So swivel!

Ny perfekt umiskendelig og stilig og opkørt single med Pulp, "Spike Island" med det bedste motto for den fortsatte kritiske praksis:

I was born to perform
It's a calling
I еxist to do this
Shouting and pointing

og nogle linjer længere henne dette præcise imperativ: 

So swivel*!

*"to (cause to) turn around a central point in order to face in another direction:

She swivelled round to look out of the window.

The ostrich swivelled its head in our direction."

Jarvis' metaforkataloger

- apropos metaforist-hitlisterne nedenfor: Jarvis Coker, mester-metaforist ud i sangskriverkunst og specialiteten: Sammenligningslistesangen:

TO MØRKE LISTER

- fra bonus track'et (This Is Hardcore) "Like A Friend!

You are that last drink I never should have drunk
You are the body hidden in the trunk
You are the habit I can't seem to kick
You are my secrets on the front page every week

You are the car I never should have bought
You are the train I never should have caught
You are the cut that makes me hide my face
You are the party that makes me feel my age

[Refrain]
Like a car crash I can see but I just can't avoid
Like a plane I've been told I never should board
Like a film that's so bad but I gotta stay till the end
Let me tell you now, it's lucky for you that we're friends

- fra Weeds-nummeret "Bad Cover Version"

Ah, sing your song
About all the sad imitations that got it so wrong

It's like a later Tom and Jerry
When the two of them could talk
Like the Stones since the eighties
Like the last days of Southfork
Like Planet of the Apes on TV
The second side of 'Til the Band Comes In
Like an own-brand box of cornflakes
He's going to let you down my friend

LYS LISTE

- fra nummeret "Everything I Cannot See" på Charlotte Gainsbourgs plade 5:55 (OG JEG FIK BILLETTER TIL CG-KONCERT I FØDSELSDAGSGAVE FRA MIN ELSKEDE, TAK! OG HVAD JARVIS SKREVET HAR OG CHARLOTTE SYNGER, DU!)

You're my life, you're my hope
You're the chain, you're the rope
You're my god, you're my hell
You're the sky, you're myself
You're the reason i'm living
You're all that i have to discover

You're the rain, you're the stars
You're so near, you're so far
You're my friend, you're my foe
You're the miles left to go
You are everything i ever wanted
And you are my lover

Debora nr. 3

2 sange om Deborah (navnet på titelpersonens udkårne) nævnes og afspilles i Edgar Wrights kviksølvs-fornøjelige Baby Driver (titelpersonens udkårne hedder Deborah), T. Rex's "Debora" og Becks "Debra", men 1 mangler jo, Pulps "Disco 2000", der som bekendt begynder således:

"Well we were born within one hour of each other.
Our mothers said we could be sister and brother.
Your name is Deborah. Deborah. It never suited ya.
Oh they thought that when we grew up we'd get married, never split up.
We never did it although often I thought of it.
Oh Deborah do you recall.
Your house was very small with wood chip on the wall.
When I came around to call you didn't notice me at all.
I said let's all meet up in the year 2000."

Pulps mest Nikolajsenske sang (med MAGAZINE-linje)

"Like A Friend"

Don't bother saying you're sorry / Why don't you come in
Smoke all my cigarettes again / Every time I get no further
How long has it been? / Come on in now, wipe your feet on my dreams
You take up my time / Like some cheap magazine
When I could have been learning something
Oh well, you know what I mean, oh / I've done this before
And I will do it again / Come on and kill me baby
While you smile like a friend / Oh and I'll come running
Just to do it again / You are the last drink I never should have drunk
You are the body hidden in the trunk / You are the habit I can't seem to kick
You are my secrets on the front page every week
You are the car I never should have bought
You are the dream I never should have caught
You are the cut that makes me hide my face
You are the party that makes me feel my age
Like a car crash I can see but I just can't avoid
Like a plane I've been told I never should board
Like a film that's so bad but I've got to stay till the end
Let me tell you now: it's lucky for you that we're friends.

Den ultimative anti-anti- og derfor kun NÆSTEN melankolske meta-sang

er selvfølgelig Pulp's "Something Changed", der insisterer på ikke at være melankolsk, for om to timer mødes de, og alt bliver lykkeligt, men det er for fanden netop ikke sket endnu, og det er selvfølgelig ikke umuligt, at det måske vil ske - men det er for fanden en Pulp-sang og musikken er heller ikke ligefrem lystelig - så derfor er det til syvende og sidst en kun MÅSKE melankolsk meta-sang, men er måske-melankoli i virkeligheden ikke endnu mere melankolsk end stensikker, klokkeklar melankoli, der jo netop er en dejlig tryg melankoli?:

I wrote this song two hours before we met.
I didn't know your name or what you looked like yet.
Oh I could have stayed at home and gone to bed.
I could have gone to see a film instead.
You might have changed your mind and seen your friends
Life could have been very different then but something changed.
Do you believe that there's someone up above?
Does he have a timetable directing acts of love?
Why did I write this song on that day?
Why did you touch my hand and softly say.
Stop asking questions that don't matter anyway.
Just give us a kiss to celebrate here today
something changed.
When we woke up that morning we had no way of knowing
That in a matter of hours we'd change the way we were going.
Where would I be now if we'd never met.
Would I be singing this song to someone else instead I dunno
But like you said something changed.

Pulp Poetry

God (gammel), lystig og kynisk og bare løsagtig sang, Pulp har indspillet som julegave til deres fans, der jo så ikke kan lade være at håbe intenst på en FAKTISK NY PLADE i det nye år, og Tesco'er var der overalt i London, åbent 24 timer ligesom 7-eleven, som jeg til gengæld ikke så nogen af!?

