12-12-97

AMERICAN MUSIC: THE VIOLENT FEMMES MAILING LIST
currently run by Pat. Wary

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TOUR DATES: (NEW DATES MARKED WITH A **)

Sunday, Dec 21-St. Mark’s Church, 2nd Ave and 10th St. NY, NY Performance
of Solstice Spirit for Shakuhachi Orchestra by Nyoraku
Schlefer. Brian will be one of the flautists.
Show starts at 3:05 P.M.; admission is FREE.

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The Quote Of The Day:

“I’m nothin’ now,
And I’ll be nothin’ when
Your nothin’ world
Has it’s nothing end…”
-From I’m Nothing
-Submitted by

send your VF quotes to

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WHO/WHERE
Going to a VF concert? Want to know if anyone
else on the list also going? Check here first!

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ANY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO IMPROVE THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO

ANY AND ALL CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS LETTER SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO

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WEB PAGES:

Official: http://www.vfemmes.com
Unofficial: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~mmerry2/femmes.html
Guitar: http://www.bucknell.edu/~wtorres/violent_femmes/
TAB DIGEST:

The tab digest is give and take; remember to share what
you have.

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In Today’s Issue:

RE: Ages
RE: Ages
RE: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
Emotion in 3
Pet Names
A Banana in the Ear, Revisited

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RE: Ages
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hey, I’m 15 and from Arizona. I have been listining to the Violent Femmes
for a few years now. I have about 4 friends that like them to. Me and one
of my friends met because of them. I had known him for a little while,
but never talked to him, then we got the same PE class. We talked and
found out that we both like The Violent Femmes, so now we are in a band
together!!!

Barry

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RE: Ages
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I am 21. I first saw the femmes performing at the Metropol in the fall of
94. I loved them years before that, but they are my favorite band, even
though the Dave Matthews band is a close second!

Raylene

http://raylene.sru.edu

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RE: Lyrics Questions
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I think that ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me’ from Why Do Birds Sing
was originally a Culture Club song, you know Boy George. I am not
sure but I think it is. (i’m almost embarrased to know that).

1DJEK3

-Pat. Says: Yup. It’s Culture Club alright. In fact, never having liked
Culture Club, I can’t separate the two versions, and so I
usually skip over that song on WDBS.

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RE: Lyrics Questions
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This may sound kinda out there as far as this lyric thing goes but here
is my contributuion:
Once when I watching an episode of the Simpsons Bart and Marge were
listening to the radio when this line came on in a old 40’s-ish soft
rock voice……
“Special Specail what do you get, another day older and deeper in
debt.”
Obviously the Femmes used this line but other than hearing it on the
Simpsons, I have no idea where it came from. Maybe this helps…..who
knows?

Bobby

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RE: Lyrics Questions
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You guys can’t forget the line from “Special”, “another day older and
deeper in debt.” To be honest with you, I can’t remember who sings that
line originally, but the song is played a lot on oldies stations across
America.
And oh yeah, Nick Schutz, I lost your e-mail address, but I sent your
tapes. Have you sent mine?

Catch ya’ll later.
Matt

-Pat. Says: I think the song to which you refer is called 16 Tons. The
lines are: You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day
older and deeper in debt. St. Peter don’t you call me, I
can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store.
Believe it or not, that’s from memory, folks. I have a way
with useless trivia, lyrics especially.
This is from surfing tho: the song was written by Merle
Travis, and was a big hit for Tenessee Ernie Ford in the
early 50’s. Merle Travis was inducted into the Country Music
Hall of Fame. He is also known for having designed the first
solid body electric guitar, which was developed by Leo
Fender. Did Gordon get his lyrics from this song? I don’t
know. Merle’s father, a coal miner, used that phrase a lot,
which is why it’s in the song, so for all I know it could
be a common phrase among some people, and thus merely a
coincidence that Gordon used it. On the other hand, he’s
familiar with the song, I’m sure. Somebody’d have to ask him
to know for sure.

<<: Can anyone submit lines from VF songs
which have been taken from other songs or sources? >>

Agamemnon is from a poem, I cant remember by who off hand, also hey nonny
nonny is a poem by someone else.

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RE: Lyrics Questions
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Hey, since we are talking alot about songs the Gordon has taken lyrics
from, why not tell whos borrowed from the Violent Femmes? Well, one band
comes to mind, The Refreshments. On their first album, the Refreshments
take the line ” third verse, same as the first” on the song Girly. That
line actually has a history, it started with the band that did Henery
Deville I Am or something like that, a sixteys band and I can’t think of
their name, then The Ramones took it and used it on the classic ” Judy Is
A Punk”, then the Violent Femmes, then to the Refreshments. Then another
song on the Refreshments first great album, European Swallow, has a song
that goes ” I can see by the way she dances for me,she wants to break my
heart wanna tear it apart” which is influenced by Gone Daddy Gone.

Barry

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Emotion in 3
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In a message dated 12/5/97 4:18:39 PM, you wrote:

<< but the album
lacks some of the energy and deep emotion >>

energy maybe, but lacking deep emotion? Does the song “Nothing worth
living for” mean anything to you, or “See my ships”? Talk about DEEP
emotion. I hope you don’t think 36-24-36 is a deep song.

-Pat. Says: Don’t forget Outside the Palace; it’s highly
autobiographical.

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Pet Names
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Has anyone else ever developed “pet” names for the Violent Femmes? I
don’t know how (or why!) it began, but somehow amongst my friends, the
Femmes are often referred to as “The Violent Phlems”, or even “The
Virulent Phlem-gobbers”. Believe it or not, these are terms of
affection! It’s amusing in its own special way. I once read that the
more pet names you have for a pet (thus the title???), the more you love
him/her. (Ok, I’m not the most PC person, but I just can’t refer to
animals as “its”.) So maybe these strange names simply reflect how much
we love the Femmes? It’s worth a thought.
Oh yeah, one of my friends emailed me and said he thought he’d heard
something about Gordon and some fans being arrested for skinny-dipping
in a public fountain or something! What??!!!! (If this did happen
, and it was already spoken of recently in
Rock!!!!!, I apologize–I got behind on my email!)

*****love to all-amber

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A Banana in the Ear, Revisited
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Back in November, I wrote about my top 5 favorites songs of the moment.
You surely remember the excellent joke.
From now on there will be a banana in the ear every week. So if you want
to be part of it, just write me and tell me your top 5 and we will share
with everyone in the mailing list.

Thanks

By the way, I’m sorry for those who wrote me in French. I just didn’t
find the time to write you back. But I swear I will answer you soon.

Edgar Pwelanfonte

Edgar. says : I really appreciate if Pat. could at least send me her top
5 once. I really appreciate your job.

-Pat. Says: Please send your responses to Edgar. S’il vous plait, envoyez
a Edgar votre responses. Zu Edgar Ihr Antwortern sendet.
Forgive any poor grammar please.

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