Anodyne
Monday, May 21, 2007
 

Show Biz Kids

"So here we are at the Brill Building, it's the late 1960s, and these two sullen, nondescript youths, fresh out of college, are hustling their songs around the various music publishers in the building. One has wire-rimmed spectacles, shoulder-length blond hair, and looks a bit like River Phoenix. The other is thin to the point of emaciation.

They troop into an office. The thin one sits at the office piano and opens an exercise-book of songs. Together, they sing one for the man behind the desk. It's about androids discovering they're alive, a bit like in that Philip K. Dick book. They sing another. It's about Charlie Parker, and is full of odd, show-offy changes. A third, a put-down of some place called Barry Town, makes good use of the spiteful undertone in the thin one's voice, but is too nasty. A fourth appears to be about a dildo -- it even mentions that Japanese one from the William Burroughs book. The man behind the desk sits there, nonplussed. What are these two kids thinking of? No-one wants to hear songs like this. Do they?

They troop out of the office, up the stairs and into another office."
- posted by cjb @ 7:14 PM


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