“…I looked up, half hoping to see the thing from my dream, but all I saw was a sky full of stars”. (M. Everett)
Sospeso tra il cielo e la terra, tra la voglia di abbandonare un tempo e uno spazio con cui un tormentato come lui non può che collidere, e la scelta di resistere al terrore che lo circonda, Eels, al secolo Mark Everett, è l’ultimo discendente di una stirpe di cantautori che, da Nick Drake a Daniel Johnston, passando per Beck, Lisa Germano, Smog e molti altri, non hanno mai temuto di dare sfogo alle proprie insicurezze e di raccontare la loro realtà di perdenti.
Composto in seguito alla morte della madre e della sorella, 'Electro-Shock Blues' è di fatto un concept sul concetto di perdita, di assenza, e sulle sconcertanti sorprese che quella perfida e sghignazzante nemica che è la vita spesso ci riserva; in un sound che coniuga il folk alla sperimentazione più sfrenata, intriso di angoscia e nervosismo, Eels riassume e sublima i conseguimenti di un’intera generazione di losers.
Il suo è uno stile di contrasti appassionanti, che riceve l’acqua della vita dall’accostamento tra le parole dure e corrucciate, di chi non vedrà mai asciugarsi la sorgente del proprio dolore, e i ritmi spesso gioviali, nonché dalle melodie elementari e innocenti e da quel suo modo di canticchiare umilmente neutro e dimesso.
L’introduttiva “Elizabeth On The Bathroom floor” è l’agghiacciante resoconto di un’anima smarrita che cammina sull’orlo della depressione, fino a precipitare nel vuoto (“My name’s Elizabeth, my life is piss and shit”). Un ritmo vagamente funky smuove ulteriormente il terrificante realismo di “Going To Your Funeral” (“…and feeling I could scream”), mentre una tensione spasmodica, suggerita da un arrangiamento esangue e dissonante, impedisce di canticchiare tranquillamente il pur orecchiabile ritornello di “Cancer For The Cure” (“The kids are digging up a brand new hole/ where to put the deadbeat mom”).
Le disturbanti “Hospital food” e “The Medication Is Wearing Off” fanno pensare al sorriso beffardo di un folle che conosce una verità orribile, ma che nasconde ancora tra le mani un sogno che stenta a morire. La graziosa “3 Speed”, intonata nella più completa solitudine, esprime lo smarrimento di chi non sa trovare un senso alla propria pena (“Why won’t you just tell me what’s going on”), mentre la mesta ed esitante “Electro-Shock Blues” riflette lo sconcerto di chi è costretto a convivere col fantasma della propria follia. Quando si circonda di ombre, per intonare l’angelica melodia di “Dead Of Winter”, sembra di sentire il lamento di chi ha scelto di rinchiudersi per sempre nel suo guscio di dolore. Questi ultimi tre brani non sono poi tanto lontani dal folk più tradizionale, ma un’atmosfera ovattata e lugubre le trasporta miglia e miglia lontano da tanto pallido cantautorato odierno, incapace di dare voce alle turbe del cuore.
Eels si perde nel labirinto delle sue nevrosi: il ritornello pop di “Last Stop: This Town” non riesce ad infondere al disco quel po’ di vitalità in cui l’ascoltatore spera prima o poi di imbattersi. Semmai finisce per aumentarne lo spaesamento (“You’ re dead, but the world keeps spinning”). Cotanta tensione non può che confluire in un brano chiave come “Climbing up to the moon”, in cui il suo timbro disincantato intona una struggente lullaby che si culla in continue aperture melodiche, trasformando nel frattempo la sua tragedia in un dramma concreto e palpabile, privo di una soluzione davvero attuabile (“Got my foot on the ladder and I’ m climbing up to the moon” ).
Chiude il disco "P.S. You Rock My World”, sorprendentemente aperta alla speranza, e il messaggio è chiaro: il dolore non genera solo dolore, e da esso per quanto raccapricciante, si può e si deve sempre rinascere (“Maybe it’s time to live”). Ma dopo tante piccole e grandi ferite, è impossibile una vera e propria catarsi.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor (02:08)
Laying on the bathroom floor
Kitty licks my cheek once more
And I could try
But waking up is harder when you wanna die
Walter's on the telephone
Tell him I am not at home
'Cause I think that I am going
To a place where I'm always high
My name is Elizabeth
My life is shit and piss
03 Cancer for the Cure (04:46)
The kids are diggin up a brand new hole
Where they put their deadbeat mom
Grandpa's happy watching video porn
With the closed caption on
And father knows best
About suicide and smack
Well hehehe
Cancer for the cure
Cancer for the cure
Buckle up and endure now baby
Cancer for the cure
Old blue eyes is back again
But he was never here in the first place
A heart attack may be something to fear
But take a look out back
'Cause courtney meets love
And so do i
Well hehehe
Cancer for the cure
Cancer for the cure my baby
Buckle up and endure now sweet thing
Cancer for the cure
Cancer for the cure
Cancer for the cure my baby
Buckle up and endure now sweet thing
The cancer for the,
The cancer for the,
The cancer for the,
The cancer for the cure
The cancer for the cure
The cancer for the cure
The cancer for the cure
The cancer for the cure
04 My Descent Into Madness (03:54)
La la la la la la la la la
Springfield's looking pretty dusty today,
I see their dreams coming undone.
