Song A Day - 28 DEC 2006 - Brian Eno - Kurt's Rejoinder
What I Think I Know About It

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Lyrics and footnote courtesy of http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/

Burger cruising just above the ground, ground, ground
And gunner puts a burnish on his steel
Anna with her feelers moving round, round, round
Is sharpening her needles on the wheel.

Burger Bender bargain blender shine, shine, shine
And gunner burn the leader on the fuse
Bundle up the numbers counting three - six - nine
Here's Anna building webs across our shoes.

Celebrate the loss of one and all, all, all
And separate the torso from the spine
Burger Bender bouncing like a ball, ball, ball
So Burger Bender bargain blender shine.

Do the Do-si-do, do the Mirror Man
Do the Boston Crab, do the Allemande.



"There is some uncertainty as to who actually does the recital of Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate [which appears in the backgound of the song]: Eno believes it is Schwitters himself, whereas Russell Mills believes it to be by Eberhard Blum. Schwitters was a Dadaist artist from Hanover who was forced to flee Nazi Germany after Hitler declared his work to be decadent; Eberhard Blum made several recordings of Schwitters' abstract poems, and is regarded as an 'accomplished Schwitters interpreter'." (Richard Poyner, More Dark Than Shark)

Boston Crab -- a hold in wrestling.

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What I Know I Think About It

The song bounces off with Percy Jones' fussy, sproingy bass, into the equivalent of a hovercraft (possibly full of eels), racing through a landscape that flashes past at such a rate that only a general impression of "this isn't home" reaches through the motion blur.

This is alien, make no mistake. Look around. The "cruising just above the ground", Anna's feelers, the dispassionate separation of torso from spine... Not Of This Earth and proud of it, baby.

This was what I was reminded of: a comic by Matt Howarth (http://www.matthowarth.com) with no human characters at all.

Suuure, Anna and Burger have heard of Earth. There are quaint cultural souvenirs, posed just a little bit wrong in the trophy room. Dance a do-si-do, and an allemande, then you may like to try this step called the Boston Crab. This puts me in mind of those Japlish t-shirt slogans, like "For Juicy Little Hussies" on a kid shirt -- so wrooong, but giving a new, possibly appropriate, context.

For two minutes and fifty-five seconds, you're observing a wealth of weird stuff, and you're not going to make a whole of the parts, so you may as well rubberneck and enjoy it.

Listen as the passengers talk among themselves in what sounds uncannily like Earthly Dada song. Eno does great jungle noise synth (and he is Absolute King Of Electronic Cricket Noises, too!), and you can wonder just why Anna is sharpening those needles, as you realise the webs have prevented you moving your feet...

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http://rapidshare.com/files/9228781/2006122801.rar.html - like it? Buy the album!