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Il canadese Hayden Desser è uno dei cantautori nordamericani più interessanti da ormai una decina di anni. “Everything I Long For” – suo eccellente debutto a 33 giri – risale infatti al 1996. Sebbene non sia stato mai baciato da significativi riscontri commerciali, Hayden merita ampiamente una dissertazione sulla sua musica. In “Everything I long for” il songwriting del nostro eroe batte infatti con sicurezza ed estro ispirato i migliori sentieri di quel cantautorato americano che, nel decennio scorso, era stato splendidamente contagiato dai detriti del grunge e del lo-fi di scuola Sebadoh.
Il classico campionario folk – acustico viene quindi arricchito da spietate aggressioni chitarristiche reminiscenti i Nirvana e da dissonanze assortite, proprie del miglior Lou Barlow. Il risultato è quasi sempre eccellente, e lo testimoniano riuscite ballate sporche come “Lounging” o “Hardly” , o le melodie deviate di “Stem” , “When This Is Over” o “ You Were Loved” , mentre l’ iniziale “ Bad As They Seem” rende omaggio, sia nel riff che nel testo, alla immortale “Cowgirl In The Sand” del maestro Neil Young. Hayden è un musicista semplice, eppure sa incantare specialmente grazie a una voce da brividi, da perfetto adolescente, con cui modula falsetti alla Young e disperati vocalizzi alla Vedder. “Cantautorato da cartone animato” lo si potrebbe definire, non dissimile da alcune cose proprie del repertorio di Beck in quegli anni. Benché dell’ autore di “Loser” Hayden non disponga certo della stessa visione musicale, il talento intrinseco nello scrivere canzoni è certamente più sopraffino.
Il pathos e l’ immaginario sprigionati da Hayden sono lontani dal teenage angst cobainiano o dagli inquietanti scenari di un Elliott Smith: è puro slackness, inteso come storie di noia, slanci vitali e solitudine nei quartieri middle class delle metropoli nordamericane, e in tal senso il riferimento più intelligente per il Canadese è quello dello slacker per eccellenza, ossia J Mascis. Certi quadretti minimalisti come “We Don’t Mind” o “I’m To Blame” hanno proprio il languore tipico del Giovane dinosauro. Ma Hayden dimostra di non saper vivere solo di luce riflessa, specialmente nell’ epica “Skates” : quasi sette minuti di spleen annoiato e disperato, in un crescendo da brividi. Apice di un disco da conservare in bacheca: come la foto di un vecchio amico ormai perso di vista, ma che ogni tanto si rifà vivo.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Bad as They Seem (04:34)
Girl of my dreams...
Things are as bad as they seem
She is only sixteen
That's why she's only a dream
Woman of my dreams...
Lives right down my street
Has a daughter who's sixteen
That's why she's only a dream
What do I do this for?
Got to get out some more
Go down to the grocery store
Meet someone I'll adore
Someone who'll make me laugh
Someone to be my better half
Keep me warm under the sack
Share with me my midnight snack
Job of my dreams...
Things are as bad as they seem
Working where I did at fourteen
Making less pay it seems
Chorus
House of my dreams...
Things are as bad as they seem
My parents' house I'll stay for free
Until I'm at least fourty-three
Chorus
02 In September (02:40)
I don't need to
Take this shit from you.
And I don't want you
Calling me up at 2.
Just to tell me that some guy you met who,
While at a party, told you that he loved you.
And I don't Need to know this
Need to know this
And I don't wanna know this
wanna know this
Tell me the way they are with you
Tell me exactly what they do
Things that you say don't need to proove
That what i have is much to loose.
And I don't need to
Take this shit from you.
And I don't want you
Calling me up at 2.
Just to tell me, that some guy you met who,
While at a party came just looking at you.
And we never should have said that, In September
We shouldn't go away but stay together.
Tell me the way to be with you.
Tell me exactly what to do.
