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Swan Lake - "Spanish Gold, 2044"
After listening a few times, the "bullwhip by the nightstand" really stands out lyrically.
I've had that lyric floating around in my mind for a few years. I think it addresses zones of violence and non-violence. One of my students is from Rio de Janiero. She told our class that when she goes home she has to force herself to remember that she is not in a place where she can, for example, walk around with her iPod, because it is an open invitation for someone to rob her. This reality, in a zone of violence, is simply not a reality in my city, which is a relative zone of non-violence. So the lyric kind of addresses this zonal dichotomy, but to the extreme right? I mean, what could be more peaceful and fucking representative of peace then Juilliard, a zone solely devoted to churning out/refining young genuises of art? And kids, young genuises, come from around the world right? So what is it like when you get home, if you live in a zone of violence? If your home is Mexico City or Rio or Baghdad but you've been living in this bubble of a dorm room for three years refining your violin genius, how does it feel to return to "reality" after this experience? It must be incredibly hard!
What's the significance of the title "Spanish Gold, 2044"?
Spanish Gold 2044 is both a reference to the "Kokomo"-like Matthew McConaughey-style back-ups that I begged Dan and Spencer to do, which they loved to do, given our collective love of old "NO SHIRT NO PROBLEM," and it is a reference to that aforementioned "Adventure-weapon" bullwhip lyric. I am making fun of myself. All of my songs are a balance between serious, heavy-handed statements about "society," and then making fun of myself for making these statements in song.
Tags: Swan Lake
