American Bands

"Well, we know where we're going, But we don't know where we've been. And we know what we're knowing, But we can't say what we've seen. And we're not little children. And we know what we want. And the future is certain. Give us time to work it out."

"Baby, baby, please let me hold him. I wanna make him stay up all night. Sister, sister, he's just a plaything. We wanna make him stay up all night."

"And she was drifting through the backyard, And she was taking off her dress. And she was moving very slowly, Rising up above the earth. Moving into the universe, Drifting this way and that. Not touching ground at all, Up above the yard.The world was moving and she was right there with it (and she was). The world was moving she was floating above it (and she was) and she was."

"I'm just an animal looking for a home. Share the same space for a minute or two. And you love me till my heart stops. Love me till I'm dead."

"Hi yo I got plenty of time. Hi yo you got light in your eyes. And you're standing here beside me. I love the passing of time. Never for money, Always for love."

"Home is where I want to be. Pick me up and turn me round. I feel numb - burn with a weak heart. (So I) guess I must be having fun. The less we say about it the better. Make it up as we go along. Feet on the ground, Head in the sky. It's OK, I know nothing's wrong . . nothing."

"I got a girlfriend that's better than this. And you don't remember at all. As we get older and stop making sense, You won't find her waiting long. Stop making sense, stop making sense...stop making sense, making sense. I got a girlfriend that's better than that And nothing is better than this (is it?)."

"I . . . who took the money? Who took the money away? I . . . it's always showtime Here at the edge of the stage. I, I, I, wake up and wonder: What was the place, what was the name? We wanna wait, but here we go again..."

"Watch out, you might get what you're after. Cool babies, strange but not a stranger. I'm an ordinary guy. Burning down the house.Hold tight, wait till the party's over. Hold tight, we're in for nasty weather. There has got to be a way. Burning down the house."

"For a long time I felt without style or grace, Wearing shoes with no socks in cold weather. I knew my heart was in the right place, I knew I'd be able to do these things.And as we watch him digging his own grave, It was important to know that was where he's at. He can't afford to stop...that is what he believes. He'll keep on digging for a thousand years."

"Same as it ever was."

"Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down. Letting the days go by/water flowing underground. Into the blue again/after the money's gone. Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground."

"And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack. And you may find yourself in another part of the world. And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile. And you may find yourself in a beautiful house ... with a beautiful wife. And you may ask yourself, "Well ... how did I get here?""

"The world moves on a woman's hips. The world moves and it swivels and bops. The world moves on a woman's hips. The world moves and it bounces and hops."

"Sometimes the world has a load of questions Seems like the world knows nothing at all. The world is here but it's out of reach. Some people touch it...but they can't hold on."

"Facts are simple and facts are straight. Facts are lazy and facts are late. Facts all come with points of view. Facts don't do what I want them to. Facts just twist the truth around. Facts are living turned inside out. Facts are getting the best of them. Facts are nothing on the face of things. Facts don't stain the furniture. Facts go out and slam the door. Facts are written all over your face. Facts continue to change their shape."

"All I want is to breathe. I'm too thin. Won't you breath with me? Find a little space, so we move in-between. In-between it. And keep one step ahead, of yourself."

"Heaven, Heaven is a place A place where nothing, nothing ever happens. Heaven, Heaven is a place A place where nothing, nothing ever happens."

"Why stay in college? Why go to night school? Gonna be different this time. Can't write a letter, can't send a postcard, I can't write nothing at all. This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, This ain't no fooling around. I'd like to kiss you, I'd love you hold you, I ain't got no time for that now."

"I'm checking them out, I'm checking them out. I got it figured out, I got it figured out. There's good points and bad points. Find a city, Find myself a city to live in."

"You start a conversation you can't even finish it. You're talkin' a lot, but you're not sayin' anything. When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. Say something once, why say it again?Psycho Killer, Qu'est-ce que c'est Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better, Run run run run run run run away."

"Perhaps even more than Joni [Mitchell], trying to summarize the music of Sonic Youth with just one tuning is an exercise in noisy futility. The pioneering art rock outfit took advantage of countless unconventional and angular tunings through their run, frequently blending multiple dissonant tunings from different guitarists within one track. [...] The sheer multiplicity of tunings that Sonic Youth used caused all sorts of logistical hurdles for the band. They used cheap guitars that could only function in certain detuned ways and famously used drumsticks and screwdrivers on their guitars to achieve even more adventurous sounds and effects."

"Hailing from Long Island, New York, with noise rock stalwarts Sonic Youth, Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore sought to tear down the idea of guitar-driven music completely. One of many struggling bands in a busy NYC scene, Sonic Youth emerged as Greenwich Village darlings, riding to the top of the heap through a string of genre-defying albums. The pair's viewpoint on their instruments was fresh, vivid and untethered to all established norms."

