vignettes of the nite LVV: “come on down to the store”

Tonite I listened to Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, 1988,  for the first time in years, and I was reminded of how much I like the song, The Sprawl.  Kim Gordon wrote the lyrics, and while there’s been much speculation as to what they mean, according to the band’s biography, Goodbye 20th Century, 2009, they were based on “various mumblings of hookers and junkies on Eldridge Street” that she overheard and compiled. Having lived on Eldridge Street in the late 90s, I found that anecdote especially interesting. She probably lived further north than I did as my loft was in Chinatown just north of Grand St where there were no junkies or hookers (except in nearby Roosevelt Park). Although 10 years earlier who knows…

Anyway,  as is my habit I found myself looking for live versions and came across this 1989 performance in Leeds. While the recording is shitty, there’s something extra vivid about the delivery, conveying who the band was then, still raw – witness the audience members freely stage-diving – if already critically acclaimed.  Another vid from 2007, shot in HD,  obviously offers much better sound quality (for the audience members as well, I’m sure), and is, by contrast, a study in fame and time. Watch them back to back and you’ll see what I mean.

“The Sprawl”

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