'Mailman (The Lying Song)'

I'm sorry the mailman took your groove, John Cale :(

Now some words of wisdom from Daddy:

My favourite song on the album is ‘Mailman’. It’s about lying – if you tell someone you are a liar is it true? Contradictions and all that are a lot of fun. It has this atmosphere of someone who is caught in a kind of vortex of a mood and is talking about it very knowledgably, but has no idea of what he’s talking about in the end.

Sound familiar, John? This is the man who has also said that being a living legend is 'like being a bar of soap in a shower which doesn't have any water in it.'

(lol but not in a *gay* way you guise.)



You figure it out, stupid.

Frankly, I love when he gets his classical intellicock out. In an interview with Spedding, his former guitarist, Cale is quizzed on his music knowledge when Spedding plays different pieces:

1. Art Tatum "Willow Weep for Me"
JC: Hmmm, is this Erroll Garner?
CS: Nope
JC: Well. This thing is in two places at once. I don't know who it is.

2. Miles Davis, 'Cocierto de Aranjuez'
JC: Miles Davis. "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Rodrigo. From the Sketches of Spain album arranged and conducted by Gil Evans.
CS: Oh, really?
JC: Really.

In this song, we have a fun allusion where Cale compares himself to Jesus (You put a crown in my thorn) and has a schitzophrenic cheerleading squad:

You put a thought in my head.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oooh yeah

This put me in mind of a Sesame Street call and answer. However, I prefer the similarity to Bowie's 'Laughing Gnome', with the chorus of Cale's warbling gnome voices and their endless repitition.

On the subject of Bowie, Cale recently had an interview in UnCut, on "Heroes". He mentions the elusive bootleg they made: 'It was like the good old bad old days. We were partying very hard. It was exciting working with him, as there were a lot of possibilities and things, but we were our own worst enemies at that point.'

But it's essentially an epic suck up to Bowie, bc he wants to produce his album: 'Did I ever want to produce him? After spending time with him I realised the answer was no. The way we were then would have made it too dangerous. Nowadays it would be different though'. Translation: 'David, bb, why didn't you call? :*('

disclaimer: any music downloaded from this blog should be deleted within 24 hours because of some wanky rule that no one abides by