The view from inside ward nine affords this much
A town teeming with the unloved
Close the window and lock it so it's good and tight
La la la la la la la la la
la la la la la
Turning eighteen and trying not to look too lost
-Have a not so nice day-
The jacket makes me straight so I can just sit back
And bake.
You know I think I'm gonna stay
Talking very loud but no one hears a word I say.
La la la la la la la la
la la la la la
La la la la la la la la
la la la la la
Come visit me at eight o'clock and then you'll see how
I am not the crazy one
Voices tell me I'm the shit
Twenty days go by and every day looks the same
Same same same same
La la la la la la la la
la la la la la
La la la la la la la la
la la la la la
I'm the shit
05 3 Speed (02:45)
Got a 3 speed and banana seat
Sitting back on the sissy bar
Went to Sev and got a drink
Wish I was driving in daddy's car
And I looked up at the sky last night
And I thought I saw a bomb
And why won't you just tell me what's going on?
Riding down on Springhill Road
Meeting Alfred out in the woods
Dogs bark and mosquitos bite
Scratching the itch that makes it feel good
And I looked into the mirror last night
All I saw was a pretty blonde
And why won't you just tell me what's going on?
Life is funny
But not ha ha funny
Peculiar I guess
You think I got it going my way
Then why am I such a fuckin' mess?
Want a pony and a birthday cake
Want a party with a scary clown
Kneel down and bow to the princess
Kneel down for the queen of the town
And I looked up at the sky last night
And I thought I saw a bomb
And why won't you just tell me what's going on?
Tell me what's going on
06 Hospital Food (03:23)
Comin' through the alley tryin' to walk without a sound
It doesn't really matter 'cause there ain't no one around
Tiptoe through the alley and tiptoe through your life
You still got it coming be it a gun, be it a knife
Next thing you know
You're eating hospital food
Karaoke castration, take the wasp alive
He's gonna sting you anyway and take you to the hive
Yesterday was suckin' and tomorrow's lookin' bad
Who knew today was the only thing I had?
What?
What?
I could hear you.
I was, uh...
Hospital food
Want some hospital food
Hospital food
Delicious hospital food
In your tribute album to the world you must never forget
To sing the one about the cat who's always gettin' wet
He's always got a problem, he's a very bitter dude
And now he's complaining 'bout his hospital food
Hospital food
It's gonna help the medicine go down
Want some hospital food
Gonna take a walk without a sound
A little hospital food
Helps the spoonful of sugar come up
I want some hospital food
In your blender and in my cup
Hospital food
Hospital food
Hospital food
Hospital food
11 Baby Genius (02:03)
Baby genius
Look how you've grown
Where do you go from here?
Didn't we have some good times
After all is said and done
Small body and small mind
Big head and big headaches
My back is broken, baby genius
Find another ride
12 Climbing to the Moon (03:38)
So I wrote it all in a letter
But I don't know if it came
The nurse she likes my writing
So she keeps it just like me
So that it won't get away
I won't be denied this time
Before I go out of my mind
Over matters, got my foot on the ladder, and I'm
Climbing up to the moon
Got a sky that looks like heaven
Got an earth that looks like shit
It's getting hard to tell where
What I am ends
And what they're making me begins
I won't be denied this time
Before I go out of my mind
Over matters, got my foot on the ladder, and I'm
Climbing up to the moon
Saturday in the yard
They'll bring you by
We'll lay down on the grass
And watch as the sky closes in
I won't be denied this time
Before I go out of my mind
Over matters, got my foot on the ladder, and I'm
Climbing up to the moon
Climbing up to the moon
13 Ant Farm (02:11)
Hate a lot of things
But I love a few things
And you are one of them
Hard to believe
After all these years
But you are one of them
Walk down the streets
I'm thinking:
Everybody move along
I've got a sad-hearted needing
To belong
Nevertheless
It's all the mess you made
But I can't let it go
Walk down the streets
I'm thinking:
Look at all the ants in a farm
I've got a sad-hearted feeling
To harm
Hate a lot of things
But I love a few things
And you are one of them
14 Dead of Winter (02:59)
Standing in the dark outside the house
Breathing the cold and sterile air
Well I was thinking how it must feel
To see that little light
And watch it as it disappears
And fades into
And fades into the night
So I know you're going pretty soon
Radiation sore throat got your tongue
Magic markers tattoo you
And show it where to aim
And strangers break their promises
You won't feel any
You won't feel any pain
And the streets are jammed with cars
Rockin' their horns
To race to the wire
Of the unfinished line
Thought that I'd forget all about the past
But it doesn't let me run too fast
And I just wanna stand outside
And know that this is right
And this is true
And I will not
Fade into
Fade into the night
Standing here in the dark
15 The Medication Is Wearing Off (03:51)
See this watch she gave me?
Well it still ticks away
The days I'm claiming back for me
The medication's wearing off
Gonna hurt not a little, a lot
Keep on tickin' you're not lickin' me
Step on a crack break your mother's heart
Red light green light black
Suicide e-mail do not delete
Plug it back in the jack
Start to be what they want you to be
And you see yourself as they see you
Sunrise at the corner of
Sunset and Alvarado
I think what the hell do I do now
Watch the day disintegrate
So I can stay up late and wait
See this watch she gave me?
Well it still ticks away
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