Things that you say don't need to proove,
That what I have is love for you.
for you
for you
03 We Don't Mind (04:32)
it was a tuesday morn in November
i slept at your house the night before
we couldn't wait to get up to go for
a big breakfast in an old fashioned diner
a full meal six coffee refills later
we both have to be at work in an hour
let's call in sick i suggest to her
i'll call your boss and tell her that you're under
the weather, you'll call mine, you will tell her
that i'm very sick and that
you're my mother
so we walk down the street
looking for a phone booth we
rehearse what we're going to say
so that we can have this day
away...
we find a phone booth with room for two
i call your boss and i don't speak the truth
they're pretty mad about you but they'll get through
you call my work in my mother's voice
they believe you
and it starts to rain outside
in our phone booth we hide
it doesn't let up until 5
squished together we don't mind
we don't mind...
04 Tragedy (03:56)
Broken bottle won't hurt me
Nothing worse that I have dreamed
Gun shot in my chest you'll leave
I can take that you will see
Late at night is when I dream
Horrible things are what I see
Hard for me to believe
I wake up and I won't freeze
Car crash highway tragedy
Nothing worse than I have dreamed
Loss of my best friend I grieve
I can take that you will see
05 Stem (01:46)
I bought a rose
to give to you
a windy day
the petals flew
from the stem
to the street
i tried to catch them
with my feet
i got to your door
you looked to see
through the people
right at me
you let me in
and i just froze
i gave you a stem
that was a rose...
that was a rose
06 Skates (07:17)
When I was younger, a part-time job worker
Department store centre, I saw a man enter
He was middle-aged, deep lines on his face
Tight mouth and eyes glazed
Eyelids just half-raised
And I looked at him, he looked at me
He looked so sad, I had to see
What did he want, what could it be
What had he been through before me seeing him
In the store I worked for that year, that year
Ice skates he asked for, In the middle of summer
He wanted a good pair, the price he did not care
I looked for his size, our best pair he tried
Costom back and sides, excitement in his eyes
Chorus
I asked are you a pro, he looked sad and said no
These skates are my last hope
Without them i cannot cope
And he said my wife, she drowned this summer
Behind our house, the river took her
I cannot swim, I need to find her
I will wait till it freezes over
And then I will skate, as far as it takes
I will skate as far as it takes, to bring her back home
To bring her back home, to bring her back home
Back home
07 I'm to Blame (02:25)
I considered your letter
I understood your questions
I'm wasting away,
I've gone astray,
Take me away,
I know what you'll say.
I'm to blame,
didn't want change,
things can't stay the same way.
Come get me, I'm ready
My minds changed
will you take me?
I'm wasting Away
I've gone astray
Take Me away
I know what you'll say
09 Driveway (04:32)
baby on the drive,
time is almost five
laundry basket i
sit in while lee tries
to tell me i should know,
tell me i would grow,
sticking fourteen stones
gently up my nose.
so i shoved one up
until it got stuck
five more then i'm done
playing with lee's no fun,
dad came out the front door and he saw
only lee sticking a rock
up his nose while i just watched
dad chased him around the block
dad caught him real quick
then he gave him shit
hospital by six
his nose the doctors fixed.
i sit on the drive
waiting till they arrive
nose is full inside
trying to stay alive
lee was too scared to tell dad how many
stones up my nose no one says
till one day a bleeding face
stone falls from my nose they say
they say
15 My Parent's House (04:34)
Time, time when you stayed over
We stayed in bed forever
The mail piled at the door
Time, we lost track of the hours
Pizza boxes tower
The floor beside the bed
Time, our bodies sore from something
It surely wasn't walking
Our friends thought we were dead
And I can't recreate those times we used to have
Without you they'll be bad
Let's meet next month at my parent's house they'll be
Away like they were then
Away like we were then
Time, you met someone new
Someone who likes you
Not like I liked you
Time, you ask him if he'll mind
Of course he'll surely mind
So just leave him for me
And will you meet me and we'll try to set things right
I want things to be right
And I bet we'll stay in bed for days and never leave
I never want to leave
We never have to leave
16 Lounging (12:30)
We saw a movie where the hero had
This may sound silly such honour and
He protected all those he loved
With such power it made me glad
When we left the show I know it's so
Different from those days long ago
I held your hand, didn't let go
Until you were safe inside you home
The hero's family and friends all died
He couldn't help them, matter how he tried
Fate was stronger he could not deny
The story moved me I almost cried
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