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In uno di quei talent show per bambini prodigio che cantano alla grande e stanno sulle balle a tutti, Ben Kweller non avrebbe sfondato.
Eppure è di un ex bambino prodigio a tutti gli effetti che stiamo parlando: primo disco da cantante/chitarrista/compositore pubblicato a tredici anni, secondo a quindici. Poi che i Radish fossero un gruppo orrido non c'è dubbio, ma Benny nel novantaquattro era veramente un cucciolo e credo che gli si potesse perdonare la nirvanite acuta, anche perché un po' di talento veniva fuori, lui era già evidentemente bravissimo a suonare e cantare - mentre noialtri a quell'età imparavamo a nostre spese che il Topexan è solo per uso esterno - e soprattutto non era come una di quelle sagome pettinate e incravattate di bambini alla tv che cantano O' sole mio col vibrato perfetto e tutto, altrimenti volano gli schiaffi: Ben Kweller era un giovanissimo autentico.
Finalmente, a ventun anni, primo disco solista per il ragazzo californiano che si lava i denti in copertina. Disco della semi-maturità. Roba impensabile oggi che King Krule è merce più unica che rara e lo spostamento in avanti dell'età per qualsiasi cosa un po' ci butta giù: ma parliamo di dodici anni fa, ormai quasi tredici, e le cose erano ancora sensibilmente diverse.
Comunque Sha Sha è uno di quei dischi così permeati di umori adolescenziali che suonano sempre freschissimi, tipo Bandwagonesque e i primi due Weezer; le cordinate d'altronde sono quelle: power pop, armonizzazioni vocali onnipresenti o quasi, distorsioni college e ballate elettriche. Ben Kweller aggiunge al lotto il piano - che suona lui, tra le altre cose - e così la partenza e il matto intermezzo d'organetto elettrico di How It Should Be (Sha Sha) potrebbero far pensare a un cantautorale alternativo sghembo e schizzato tipo Beck: un pezzo di bravura per tre voci. Ma Wasted & Ready - nella quale fa addirittura capolino un corno, o comunque qualcosa di simile e molto Pet Sounds, e pure i campanelli del Natale (qualcuno mi dica come si chiamano in realtà) - è power pop da radio del college fino al midollo, un'outtake di Pinkerton, la canzone che Rivers Cuomo nel duemiladue non sarebbe riuscito a scrivere, perché si era già fottuto il talento. Tra l'altro il timbro di Kweller e il gusto nelle linee vocali ricordano (ma tanto) proprio il primo Cuomo, cioè l'unico Cuomo possibile. Per Harriet's Got A Song potremmo reclamare un posto nell'Album Blu e davvero non mi vengono in mente complimenti migliori. Uguale per Commerce, TX. Family Tree coi suoi Bop Bop e le sue deliziose armonizzazioni, ci dice che il ragazzo ha fatto sue un paio di cosette dei soliti Beatles e non può che essere buon per lui. Falling, perfetto piano pop di chiusura, ci dice che forse il business ha sottovalutato un po' Ben Kweller - potenziale macchina da soldi mangiaBillboard - e non può che essere buon per lui.
Viva la giovinezza, che si fugge tuttavia. E fanculo Gerriscotty.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 How It Should Be (Sha Sha) (01:51)
When I was a movie star an asteroid had hit the earth and prematurely ended my career.
I thought out loud but no one heard me saying:
Nothing isn't nothing nothing’s something that’s important to me. That's right. And everyone’s a little nothing that is how it should be.
That's right.
That's right.
sha sha. sha doo .
When I was an astronaut I bought a fancy charm.
I thought you'd like it but you called it cheap and at my feet it fell like:
So sue me its up to me if I decide to be what I think is right. And don't bother me when I'm watching Planet of the Apes on TV.
That's right.
That's how it should be.
sha sha. sha doo .
So sue me its up to me if I decide to be what I think is right. The sound it found the ground and it hid it for free.
That's right.
That's how it should be.
sha sha. sha doo .
03 Family Tree (04:22)
Bop bop.
Care about the moonlight
and holding you tight
and asking my questions.
Everyone loves a situation.
Long walks on the beach.
The press will impeach.
Lately I'm finding
I am the book and you are the binding.
I gues they'll read everything about you.
Though the press might shoot me down I'm still true.
I sell my book for free. That's what you do to me.
Oh, you are my family tree.
Be good to me
Take care of me.
Bop bop.
There's hotels in the sea,
Trash in the sky,
The net-dustry's growing.
Stick to love songs kid, that's all you're knowing.
They push you away
or tie you up.
It don't really matter.
But if your head is up you won't get much sadder.
But who am I to preach a word or two
when I can't even lift my own head without you?
In my mental state kept you from coming around
I hope the world would shoot me down for losing you.
A broken branch I'd be if you weren't grown to me.
Oh, you are my family tree
Be good to me
Be good to me
Be god to me
Take care of me.
Bop bop.
04 Commerce, TX (03:28)
I got a bad flavor. I got dirty clothes.
I got a strange neighbor who doesn't have curtains on her windows.
