Mecca Normal Rockumentary

Описание: This was part of a songwriting session in 2009. It follows our usual method, in that Dave has music and I don't have any words written down, but perhaps we'd been talking prior to hitting the record button, prior to me hearing the music, so this is the first time through, my first time hearing the music.

It gets into story-telling mode, and there's way too much of my giggling (which might be annoying), but now that it's 2026 (over 15 years later) it's fun to hear this account of experiences on tour.

If you try to lay the pieces flat
across the rocky ground
or stack them up
shuffle them around
you could take one frame
and build out the sides

You could cross the bridge to an island
beyond where the wall once stood
you could be there in the white room
for the afternoon and into the night
but what you recall when you build to the sides
is the man in the rain at the side of the road
when you were lost and trying to find
the bridge to the island
and he had a sign

Do you remember that guy?
It was in East Berlin. We were trying to find Die Insel
to play our fabulous magical show
and we were totally lost because they'd changed all the maps
and street signs since the wall came down
we were actually in East Berlin
and they put a guy out there in the rain just for us to say, "Go this way!"

You could look at that and forget the history of Germany

Many years later on a stormy night in Washington DC
it had been a hell of a day
driving the highway south
to the Motel 6
branches flying
rain and thunder
we almost didn't want to go to our show
but we did

And when we saw the club
which we'd never been to
we pulled up out front
and we sat there a minute
because it was still really really rainy
and this guy appeared with an umbrella
for us!

You remember that?
And that made everything in that moment
and now
seem good
and it was a good show
we had a good soundman
and there were a few people in the audience
we were happy they were there
and they laughed in all the right places

So you can take the pieces
and lay them out on the ground
the rocky ground it keeps moving
and the edges blur
and the people shift and come and go
and you try to remember their names
and the dates
and which show that was
where something special happened
like at the Knitting Factory when...
somebody brought us a cake... a tort, it was, in fact...
we were opening for the X... [listen for the story]

So you can take the pieces and lay them flat
on the rocky ground
and try to remember
who came to the show
and who was always around
like Billy Ruane
was always around in Boston
you couldn't go to Boston without getting a whole lotta books
and CDs and records
and maybe a kind of purple shrine for the dashboard of your car
maybe a potted plant or something from Billy Ruane

Anyway, you can shuffle that around
all around

Done now. Well, not 'we're done'
but the song's gotta end.