Favorite song of the week: “Paris Is Burning” by St. Vincent
Paris Is Burning EP
Released: 2006
This week was filled with quality new songs, but the one I played the most is an older one, though newly acquired. As previously mentioned, St. Vincent merch table was selling her EP Paris Is Burning for $5, and though the second track “What Me Worry” is a fine tune with jazzy singing, and the third, a cover of Nico’s “These Days”, is just as excellent, the title track is alone worth 5 bucks. Written by Annie, it is by itself evidence of her exciting talent. It gives me goosebumps.
“Paris Is Burning” begins with foreboding French horns that would go nicely with a murder scene in a black and white movie. And the kind of tension that would go along with such a scene is sustained throughout the song. Picking words from the lyrics itself, especially in the light of the waltz rhythm introduced in the second half, “Paris Is Burning” is somewhat of a “black waltz.” The lyrics are simple enough, but poignant and well-arranged, and Annie’s got a way of adding eeriness when she sings them. The first few words, sung slowly over acoustic guitar:
I write to give word the war is over
Send my cinders home to mother
They gave me a medal for my valor
Leaden [?] trumpet spit
The soot [?] of power
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And the chorus, with the addition of drums, bass and some electric guitar:
We are waiting on a telegram
To give us news of the war
I’m sorry to report dear Paris
Is burning after allWe have taken to the streets in open
Rejoice, revolting
We are dancing a black waltz
Dear paris
Is burning after all
I read someone’s reference to Winona Ryder just now, in discussing the way Annie looks. When I saw her first show, however, the first person that came to mind was Anne Frank (and not because of the first name!). I thought, “Oh, it’s almost as if Anne Frank has turned 24.” So now that I have this song and am listening to it repeatedly, this first intuitive connection makes perfect sense to me, though given that it’s still just an intuition, it must be further investigated.
In the end, she repeats desparately before the forlorn French horns come back in:
Dance dear Paris
Ashes now
Dance for people
Dance and drown
Dance dear Paris
To the ground
Goosebumps! So. Help me with the lyrics if you can.
Previously:
