the fan noise can mess up vocal recordings). You're too kind about the other stuff. I work with loops almost exclusively, so a big part of my recording is trying to figure out how to make them blend organically and not sound like the same thing through the whole song. I'm glad it's working for you!

umbú -- That's such a good coincidence for this song, thanks for that. If you ever get bored and want to give a remix a go, just hit me up, I'd be happy to render out the tracks (or send you the project file, if you use Ableton).
posted by raisindebt at 7:54 PM on May 6

Hey, welcome aboard from me too! This is great! (And congrats on being featured in the podcast.)
posted by snsranch at 3:29 PM on May 7

Really like this - don't know any of the bands you're referencing, but what the hell. I commented on another one of yours a moment ago. I kind of have that remix itch that some others are talking about too. I get the feeling with your material that if it just had a little muscle in the right places - something that suddenly locked and gripped like a vice - it would be a real monster. It would contrast suberbly with the attractively meandering quality of the songs. But, hey, it's all down to taste. This is great as it is. Look forward to more from you.
posted by MajorDundee at 2:02 PM on May 10

Yeah, the internet isn't good for deadpan jokes--not that I wouldn't mind remixing this. It's really catchy. I just added that line since you dismiss remixing (or at least certain kinds of remixing) in your lyrics.
posted by umbú at 9:11 AM on May 11

I just want to point out that

postcoloni-/
al baloney

is a genius rhyme. Brilliant.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:21 PM on May 12

Not a cover of that Who song.

But that would've been okay too.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 10:52 PM on May 16