There was a period in my life when I often wrote the words to a song by the Yachts on bathroom walls.
“I wouldn’t climb any mountain for you
Ford every stream
That’s a daft thing to do
Because I’m cynical cynical cynical
Through and through.”
That’s a clever but obvious turn on Climb Every Mountain, but is it worth the effort? Almost certainly not.
In hindsight, for any graffiti I wrote, I was an ass.
From the current perspective, this is a pretty weak new wave song with a cleverly cynical lyric (and energetic Farfisa organ). I loved this song enough to write it on bathroom walls. That doesn’t reflect well on me.
I hope this works.
I was big on “free your mind, your ass will follow.” But you must have seen lots of the best graffiti, Peter, you were there at the peak from like 1972-76.
I’m sure I saw good graffiti, but the best I remember is: Look down. The joke is in your hand.
The graffito that I believe I invented that matters most was:
G
DEVO
N D
O
Or something like that. There were many ways to arrange it. Especially with a sharpie. But the fact that we had Eno and Devo together seemed, incredible. At the time.
This particular song doesn’t really stand out for me, but I still really like “Yachting Type,” “Suffice To Say” and “Look Back In Love (Not In Anger)” even after playing them to death on my college radio show.
[I replaced the original post, which was unhelpful and best forgotten, at 2:16 pm on October 8, 2013]
Your college radio show? At the same college I went to? At roughly the same time? Doesn’t it seem possible you planted these earworms originally? Or maybe it was something in the wind, like a sail.
Playing all these songs today, I’m struck how often I played this album back then, but what I recalled was the cynical angry one. And what I forgot was just how throwback this sound was. The harmonies and lyrics could land in the middle of a Hollies album and feel quite at home. There’s even a little steel drum sound on Look Back In Love (Not in anger).
Always liked “Yachting Type,” extra points for imagination and for making something out of what by rights should have been nothing.