ladyislingering

I don't actually remember. I've been so drunk, day and night, for the past few days that I can hardly remember how my week went, let alone a plug session. You're ok.

When Sparks moved overseas, they were actually compared to Bowie and Roxy Music quite often (I think Ron and Russell actually brushed shoulders with the boys of Roxy in an airport during that time and nobody said a word to one another - but I could be mistaken) for their theatrical, quirky value alone.

One of my favorite things about Sparks is that the Mael brothers didn't actually set out to be musicians in their youth. It was just something they thought they'd try (I think both of them were actually set for art school after they finished high school but I'd have to refresh my memory yet again to be absolutely certain) and it turned into a lifetime career. They'd had no special training whatsoever before they started their journey.

Speaking of which, at the time "The Louvre" was recorded, Russell Mael didn't know how to speak French (later in his life this would improve substantially - Russell is now fluent in the language) and the song had been originally written in English. Being the Anglophiles they were, they felt it necessary to have Josée Becker (whose musical career began and ended just there) translate the lyrics into French.

It's just a song about a statue that's bored with being a statue and would very much like to leave the museum.

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Josef K

Nice journal, will be following. Hopefully you stick with it long enough to get to Lil Beethoven - that's pretty solidly their best IMO.

ladyislingering

It'll come.

L'il Beethoven was a bizarre, incredible album - yet another sharp turn for Sparks' musical style, but they managed to pull it all together as if it wasn't anything new to them. We'll get there, man.

I think we'll wrap up Woofer tonight.

Here's a sweet bundle deal:

"Batteries Not Included/Whippings and Apologies"



"Batteries Not Included" is a brief reflection of childhood rage.



Then follows "Whippings and Apologies" - a blunt nod to nutso Christian parents and child abuse, daughter in question perhaps pursuing a boy her parents didn't think was holy enough.



Both Halfnelson/Sparks and A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing were, to put it gently, unsuccessful in the united states. Ron and Russell would soon part ways with the Mankey brothers and Harley Feinstein in order to relocate to London - their mother's homeland. Having grown up especially amorous of the English way, it seemed the perfect plan.

By the way, Ron and Russell actually did visit the Louvre a couple years later.

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