MANKO: Written in the summer of '85. The original version had a weird, kinda western, kinda martial shuffle beat to it, but when we reconvened in Nashville to record in 2014 we tried it as a moody 6/8 and liked it better. Unfortunately this meant I had to cut a syllable from each line, which complicated recording the vocals. Like so much of Amphetamine Library's body of work, I think it's basically a song about fear. I was a teenage suburban high school dropout in two problematic romances (one quite stormy) who had moved to Richmond (which led the nation in per capita homicides in those days of the crack epidemic) to attend an urban art/liberal arts school. Two art students had just died in a suicide pact. We didn't know who we were or what we were doing, but as long as we were creating something it all seemed more or less worthwhile.
lyrics
Fearless Cathy, sing your sad song
These are the days that will rip proud hearts apart
These are the nights when you wake knowing something's gone wrong
(So very wrong)
Mistress Carrie, dressed in black
Blow out the door when there's nothing left to talk about
Blow me a kiss, make me wonder if you're ever coming back
(But don't turn back)
Some burning issue is lodged in your memory
Like a face in the crowd that you meet in your dreams
Some holy grail is lost in America
I feel it too, it's a dying world letting off steam
What does it mean?
Still in Richmond, waiting for my man
Down on the streets I can hear the night's homicide
My heart cries out, but my mind just wants to understand.
Reckless Eric, lost in the night
Somebody calls out your name in an alleyway
Alone at last in the past like a legend out of sight
Brightly shining, out on the edge
Peeping through like a voice on the telephone
Misunderstanding, demanding you come in from the ledge
What would you do if I did what we talked about?
Where would you go if I gave you a map to your dreams?
Two suicides throwing pride in the face of it
Going down in the night in the pale moonbeams
Two silent screams
Still in Richmond, trembling with fear
I send a postcard, a message in a bottleneck
Waiting without, running out of time
Wishing you were here.
credits
from Amphetamine Library,
track released October 12, 2014
Lyrics by Manko Eponymous, music by Manko Eponymous and Amphetamine Library (Hunter Duke, Andy Thompson, Donny Shattuck)
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