Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 60/61 - 2005

61
2005/09/22, Cafe de la danse, Paris
Dragonfly pie

More than a year after the june 2004 performance, 'Dragonfly pie' makes its return to the live set. This time it's well rehearsed and the twists and turns are set in stone. This is the version that would open 'Real emotional trash'. The Paris version is just try-out for the killer performance some 10 days later in a Radio One studio though.

62
2005/10/03, Radio One session
Dragonfly pie
For you (Liquid cross)

Recorded during a short tour with interim drummer Joe Plummer standing in for John (I think, unless John was back already at this point), these two track points to the future and cap the past, and more importantly, both are outstanding.

'Dragonfly pie' -

Still the first finished 'Real emotional trash' song – and it's finished alright. You can tell this song's been worked on. The structure of it, the arrangement, the solos, most of the lyrics are identical to the released version (recorded some 18 months later). There are only a couple of lyrical variations and the distinctive sudden ending is here replaced by a slightly longer solo fade-out.

With the introduction of the Fuzz Factory which would feature so heavily on the album, another key element of 'Real emotional trash' is in place.

In the introduction Stephen mentions singing it like Ozzy, and it's the first song we hear where the Jicks incorporate that characteristic early '70s heavy rock groove (over melody or chord progressions, for instance).

If pushed, I slightly prefer this radio version to the released album version, and that makes it my favorite performance of the song. Something about the recording – it's very dry, very little audio sweetening, and I really enjoy the sound of those cymbals ringing and fading out for a really long time. The guitar tone is just a little less piercing, more rounded and enjoyable to me. I've got to mention the excellent job the drummer does on these two songs – on this one you can barely tell the difference from the later Janet Weiss drums.

'For you' -

An adaptation of an obscure Liquid Cross song, as Stephen introduces it.

'Dragonfly pie' points forward, this cover is a culmination of 'Face the truth', the soul searching, tackling the meaningful songs head on, and all that. (I might even go back further, sometimes I hear it as the fullfilment of the promise of 'Fly' – it's got the same majestic organ accompaniment by Mike).

'For you' is a love song:
You are my destiny
Nothing can change the way I feel
I love you

It's also a song about growing up, as it proceeds:
If I never got the chance to tell you [that I love you]
It's because I'm acting so adult now
Things can change from day to day

I know I'm reading too much of my own ideas into it, but see, growing up, you can't avoid it, but it's not just progress, you lose something. Like here, because the singer takes on the adult's perspective on relationships, he's no longer able to tell her he loves her forever, which is what she needs to hear. And, for all the progress the Jicks will make in their more adult, more considered, more focused career (from 2007 onwards), there are also layers of meaning that they won't be able to express that they sometimes, maybe without consciously setting out to do so, expressed in the preceding years.

I get goosebumps when they go into the part where he sings:
Just like the wind, you drift away.

He didn't tell her, and she's gone.

Anyway, this should've been released as a 7” single with a killer a-side and a total treasure of a b-side. No kidding, one of the highpoints of the Jicks's career.