Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Pacific Coast Highway

Track 3 on side 2 of Sister is called "Pacific Coast Highway."

People love horror films. slasher films, serial killers, and supernatural murderers. Does Sonic Youth like horror films? I have always gotten that impression from the song "Pacific Coast Highway." 
One of Kim's darker compositions, it depicts the story of a serial road killer told from the killer's point of view. "Come on get in the car let's go for ride some where, i'll make you feel real good you'll make me feel so crazy."

This song has a sort of "mellow" break in the end right before the final chorus. I like to think of it more as a "lounge act." A few moments to let the listener calm down before the final end. The dream like guitar sound makes you feel as if you are running from the killer himself and manage to find a few moments of peace where you feel as if he's gone. But not for long!!

The band has a tendency to title a song before they REALLY title a song. "Pacific Coast Highway" appears on the track listing of Sister but the liner notes has an additional listing that titles it "PCH." The spelled out version could have been a working titles because live sets list the song as "PCH."

Sonic Youth has always had a way of playing nothing but the current release live and then on the next tour only play a song or two from the previous record. PCH was last played in '87 before it came back as a regular from '93-'96. Often used as a encore. A ten year gap went by and PCH got some play in 2006! With many of the older forgotten tunes getting another go around in 2006, it is no surprise this little gem got resurrected. 

no video. sorry!

1 comment:

Juan Horsetown said...

Mike Watt's side project Dos did a great cover of this one with just two basses and Watt singing. It has a weight to it that the Sonic version doesn't. And it's listed in the tracklisting as "PCH."