I got a pet hedgehog. Drinking Jäger all day.
You got my Crate combo and a baby on the way but it's OK.
It's gonna take a lot of time before I can cross that finish line.
And when I can't take the fall I really wanna make that call.
"Ooh ooh ooh ooh oooh ah ah ah"
That's my new best friend. Ann Disaster's her name.
We're passing out on the carpet and our attributes are the same.
It's the slacker lifestyle that we do so well.
Bills are due on Monday and I'm oblivious, can't you tell?
It's gonna take a lot of time before I can cross that finish line.
And when I can't take the fall I really wanna make that call.
My brain is super-fried. It involves pain to look inside.
It's gonna take a lot of time before I can cross that finish line.
And when I can't take the fall I really wanna make that call.
"Ooh ooh ooh ooh oooh ah ah ah"
It's gonna take a lot of time before I can cross that finish line.
And when I can't take the fall I really wanna make that call.
My brain is super-fried. It involves pain to look inside.
It's gonna take a lot of time before I can cross that finish line.
And when I can't take the fall I really wanna make that call.
05 In Other Words (05:34)
Another night slips away.
In other words I should say
there are no words he should say.
There are no words.
In his eyes I see the fear
that only time can disappear.
If only time could reappear.
Now's the time.
Something to take it away.
To take it away. To take it.
Don't let it stay.
Don't let it stay. Don't let it.
The butterflies are passive/aggressive
and put their problems on the shelf
but they're beautiful.
And he'll realize the only thing that's real
are the kids that kid themselves, and the demise
of the beautiful. What is beautiful?
The multi-life is better than
the one we're in - the one we knew.
'Cause everyone is seeing through
everyone.
They're stepping on his gold terrain.
He's moving on with bold refrain.
His blatantly old campaign
Is moving on.
Something to take it away.
To take it away. To take it.
Don't let it stay.
Don't let it stay. Don't let it.
The butterflies are passive/aggressive
and put their problems on the shelf
but they're so beautiful.
He'll realize the only thing that's real
are the kids that kid themselves, and the demise
of the beautiful. What is beautiful?
What can't stay goes away.
What can't stay goes away.
It starts stopping when it stops stopping. repeat X9
yeah
ahh yeah
ooooooo yeah yeah yeah repeat x 3
ooooooo yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah ooooooo
08 No Reason (03:54)
Let me get lost.
I'll drive you around `til I run out of gas.
Find me a boss.
There are ripples in my tea cause an
earthquake's coming.
And there's people meeting on Mars
And people driving in their cars
And kids are laughing under the stars today.
Let me go hide.
Find a box to put BK inside.
Things are so well.
We're blowing shit up only you could tell.
And there's people meeting on Mars
And people driving in their cars
And kids are sleeping under the stars today.
no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason to cry.
I'm going against
Every person that I once walked with.
Things are happening.
My cat is sleeping and my jade tree's dying.
And there's people meeting on Mars
And people crashing in their cars
And kids are kissing under the stars today.
no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason to say goodbye.
no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason to...
no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason reason
There's no reason to cry. (say goodbye)
09 Lizzy (04:08)
Sign me up I volunteer.
Votes are in for lifeguard of the year.
Her feline past lives are plain.
Their singularities are shown in this life again.
Like mamma said,
"Don't you let it go to your head
when you know you're being fed."
I'm so proud to know you.
Lizzy I'll write, I'll sing,
telegraph, telegram, telephone, tellin' you
I'll be home soon. Dienu.
We will wake when kitty licks.
And in the morn work takes her to Maine.
Dressed and out the door by six.
Tomorrow is the first time LIZ can't board my plane.
Like mamma said,
"Don't you let it go to your head
when you know your book is read."
I'm so proud to know you.
Anna will take me to the port
as Liz drives up I-95.
Me and my darlin' keep love alive
even on Texas time.
And like my mamma said,
"Don't you let it go to your head
when your town is painted red."
I'm so proud to know you.
Lizzy I'll write, I'll sing,
telegraph, telegram, telephone, telling you
I'll be home soon. Dienu.
ooohh... dienu,
dienu,
i love you.
11 Falling (04:00)
Wind is cold alright back in Dallas
When neon light from the building
Lets you know you're home
You'd go way back when
If you wanted to be my friend
Do you call me
I'll understand it's true
I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling down
Just say hello to the ground
Bah bah bah bah bah bah
Wait there, I'll be right back
Down in Times Square
It's a heart attack
All the feeling
That makes you feel so new
Hey, trees fall and so do men
Even the walls start caving in
And you feel like there's no pretend for you
I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling down
Just say hello to the ground
We could talk if days weren't so fast
And mistakes just leave it so unsure
Wanna hold you like never before
Cause we're falling and I love you more and more
Do you feel like you're falling down
Do you feel like you're falling down
I don't feel like I'm falling falling falling down
I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling down
Just say hello to the ground
Bah bah bah bah bah bah
I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling
No I don't feel like I'm falling down
Do you feel like you're falling down
Do you feel like you're falling down
I don't feel like I'm falling falling falling
Just say hello to the ground.
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