Songbook #20: Screenwriter's Blues
Your Cadillac breathes four hundred horses over blue lines
You are going to Reseda to make love to a model from Ohio whose real name you don't know
You spin like the Cadillac was overturning down a cliff on television
And the radio is on
And the radio man is speaking
And the radio man says women were a curse
Soul Coughing
Screenwriter's Blues
I saw Soul Coughing once. I've seen their front man Mike Doughty many times; more than five, certainly. Not once have I heard them perform this song, and I probably never will, given that Doughty has flatly said he refused to perform Soul Coughing songs because of the way he was treated by the rest of the band, especially with regards to the issue of rights and royalties. He says that although he was the primary writer for Soul Coughing he got screwed out of a lot of money by them, and so it's just too painful to even hear them. This is a damn shame, because I think Screenwriter's Blues is one of the finest songs of the 1990s. I make an effort to play it when I sub late night shows when profanity is allowed on the air.
Of course, that's not why this song is on the list. Screenwriter's Blues is on the list because I've spent a number of nights listening to that song while sitting companionably with a good friend. Nah, not merely a good friend, although those are rare and precious. One of the people on the very short list of the best of friends, the people who I've thankfully never had to call at 3 in the morning because of some crisis but who I could call then if I really needed to. She and I have dragged each other to concerts beyond measure . We've gotten drunk together, seen movies together and eaten out more times than I can count. We've talked, sometimes constantly for hours and sometimes a mere few words in the same length of time. On the rare occasions when we get to sit and drink on the sofa in a dark room while listening and not saying anything we usually pull out something a little downbeat, like Nina Simone, who has an overall better body of work, but it isn't as good as Screenwriter's Blues, which just does it for some reason. When I play this song, or even quote it, I think of her, and not just because she could be a model from Ohio, although she's certainly good looking enough for that, even if she usually doesn't completely believe it when I tell her so.
Gone savage for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love
Gone savage for teenagers who are aesthetically pleasing, in other words, fly
Los Angeles beckons the teenagers to come to her on buses
Los Angeles loves love
I will certainly remember this song forever, but I'm not sure that's enough. I hope I love this song forever, because if I don't love it and love being reminded of my friend it probably means we stopped being friends, maybe because of argument or because of distance or simply being too busy to try to make an effort. And that would be cause for despair.
I am going to Los Angeles to build a screenplay about lovers who murder each other
I am going to Los Angeles to see my own name on a screen, five feet long and luminous
As the radio man says, "It is 5 A.M., and the sun has charred the other side of the world and come back to us
And painted the smoke over our heads an imperial violet"
And I hope that Doughty loses his despair and realizes that his stuff is just as good as it was back then, and that he one day can hear his old stuff, and maybe even play it, without crippling pain, and I hope that my friend and I get to be in the crowd one day when he says "I'd like to play one of my old songs that I haven't played in a while" and that we turn and smile secret smiles to each other and that it sounds just as good as sitting on that sofa in a dark room, with a drink in one hand and friendship in our hearts.
As I know you will read this eventually, know also that I love you, my friend. And I love you all, my other friends, the ones who aren't quite as close and who don't have a special song in common with me or who I see infrequently. I will rarely say it out loud, but you are in my heart, and I hold you close, against that dark day when I have nothing else but love and friendship to take with me beyond this place.
It is 5 A.M., and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is 5 A.M., and you are listening to Los Angeles
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
To Los Angeles
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You
#13 - Cabaret
#14 - Psycho Killer
#15 - All Along the Watchtower
#16 - When I'm Up
#17 - Alcohol & Pills
#18 - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
#19 - Sweet Jane
#20 - Screenwriter's Blues
You are going to Reseda to make love to a model from Ohio whose real name you don't know
You spin like the Cadillac was overturning down a cliff on television
And the radio is on
And the radio man is speaking
And the radio man says women were a curse
Soul Coughing
Screenwriter's Blues
I saw Soul Coughing once. I've seen their front man Mike Doughty many times; more than five, certainly. Not once have I heard them perform this song, and I probably never will, given that Doughty has flatly said he refused to perform Soul Coughing songs because of the way he was treated by the rest of the band, especially with regards to the issue of rights and royalties. He says that although he was the primary writer for Soul Coughing he got screwed out of a lot of money by them, and so it's just too painful to even hear them. This is a damn shame, because I think Screenwriter's Blues is one of the finest songs of the 1990s. I make an effort to play it when I sub late night shows when profanity is allowed on the air.
Of course, that's not why this song is on the list. Screenwriter's Blues is on the list because I've spent a number of nights listening to that song while sitting companionably with a good friend. Nah, not merely a good friend, although those are rare and precious. One of the people on the very short list of the best of friends, the people who I've thankfully never had to call at 3 in the morning because of some crisis but who I could call then if I really needed to. She and I have dragged each other to concerts beyond measure . We've gotten drunk together, seen movies together and eaten out more times than I can count. We've talked, sometimes constantly for hours and sometimes a mere few words in the same length of time. On the rare occasions when we get to sit and drink on the sofa in a dark room while listening and not saying anything we usually pull out something a little downbeat, like Nina Simone, who has an overall better body of work, but it isn't as good as Screenwriter's Blues, which just does it for some reason. When I play this song, or even quote it, I think of her, and not just because she could be a model from Ohio, although she's certainly good looking enough for that, even if she usually doesn't completely believe it when I tell her so.
Gone savage for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love
Gone savage for teenagers who are aesthetically pleasing, in other words, fly
Los Angeles beckons the teenagers to come to her on buses
Los Angeles loves love
I will certainly remember this song forever, but I'm not sure that's enough. I hope I love this song forever, because if I don't love it and love being reminded of my friend it probably means we stopped being friends, maybe because of argument or because of distance or simply being too busy to try to make an effort. And that would be cause for despair.
I am going to Los Angeles to build a screenplay about lovers who murder each other
I am going to Los Angeles to see my own name on a screen, five feet long and luminous
As the radio man says, "It is 5 A.M., and the sun has charred the other side of the world and come back to us
And painted the smoke over our heads an imperial violet"
And I hope that Doughty loses his despair and realizes that his stuff is just as good as it was back then, and that he one day can hear his old stuff, and maybe even play it, without crippling pain, and I hope that my friend and I get to be in the crowd one day when he says "I'd like to play one of my old songs that I haven't played in a while" and that we turn and smile secret smiles to each other and that it sounds just as good as sitting on that sofa in a dark room, with a drink in one hand and friendship in our hearts.
As I know you will read this eventually, know also that I love you, my friend. And I love you all, my other friends, the ones who aren't quite as close and who don't have a special song in common with me or who I see infrequently. I will rarely say it out loud, but you are in my heart, and I hold you close, against that dark day when I have nothing else but love and friendship to take with me beyond this place.
It is 5 A.M., and you are listening to Los Angeles
It is 5 A.M., and you are listening to Los Angeles
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
You are listening
To Los Angeles
Tracklist
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
#2 - Runnin' Blue
#3 - Cryin'
#4 - Mr. Jones
#5 - Blinded by the Light
#6 - Piano Man
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
#8 - Ecstasy
#9 - Seasons of Love
#10 - Red Sweater!
#11 - Insomniac
#12 - It Had to Be You
#13 - Cabaret
#14 - Psycho Killer
#15 - All Along the Watchtower
#16 - When I'm Up
#17 - Alcohol & Pills
#18 - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
#19 - Sweet Jane
#20 - Screenwriter's Blues