12-17-97

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’ll make more money tonight than you’ll ever dream of.
you thought i was strange, but just look at me now.
If you are lucky, i’ll play in your city, and you can come see me if
you’ve got the money”
-From More Money Tonight
-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: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
RE: Lyrics Questions
No VF in DC on NYD..Ages
RE: Ages
Reasons To Watch TV..Top 5 Faves
RE: Pet Names
Where You From?
Did You Get it?
Unity

Agamemnon returned from the Trojan war, I think, and found that his wife
had taken a lover. The wife (Clytemnestra) and the lover killed
Agamemnon, sent his son Orestes to be killed and made the daughter
Electra a servant in the house. The wife and her lover then ruled for
many years. Unfortunately, what they’d done was so horrible that the
Gods put a scourge on the city. But years later, Orestes returned (he
was never really killed, as a kind family adopted him after finding him
in the woods- that happened a lot in those days, it seems) so anyway
Orestes comes back and, at Electra’s urging, he kills his mother and her
lover. Then Electra, who is really a confused and whiny little
creature, gets mad at him and won’t talk to him, and the entire kingdom
is left without a ruler, and Orestes leaves and is never heard from
again. This all takes place over several plays- the trilogy is called
the Oresteia. To be honest, I’ve never heard the song Agamemnon, but
maybe this will shed some light on the lyrics for those of you who do
know it. I hope I have the plot right- I read it last year and then saw
a perfomance of “The Flies”, which is based on it, at Olivet College
last month. So I guess that’s about it, have a nice day and thank you
for listening (or reading, really). And thank God for the Humanities
class that allowed me to finally contribute a little something here.

Andrea

“New Times and Agamemnon…lyrics by Walter Mehring, from “Einfach
Klassisch,” as translated into English by Henry Marx”

I haven’t the faintest idea what Einfach Klassisch is or where I’m going
to find it, but I think I will because these songs make almost zero
sense.

Signing out for the holidays,
Joshua

-Pat. Says: Boy is MY face red. Never thought to read the liner notes.
I myself searched for a copy of this on the web and in the
local University library, but no luck. The only thing I did
find out is that Walter Mehring brought Dada to Berlin. If
anyone finds it, please share with us all.

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RE: Lyrics Questions
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Greetings.

If anyone has “Why Do Birds Sing?” (like I needed to say “if”) open up
the album cover. In the section where they credit people, I noticed the
day I bought the album there was this caption…

Lack of Knowledge – Hosea 4:6

Knowing the Violent Femmes have a strong religous background, I assume
that the song “lack of Knowledge” was at least based on this verse.

MBlack

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RE: Lyrics Questions
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Here’s another one. In American Music, you hear sung in the background:
I can hear music, sweet sweet music. That’s from a Beach Boys song, words
and music both.

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RE: Lyrics Questions
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Just a question, can we stop finding all these damn songs that have
similar lyrics as the femmes. It sounds like you all are shooting them
down for this. For one thing some of the lyrics are there because they
are common every day feelings and sayings, so we all can relate to them,
but you make them sound highly unoriginal.

-Pat. Says: I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you there,
Oellablue. Number 1, the band themselves have no problem with
attributing some of their lyrics to others. Number 2, I think
it’s fascinating how they change borrowed lyrics, put them in
different contexts, join them with music totally different
from the original music or, in the case of poems and bible
passages, join them with music which compliments the mood
of the original lines. They don’t just cover borrowed lyrics,
they alter them, build upon them, make them their own. And
there enters the originality. Number 3, I think it’s
wonderful that the band has been affected by so many
different things. Think about it: Blues legends, Country
Hall of Famers, early rock/pop stars, 16th century poets,
Dadaism, The Bible. There are few rock musicians who are as
intelligent and well read as the VF, fewer still who will
admit to it to their fans. And I have to say that hearing
those lyrics has compelled me to look for, read, learn about
the original lines. Now how many rock bands can cause their
fans to do THAT? I’m going to close this ramble with a quote
(paraphrased):
learn everything you can learn
and read everything you can read.

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No VF in DC on NYD..Ages
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In a message dated 12/10/97 10:10:21 PM, you wrote:

I too am upset, but I must say slightly relieved. My band will be
playing on new years eve, so if I couldn’t have gone anyway.(although we
could have tried to open for them) But if you need something to do that
night around the D.C. Area(no location has been set yet) come see me
with the Sean Michael Dargan band. Check http://www.onewdesign.com/smd for
details.

By the way for those of you who don’t know I am 22 years old and have
been a fan since I was 13.

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RE: Ages
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Hi.
I am 15, soon to be 16. I have been listening to the Femmes for 2 years
now. I still love them the same as i did the first day i heard them. I
have rubbed off on some of my friends, so they went out and bought Add
it up. Femmes concerts are great. I have been to 2 of them. The last one
was at East Stroudsburg, i was so happy i cried and cried and then
Gorden looked at me and i cried some more. I always see people on tv who
are at concerts bawling thier eyes out and i think– how retarded, but i
just love the femmes.