"No artist did more for noise rock’s reputation — or for that matter noise’s reputation — than Sonic Youth. They brought it to a wider audience, made a handful of hit alt-rock singles out of it, crashed grunge as it was happening, and became a beloved institution, despite the fact that the bulk of their catalog features some pretty weird stuff. Throughout the ’80s, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo amassed an arsenal of cheap guitars that they modified and through which they employed bizarre tunings as well as techniques like playing the strings with drum sticks. Their noise wasn’t just unique — no other band could replicate it."

"Sonic Youth albums aren’t as popular now as they were in the days of cassettes. That’s because now it’s a lot easier to say, 'Hey this song is going fucking nowhere, skip it.' Every single Sonic Youth song is a 'skip it' song. Every single one. Unless, of course, you enjoy hearing Thurston Moore sound like he’s dicking around with effects pedals at Guitar Center."

"It’s hard to imagine where we would be without Sonic Youth. It’s unlikely another smart post-punk band founded around the same time — Big Black, the Meat Puppets — could have delivered us from hardcore’s fury quite the same way. What would indie rock sound like if Sonic Youth’s sublime din hadn’t enchanted and derailed all the college rock bands of the mid-’80s? We would have only been left with a bunch of sanguine Feelies rip offs, never having the chance to divulge a crush via careful mixtape placement of “Shadow of A Doubt.”"

"To the extent that I wear skirts and cheap nylon slips I've gone native"

"I can remember being eight years old and having infinite possibilities. But life ends up being so much less than we thought it would be when we were kids, with relationships that are so empty and stupid and brutal. If you don't find a way to break the chain and change in some way, then you wind up, as the rhyme goes: a murder of one, for sorrow."

"Have you seen the little pieces of the people we have been? Little pieces blowing’ gently on the wind."

"If you think you need to go, If you wanted to be free, There's just one thing you need to know. And that's that you can't count on me."

"And I dream of Michelangelo when I'm lying in my bed I see God upon the ceiling, I see angels overhead. And he seems so close as he reaches out his hand, But we are never quite as close as we are led to understand."

"Now I live in the shadows where light is electric And time is a number that rests on a wall. And nobody knows me, My friends and my family, Are as far from this city as Washington Square."

"You open windows And you wait for someone warm to come inside. And then you freeze to death alone.This dizzy life of mine keeps hanging me up all the time This dizzy life is just a hanging tree For me."

"Oh, where do we disappear? Into the silence that surrounds us And then drowns us in the end. Where all these people who impersonate our friends Say, “Come again, come again, come again…”"

"How much longer will it take to cure this? Just to cure it 'cause I can't ignore it if it's love (love) Makes me wanna turn around and face me, But I don't know nothing 'bout love, ohCome on, come on, Turn a little faster. Come on, come on, The world will follow after. Come on, come on, Because everybody's after love."

"And all the king's men reappear For an eggman, falling, falling The world begins to disappear The worst things come from inside here And all the king's men reappear For an eggman, fallin' off the wall Will never be together again No never be together again No no never never never again, uh huh What you fear in the night in the day comes to call anyway"

"Albert's always sincere, he's a sensitive type His intentions are clear, he wanna be well-liked If everything is nothing, then are we anything? Is it better to be better than to be anything?"

"They left the television screaming that the radio's on"

"Got no place to go But there's a girl waiting for me down in Mexico She's got a bottle of tequila A bottle of gin And if I bring a little music I could fit right in"

"Fix your hair just right and put your jeans on tight wear a dress so I can get it off real easy cause I been thinkin' I'd like to see your eyes open up real wide the minute that you see me"

"I got a friend at the New Frontier. And Galen, she said: "This is not America. You need a girl with electrical hair, And the word you wanted was 'Aluminum'."

"Take some time before you go Think of Mondays coming down for the people that you knew and the one's that aren't around"

"It was cold when I awoke and the day was halfway done nearly spring in San Francisco and I still can't feel the sun"

"The gentleman caller in the blue suede shoes He don't know what to do He just wants to look good for you So he rushes in to tell you what he did today but he can't think of what to say I think you listen anyway. He wants to have a good time just like everybody He doesn't want to fall apart You watch him as he stutters over what to say It's just a little game you play"

"American girls, all weather & noise Playing the changes for all of the boys Holding a candle right up to my hand Making me feel so incredible If I made you cry, please tell me why Cause I'll try again if you let me try American girls all feathers & cream Come into bed so edible"

"You put your girl up on a pedestal Then you wait for her to fall I put my summers back in a letter And I hide it from the world All the regrets you can't forget Are somehow pressed upon a picture In the face of such an ordinary girl And when you sleep you find your mother in the night"

"On certain Sundays in November When the weather bothers me I empty drawers of other summers Where my shadows used to be And she is standing by the water As her smile begins to curl In this or any other summer She is something all together different Never just an ordinary girl"

"For all the things you're losing You might as well resign yourself to try and make a change I'm going down to Hollywood They're gonna make a movie from the things that they find crawling round my brain"

"I am covered in skin; No one gets to come in. Pull me out from inside. I am folded and unfolded and unfolding, I am colorblind. Coffee black and egg white. Pull me out from inside. I am ready, I am fine."

"And the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings."