black from death star. that's where you are.

Mikah and I were talking about how it's more fun to invent lyrics of songs and it made me remember how I'm always changing lyrics to Purplechickens' songs. Like in "Common Cold," the lyric is "It rocked through all my life, it shunned all holidays..." but I sing it "It rocked through all my life, except most Saturdays..." (to which Mikah said, "Because you can't go out on Saturdays?") and in "Cream Mountains," I'm singing, "And I've decided to fade away..."

I think the Purplechickens songs beg for misinterpretation, as Aldus writes in a manner that would make even the most learned Postmodern Foucault-wannabe stop and wonder. Much of his poetry is like this, but so is his prose, his academic essays, even the feature articles he once wrote for Legmanila and the press releases he wrote for me. It's smart, but there's often an IQ prerequisite to get him. Anyway, I think it's mostly fun to mishear his songs so much that he does it as well. In "Dream Systems," the original line goes, "Back from that star, that's where you are..." but I've heard him sing it, "Black from Death Star..."

One of their songs that I miss-sing is an old song, "Digit Con," a clever, catchy piece about getting a blow job. While there's a wealth of lyric to mishear, such as

In a Clinton-cloudy ride
I've been hearing all the wild signs
Heaven's in my head
I keep cringing all the while
I can't bake myself a smile
till now...

I basically miss-sing the start of the chorus, which goes, "She dipped my head..." and sing, "She licked my..." at which point Aldus is always stopping me and correcting me in a most desperate tone. We know it's about getting head, but other people don't need to, after all. Still, I like "licked" over "dipped." How do you dip someone's head anyway? And what fun is that?

While remembering this song (it's very old and not on either the EP or the album itself), I suddenly had this craving to hear it. It's one of my favorite Purplechickens songs, I believe one of their wittiest. Hey boys, revival!

Mikah tells me how the Cocteau Twins are a band he mishears a lot because the vocalist sings like her voice is one of the instruments. I like that, I was thinking Waya sings that way and I want to use that idea in my book. It reminds me of how I like the way Tori Amos and Shannon Hoon sing like they're playing with their voice and trying to get all kinds of sounds out of themselves. But how to translate into prose? Aah, a challenge.

Did I mention that Tos was supposed to be in the movie (now book) also, as the singer of The Manox and Maria's friend with whom she tries to write songs with? Yes, this songwriter inspires me this much. I wonder if he'll let Maria sing "Digit Con." I mean, I did, once.