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10 May 2008
Can other people sing along to "American Girl" without immediately fearing that they're about to be locked in a basement and told to rub the lotion on the skin? →[More:]Cuz I really can't.
It was kind of cold that night
She stood alone in the cellar pit
She could hear the lunatic dance
At his sewing machine
Precious, are you up there, you little shit?
And for one desperate moment there
Hope crept back in her memory
God its so painful
Something thats so close
And still so far out of reach
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She put - the lotion on the skin
I'll never see that movie. I have a really hard time watching entertainment involving violence against women. The "it's just a movie!" line doesn't work for me in that context.
Truth is, I feel that way about a lot of movie violence, but get especially creeped out when it's sexualized.
I know! I get all protective and worried on her behalf when she's onscreen, even though in both the show and the movie she was kind of a kick-ass character.
Miko, yeah, I'm finding my tolerance dwindling, but for some reason I used to watch Silence of the Lambs over and over and over and over again. I used to watch a few movies that I knew well in order to fall asleep -- When Harry Met Sally, Silence of the Lambs, and Dirty Dancing stand out in my memory -- and I have those suckers *down*.
Also, I kind of hate Grey's Anatomy, but that's a whole other story. Also, I pulled a muscle or something in my right shoulder and even after five tallboys it still hurts which suchs since that's the arm i smoke, drink and click my mouse with.
This thread is making me feel kind of bad for Tom Petty, who didn't do anything but write a really good song.
Yeah. It *is* a good song. But I had never heard it before the film. I actually posted wondering if that would be the defining factor for people.
On preview: My stupid lower back has been acting up all day. A very nice martini followed by a few glasses of red wine, consumed with a steak and potatoes and some excellent broccoli raab, did not fix the pain, but did make me care less.
In one of my rock reference books there's a list called 'Sincerest Forms of Flattery: Songs You'd Swear were by Someone Else,' where 'American Girl' is listed as Tom Petty's best Byrds imitation, which sells Petty a little short although I'm a big Byrds fan. 'Change Of heart' is Petty's best tune imho because it's more Stonesy than Byrdsy.
I love Cher.
I'll be a very unusual straight man and admit that I like her too. 'Gypsys Tramps & Thieves' has always been a favorite of mine. Plus, she's actually got some genuine rock and roll heart beyond camp value. She recorded an extremely rare album with the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section back in the day which featured a really good cover of Dr. John's 'I walk On Gilded Splinters.' I'll have to post that soon.
i can't watch Grey's Anatomy, it gives me hives, but that actress has also been in some Woody Allen films and other stuff.
When i realized the guy on Monk was Buffalo Bill, it was odd for a bit.
A very nice martini followed by a few glasses of red wine, consumed with a steak and potatoes and some excellent broccoli raab, did not fix the pain, but did make me care less.
It's hard to believe that wouldn't cure just about any ache. But at least the treatment is enjoyable in itself.
FWIW, I've never seen Grey's Anatomy. Also FWIW, this movie takes the usual female victimization thing of horror flicks (which is a problem) and turns it inside out. Brilliant, though hard to watch and responsible for almost a decade of bad imitators.
When i was a teenager I saw the movie with the whole 'can men and women ever be friends without sexual curiosity infecting things blahblahblah..' thesis. Then a few months later i arrived at college a virginal weirdo whose skin had started to clear up and was something of a stoner fuckup exotic among the high achievers. This exceptionally pretty girl had befriended me and we got into a bull session about the meaning of life and I mentioned that movie and thinking i was being all sly I said 'You're my friend and all but you're very attractive,' and she said 'I think you're attractive, too. In fact I've wanted you since I first saw you.' (I am not making this up. There's no understanding some people). You know the rest...it all would've been great except for the fact that she had a boyfriend and it got back to him which made me somethingof a campus pariah. two years later she had another boyfriend who was away in rehab and we wound up hooking up again. More I think about it, themore I figure she was simply insane.
Was the thesis that these were the recording artists' best songs? Or just good songs?
The thesis was that doing a great imitation of an artsist sound is the sincerest form of flattery; that petty was paying the Byrds a tribute by imitating their sound (and as I said I think that's selling Petty short even though I love the Byrds, too)
It's funny how many bands I like sort of started out copying the Byrds, even though I was never a huge fan of the Byrds themselves: Robyn Hitchcock, R.E.M., and (sometimes) Guided By Voices being the major ones.
As for neuroses and creepy re-watching of SOTL, I completely memorized it the year it came out, and I also memorized The Little Mermaid from rewatching. Yeah, I was 8.
Sorry, it's Silence of the Lambs. In the opening part of it, a woman is driving along, singing along to "American Girl," and then she ends up kidnapped by a serial killer.
I give you Silence! Silence of the Lambs: The Musical.
Absolute brilliance.
Here's the track listing:
1 Silence of the Lambs* - The Lambs
2 If I Could Smell Her Cunt - Dr. Lecter
3 Are You About a Size 14? - Buffalo Bill
4 Quid Pro Quo - Clarice and Dr. Lecter
5 It's Me! - Dr. Lecter and the Police
6 Put the Fucking Lotion in the Basket - Buffalo Bill and Catherine
7 We're Goin' In - The FBI, Buffalo Bill and Clarice
8 In the Dark with a Maniac - Clarice, Buffalo Bill and Catherine
9 Silence of the Lambs* (Reprise and Finale) - The Lambs, The FBI, Clarice and Dr. Lecter
* - contains pleasant major mode variation on Howard Shore's Silence of the Lambs theme.
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