-Amber—-

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Reasons To Watch TV..Top 5 Faves
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hello everyone!
I was looking threw my Rolling Stone magazine and I was reading this
article. It was titled “101 Reasons To Watch T.V.”. I read them (they
were really funny) and the 47th reason says… The Violent Femmes on
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch-add it up and it’s a ratings bonanza!
Even though i havent seen them on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, yet
(because it’s on a Friday night) i was so excited. I read it like- 5
times. It is worth reading for yourself, so, if you wanna spend
$4.50(thats in the US) go out and buy the magazine. It has a really good
article about Sublime, too. I don’t write often, but i do read my
newsletter and even though im a few letters behind im gonna give ya my
favorite bands.
#1 Violent Femmes—–Waitin’ for the Bus
#2 Sublime—- Waiting for my ruca
#3 Janis Joplin—- Me and Bobby McGee
#4 Doors— Alabama song (Whiskey Bar)
#5 Jewel— who will Save your soul

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RE: Pet Names
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Back when I was little (’round 10 years old) I had a copy of a femmes
tape, and me and my friends referred to them as the “Whining
Banshees”…just a random memory conjured up from one of the posts…

by the way…if anybody wants a copy of rock, i could get you a cd copy
of it for a good trade or cash

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Where You From?
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Any other Femmes fans on the list from North Carolina?

Curiosity . . . . .

Jesse

-Pat Says: Jesse had sent the following a couple of days ago:
<>
I didn’t post it right away, because I had to mull over how
something like this could be done. After all, the newsletter
is sometimes very long, and with over 850 subscribers, this
idea could become huge. So what I thought is, everyone who
wants, write me to say where you are from. I’ll compile
everything, and reference it in the section with the web
pages.
It’ll take awhile to get everyone to write in, so it won’t
really be workable for awhile, but when it is operational,
you can write in to find out who lives near you, or if you
are travelling anywhere, you could find out who lives in
that area to which you’re going. And I could put a section
in each issue which says something like: There are X
subscribers living in East Bumfuck. Maybe that would cause
people to write me and say hey, I’m from there, too! Put me
on the list, and tell me who else lives here!
So Jesse, I’ll put you on the list first, but you should
tell me which area of NC you’re from, since it’s a big state.

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Did You Get it?
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About a month ago, someone posted on the newsletter, they couldn’t get
the Hallowed Ground Cd. I sent the cd to that person and never heard
back. Please post and maybe the person will at least say they received
the cd or not.

Thank you, Kerri

-Pat. Says: Please write to Kerri to thank her.

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Unity
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-Pat. Says: I wasn’t going to print this, because it is fairly off-topic,
but since today’s issue would already have been a two-parter
(I break it up when it’s over about 13 KB), I decided, WTF.
Might do all of us some good.

my friend wrote this little essay. it has nothing to do with the violent
femmes, but it really makes you think. i thought it was very good and
insightful…about everything, not just music. here it is:

Dream Of Unity
We agree on so much. We agree things aren’t right the way they are.
But you say this is the way to go, and I say that is the way to go. And
for that you won’t listen to me. Why can’t we look past the small
differences and unite to fight what’s really wrong in this world? United
we stand, diveded we will continue to lose. Together we can start to make
a difference, but as long as we can’t see past the small differences the
big goal will never be acheived. But where ever I go people with
different situations can’t get along because of little differences. In
music scenes people fight over moral differences. What kind of shit is
that? You only increase your chances of victory if you unite with those
who agree with you.
What can we all say to each other — when we refuse to speak????
There’s no way anyone gets anything done when they engulf themselves in
the petty differences which exist by default in humanity. All sorts of
examples pertain to the apparent refusal of the human race to unite.
Dishonesty, hypocracy, morality wars…..if I didn’t think better of it,
I’d think there was some sort of uncontrollable force out there that was
implanting such mental blockage inducers into all of us….but when you
get right down to it, it’s only the fault of humans themselves. People,
they can’t look inward anymore to find out that something has gone
disasterously wrong within. Instead, they point their finger at someone
else and lay the blame on THEM. This practice has kept factions of people
apart from each other for centuries, and the way things are going, will
continue to keep them apart for all of the forseeable future.
In some respects, the clashes help us to maintain a personality
balance within the human race. And there are some situations in which
unity really isn’t the answer. But the items which disunify people are
continually dropping onto pettier and pettier playing fields. It used to
be that people opposed each other to fight for things like freedom and
justice. But now, people find reason to hate each other based on such
meaningless formalities as how long one has listened to a form of music
in comparison with the other. We sit back and unknowingly let it occur…
never quite seeming to realize that we could be drawing premature
blueprints for our own imminent downfall………….!

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