Published Nov. 19, 2013 Lake Forest-born singer-songwriter-and whistling phenom-Andrew Bird dropped a new EP last Tuesday, I Want to See Pulaski at Night, which is streaming now on his website. He's on tour right now-coming to Chicago for four sold-out shows at the Fourth Presbyterian Church, December 9-12-but he took a moment to chat over email about the inspiration behind the new disc's six songs.
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“Verwandlung” is German for metamorphosis
This is the third track off of Hylas and it has an extremely graphic, NSFW music video to accompany it. Watch it at your own risk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdQhoYczwdQ
I'm so confused
Lying here alone locked up in my room
Oh the night is cruel
You Thomas Azier – Verwandlung
Lying here alone locked up in my room
Oh the night is cruel
You Thomas Azier – Verwandlung
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The extremely graphic, NSFW music video of “Verwandlung” adds context to the confusion and isolation mentioned in these lines.
The girl is literally locked up in a room in the video, which is paying homage to a horror film as Azier explains:
For me, the song explores the frighteningly thin line between making love and violence. It’s an homage to Claire Denis' Trouble Every Day.
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She knows it’s her that I want
She can see through my deepest dreams
My eyes on the hunt
I want to see her naked skin Thomas Azier – Hylas
She can see through my deepest dreams
My eyes on the hunt
I want to see her naked skin Thomas Azier – Hylas
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He’s looking over her like she’s his prey, except he just wants to kill it in bed. The girl sees through his look and can tell exactly what he wants.
I paint you a picture
Of Pulaski at night
Come back to Chicago
City of, city of light
Come back to Chicago Andrew Bird – Pulaski at Night
Of Pulaski at night
Come back to Chicago
City of, city of light
Come back to Chicago Andrew Bird – Pulaski at Night
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Bird is from Chicago, a city whose beauty is overlooked these days due to the extreme crime and murder rates coming out of the south side. Despite this, he finds beauty in the street lights of the city similar to fellow Chicagoan Kanye West.
Pulaski Road is a major north/south road on the western end of the city that runs 21.7 miles before turning into Crawford Ave. It is named after Casimir Pulaski, a Polish-born military commander in the American Revolutionary War. He was known as one of the “fathers of the American cavalry,” and Illinois celebrates him on the first Monday of March each year. Sufjan Stevens named a song “Casimir Pulaski Day” on his 2005 album Illinois.
Fun fact: Bird attended Lake Forest High School and Northwestern University
5 years
Here’s the direct quote from Andrew:
“The words “I want to see Pulaski at night” were spoken in a wistful tone by a visiting student from Thailand to my friend Shannon. We thought it was funny and absurd that it would occur to anyone to want to see Pulaski at night so it became a sort of catch phrase for my 20s in Chicago. At some point, it stopped being a joke and sort of sums up the bitter and sweet that comes with living in Chicago.”
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In an interview, Vance explained that the name of this song was inspired by a family vacation spot:
It was the Riptide Motel, and it was a rundown kind of retro place. That was the first time we ever went to this beach destination called Queenscliff, and we stayed there. And we went back year after year after year, and, I dunno, it just stuck.
The phenomenon for which the hotel was named is an offshore ocean current that often traps beachgoers and causes them to drown. It is estimated that these currents cause upwards of 150 deaths per year in the United States.
He implies that the woman is accepting the possibility of metaphorical drowning by embracing a new and dangerous lifestyle.
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He’s only doing the bare minimum to keep himself alive, while also keeping himself from getting sober (dry).
This line is an interpolation of a verse in the old traditional song “Rye Whiskey”:
Well I go yonder mountain
And build me a still
And I send you a gallon
For a five dollar bill
Well it’s beefcake when I’m hungry
Whiskey when I’m dry
And it’s greenbacks
When I’m hard off
And hell when I die
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A Chicago Bulls team without Derrick Rose wasn’t expected to go far, but Joakim has resurrected the Bulls' hopes. Noah contibutes from all areas, as evidenced by his three triple doubles this year.
2013-14 Stats
|PPG|RPG|APG|BPG|
|—|—|—|—|
|12.0|11.4|4.7|1.4|
He is known as one of the best passing and ballhandling centers in the league, is a major defensive presence and was named to his second All-Star team this season.
Jo’s performance, leadership, and guns are the biggest reason the Bulls are sitting at the #4 seed with a 34-27 record.
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The White Walkers are a race of giant, white monsters with glowing blue eyes. They resemble humans, but have the power to cause severe cold weather, blizzards and can bring back the dead as zombified servants.
At the end of Game of Thrones Season 3, a horde of White Walkers and their servants are approaching the wall, foreshadowing death like Grim Reapers
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I love the Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Minnesota Golden Gophers, March Madness, and any kind of college basketball.
Experience ;)
- Starting point guard for 8th grade B-team Champions
- 2013 Park District league champ
- Frequent pick up basketballer
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