(TV) U-2 / Bunnymen / "The Verlaines" / It's Yonki Time!

["Casey, Leo J" <CaseyL@VOLPE.DOT.GOV>]

Was it Robert Christgau who remarked cleverly 
(smart-alecally?) that U-2 were good, and all 
they lacked were some songs?  Yes, that was
probably in hindsight unfair of Christagau. 

I do like some of the "old" U-2
(say most stuff until roughly Zooropa[sic?]), 
a great deal, but I find many of their song
titles and some lyrics stick in my craw---l
leadenly pretentious, verbose, or cliched-ridden.  

I remember many years ago when the arc of 
Echo and the Bunnymen's career was heading
downward and U-2's popularity had rocketed 
past theirs.  Bunnymen Ian McCullough and 
Will Sergeant[(sp?] in an interview showed 
their total jealousy (which they tried---but failed
---to disguise as simple loathing for U-2's music).

I had previously investigated Echo and the 
Bunnymen's' music as they were compared by 
several 80s' critics as having been influenced or 
having a guitar sound akin to Television.  I was 
sadly disappointed after I bought them, and have
since sold them all (except for a guilty pleasure---
a copy Ian McCullough's 1986 solo album for its
sickening sweet song "Just Like Sugar", but with
some nice? guitar work).  My girlfriend (who had 
actually seen the Bunnymen (and Verlaine 
many times) live, asserted that Will Sergeant
was equal if not superior to Verlaine as a guitarist.
We broke up not over this remark, but I remember
thinking that judgement of hers was foolish in the 
extreme. 

On another topic:  I have always been slightly
puzzled at the MM List members (including 
the MM Archives pre-my joining, which I once
read over a one-week span) neglecting to 
mention/comment on the late 80s-90s' group, 
"The Verlaines".  I also checked out a couple of 
their records and thought they were awful; maybe
that's why no one ever mentioned them on the 
MM list?

Last but not least: "Yonki Time" is meant as a 
goof and a spoof---Verlaine is poking fun at the
serious, "arty" aspects of most of the lyrics of 
the pre-1979 Television and of his 1979 solo 
record itself.  

To quote Milo Miles in the 1979 Boston Phoenix
who explains it better than I ever could:  

"Yonki Time" is the most outrageous
juxtaposition of angles. Over a fragmented, 
calliope-tinged rhythm, Verlaine strings
a series of lyrics ("so nice, to meetcha, 
isn't it ... guess I'll take the garbage out ... uh,
what time did you say it was?") while a droll
chorus snorts, coughs, whistles, and shouts
,"It's Yonki Time!" The number is less charged
 than the other cuts with superhero guitar, but
 it's still insistent - light because sober Verlaine
 is pulling an out-and-out gag, but also tense 
because the call-and-response voices suggest
 a nervous straight surrounded by threatening 
pinheads. As the song lurches along, it's clear 
that Verlaine is parodying himself (the 
impassioned  poet reduced to non sequitur
small talk) - that it is Verlaine behind the
pinhead masks mocking his own sense of
control. "

But I'm with you all the way, Scott, on the 
"Rocket" which I have always maintained was
musical filler necessitated by Tom running out
of Television songs in the studio.   

	Leo

PS:  I  have a fantasy that if I ever met Verlaine 
in person I'd utter either, " So nice, to meetcha", 
or "My name is Leo, and I have a Masters in 
Verlaine Studies."  

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Neukam [mailto:scottneukam@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 1:49 PM
To: tv@obbard.com
Subject: Re: (TV) Uncut/Mojo TV articles

--- Dan Jones <dnljns@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Now compare that with the U2 song, "Elevation"
> 
> "A mole/
> Digging in a hole/
> Digging up my soul"
> 
> I rest my case

Come on now... U2 is not all that bad, and you could take a
few lines from just about any artist and "prove" that they
suck (Yonki Time,  or "Got a car / Gonna go / Gonna go go /
In my car" from The Rocket, anyone?).

I'm not really a U2 fan now-- don't own a single album
though I do like most of their singles-- and I know that
bashing the Eagles can get a little tiring, but surely we
can find more worthy secondary targets??  I hereby nominate
the Bee Gees and Heart.

If I do have one gripe about U2, though, it's that nearly
every song of theirs has that same damn modulated guitar
intro.

Scott
__________________________________________________
--------------
To post: Mail tv@obbard.com
To unsubscribe: Mail majordomo@obbard.com with message "unsubscribe tv"