Pretty Mouth
the.tourist@excite.com
Tue, 16 Feb 1999 12:24:41 -0800 (PST)
And what a pretty mouth she has: PJ Harvey.
I don't know who's interested, but it pertains to Salinger so why not?
On PJ Harvey's most recent album, Is This Desire?, we find a couple of
Salinger references. The first comes from the album's first track,
"Angelene," where we find the quote, "Rose is my color and white / Pretty
mouth and green my eyes." PJ rearranged the first line of that quote just a
little bit, syntax-wise, to fit the rhythm. The song itself has little of
nothing to do with the story, so far as I can tell.
The other, more convoluted reference belongs to a song called, "A Perfect
Day Elise." The title is an obvious allusion, but the song's story is
different. A man gets "lucky one time / hitting with the girl in room 509",
is kicked out by the girl, subsequently takes a short walk on the
beach--some beach imagery more reminiscent of Camus than of Salinger--and
then, returning to the hotel, we have some Seymourish images: "He got
burned by the sun / his face so pale and his hands so worn." The character
then "Let himself in room 509 / said a prayer, pulled the trigger an
cried."
As the man in this song cries after pulling the trigger, I guess we can
assume he didn't kill himself but the girl, Elise. It's an interesting song
that was obviously heavily influenced, if not entirely based upon, the
story.
Incidentally, Ms. Harvey was nominated for a Grammy. She won't win, she's
far too brilliant, but it's encouraging to those of us who bring our high
aesthetic standards into pop music as well to know that someone in the
Academy is at least listening--although perhaps listening to the critics
instead of PJ Harvey herself.
If you've got this far, thanks for bearing with me. Just thought I'd throw
it out.
More obscure Salinger references coming later.
--Brendan
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