AFTER YOU

On the last night on earth when the horses run free
The scriptures foretell of a party in Hackney
In a dimly lit room crammed with loathing and hate
They’re selling their souls and I just can’t wait

I shrivel inside at the sight of her beauty
I fall to the floor as she’s shaking her booty
The rain makes me shiver; the wind turns me blue
Oh – the things we get up to, to get through the night after you

I knew it was wrong; I began to suspect
When she reached over and pressed the eject
I was up to the gunnels against your advice
I felt so ashamed that I did it twice

From disco to disco; from Safeway to Tesco
We’re shopping around from the cradle til death row
From Tesco it’s down to the 7-11
To chase through the night time, to chase through the night after you
After you

I can’t explain why I need to be free
But if you need to be naked that’s alright by me
It’s the fast track express to the graveyard, I know
So what are you waiting for? Hey ho, let’s go

From disco to disco; from Safeway to tesco
We’re shopping around from the cradle til death row
Don’t stop til the train has pulled into the station
I’ll hold the door for you – no, I insist, after you
After you
After you

Improviseret frygt for hunde og hvepse (gaven Jarvis)

En af de bedste julegaver var Jarvis Cockers Mother, Brother, Lover. Selected Lyrics med ikke bare (så godt som) alle de bidende følsomme tekster, men også hyper-informative NOTER til (så godt som) alle de bidende følsomme tekster, bl.a. transskriberede impro-sekvenser fra live-optræden med "His'n Hers", hvor Jarvis efter oplistningen af ting, han frygter, "I'm frightened of Belgian chocolates/ I'm frightened of potpourri/ I'm frightened of James Dean posters" spørger publikum, hvad de er bange for:

Keele University in October 1994:
JARVIS: Maybe you can tell me ... can you tell me what people in Keele are frightened of? Apart from getting crushed against that wall there. What are you frightened of?
GIRL IN AUDIENCE: Pardon?
JARVIS: I want to know what you are frightened of?
GIRL: Dogs.
JARVIS: What? Sorry?
GIRLS: Dogs!
JARVIS: Dogs. It's not a very well-known fact ... you've probably seen a lot of nature programmes, yeah? And in these nature programmes they make out that man was descended from the apes. And at at one time we were all walking around like this, yeah? We evolved to stand upright and drive cars. And er ... support football teams. But recent research ... recent research has proved that man is not descended from the apes as had previously been believed, but man is actually descended from dogs (...) this will explain lot of behaviour you get to see at night clubs and discos. Yeah like a dog sniffs a lamp post ...

Eller endnu skarpere improviseret på STIKordet "hvepse" i tv-programmet Butt Naked, også 1994 (og åh, Jarvis er også mit danse- eller bare bevægelses-idol):

Bonusmareridt

En hidtil usynlig sang fra en til bevidstløshed klassisk plade der som pludseligt bonustrack bliver næsten uudholdeligt nærværende og derpå hjemsøgende - eksempel "You're a Nightmare" fra xtra-cd'en på luxusudgaven af Pulps (HVORFOR spiller de ikke på Roskilde!?) His'n Hers, som har forfulgt mig aggressivt ret præcist et døgn nu, når det ikke er mig, der aggressivt har forfulgt den, som da jeg kom ud fra Empire i går ved midnat (efter at have set Super, hysterisk sjov og følsom anti-superheltefilm med Rain Wilsom og Ellen Page) og jeg ikke længere havde sangen i hovedet, men desperat VILLE have sangen i hovedet og satte den på repeat, straks jeg kom hjem, så jeg kunne falde i søvn til det taktfaste ekko af my man Jarvis Cocker croonende det perfekte omkvæd for 17 år siden:

All day / I'm doing fine / 'cos there are things / to pass the time
Smoke a cig / and drink some tea / watch a programme / on TV
I just don't care where you are now / 'cos I'm sorted out, and how
I've got it all set up you see / But when I close my eyes it happens to me
You're a nightmare / and you've made it all wrong
You're a nightmare to me / Oh hoh / You're a nightmare
oh and I just can't see / why you should keep on happening to me
oh yeah / aah / Well it stopped some time in May / whilst you were still away
Was I in bed or on a bus / doing something pathetically ridiculous?
I never noticed it at first / But when you came back it got worse
It's the idea of you, you see / when I close my eyes it happens to me
Oh you're a nightmare / and you've got it all wrong
You're a nightmare to me / Oh hoh / You're a nightmare
and I just can't see / why you should keep on / happening to me
You're a nightmare / and you've got it all wrong
You're a nightmare to me / Oh hoh / You're a nightmare
and I just can't see / why you should keep on
happening / happening to me / Oh oh oh
And there were hotel bedroom birthdays / sleep in factory hallway
I remember always Yeah there were hotel bedroom birthdays
and sleep in factory hallway / I remember always
Why do you keep on / hanging round
Can't you see it gets me down?
Because when I look at you I see / somebody I just don't want to be
Oh woh you're a nightmare / and you got it all wrong
You're a nightmare to me / Oh hoh / You're a nightmare
and you just can't see / why you should keep on / happening to me
You're a nightmare / and you've got it all wrong
Yeah you're a nightmare to me / Oh hoh / You're a nightmare
and I just can't see / oh why why you should keep on / happening to me
You're a mightmare / and you've got it all wrong
Oh you're a nightmare to me / Oh hoh / You're a nightmare
oh and I just can't see / why you're / why you're
you're always hanging around / you're always hanging round
You're always hanging around / You're always hanging round
You're always hanging round / You're always hanging round
you're always hanging round / You're always hanging round.