Cotton Crown

The second to last song on Sonic Youth's 4th L Sister is called "Cotton Crown."

This song represents another first for the band, a duet! Kim and Thurston must be one of the most famous couples in rock history, strange how it took 4 records to make a duet happen. Strangely enough "Cotton Crown" is not a  typical love song.

The first line of the song makes a declaration of love "love has come to stay in all the way" as if love has come and gone all this time. "feels like a wish coming true, feels like an angel dreaming of you." Ok maybe it is a typical love song. Not something easily pulled off though. This song represents love for the city that bore the music the band has been playing, New York City. A bond that can't be broken and a city that has yet to fall. "Angels are dreaming of you" could that the city is being watched over and taken care of and wearing a "cotton crown" could be Thurston taking responsibility for the city's well being. King of New York?

Typically sung only by Thurston when played live. "Cotton Crown" often gets spelled as "kotton krown" on setlists. The song was used frequently as an opener during the 2002 Murrary Street tour. "Cotton Crown" never really went on hiatus either. It often popped up in sets from 1990-1996. 2000-03 saw the song back again in rotation.

video soon!

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!

Hot Wire My Heart

Track 2 on side 2 of Sister is a cover song called "Hot Wire My Heart."

Sonic Youth's first officially released cover song! Originally recorded by the punk band Crime and written by Johnny Strike. Unlike the Kim Fowly cover of "Bubblegum" that appeared as the b-side to Starpower, the band took the time to learn this song! One of the few songs in this era that were played in standard tuning. 

Rarely played live. Last known performance is 9-30-87.

Tuff Gnarl

Side 2 of Sister begins with one of my favorite songs "Tuff Gnarl."

"Tuff Gnarl" was an ever evolving song. Some of the working titles were "Sea Smart" and "Really Fast." The band manages to give youa great image lyrically and then crash it down with a noise jam. Typical? Yes. But "Tuff Gnarl" is a song that belongs to this collection.

The song depicts a sort of punk rocker or hard core kid coming of age. "He's running on a tufff gnarl in his head, he's got a fatal erection in his head, he's really smart and he's really fast, he's got a hard tit killer fuck in head." Thurston uses images of sex to describe this coming age. The character in this little story seems to have discovered the joys of sex and is trying to channel the urges somewhere else. Hardcore advocates were typically straight edge which usually meant no smoking, drinking, drugs of any kind and even no sex. The young man finds solace in music as a way to calm down "mental tool box explodes in music creates utopia, gnarls out the nerves."  Thurston even makes a Big Black reference by using the words "sonic pig pile."

"Tuff Gnarl" has not been played since 1987. This is upsetting because its one of my favorite songs. Maybe it will make a triumphant return someday.

Funny performance from 10-13-87.

Pipeline/Kill Time

The 5th song on the LP Sister is called "Pipeline/Kill Time."

Like many records to come, Lee takes the vocals! By this time Lee's writing has bene evolving and his songs have begun to take shape from simple spoken word noise jaunts to full blown melodic noise jaunts.

This song has several parts to it. After each set of lyrics a different break in between verses is used until the song does a build up, but doesn't come to a crashing end! The then moves into an entirely different song accompanied by a MOOG. Thurston claims that the band began trying to extend out some of the jams in places but "Pipeline" allowed for an extra noise jam which ebcame "killtime" which could easily be what the band calls it, just killing time? filling up space?

Pipeline/Kill Time" wasn't exactly a staple in the set in '87 and was often "fucked up." Lee explained later the band could never get it right and he could never remember the words. The song also could have had a short life due to the fact it is the most reminiscent of the "Confusion" days. Last known performance was on 10-16-87.

Video from 10-13-87.

Stereo Sanctity

The 4th song on the LP Sister is called "Stereo Sanctity."

Sister is just like any other Sonic Youth record in that its plagued with its own "sound" issues. EVOL (as I mentioned before) had a very hollow reverberated sound. Sister claims a more muffled sound. In fact, one of the attracting factors in using Sear Sound Studio to produce Sister was the fact the soundboard was an old 24 channel board that still used vacumm tubes. Thurston claims you can "hear" the tubes humming in several places of the songs. In fact, the sound of the electricity pumping through the tubes can be heard ALL OVER the record. Total silence is actually in the key of A-flat, I wonder key tubes hum in? The guitars on Sister get a more "raw" sound with some grit. The drums in fact come out muffled. Despite the bands best efforts to "cool off" the drum sound, they came in too warm! make sense?

"Stereo Sanctity" could easily be a pre-cursor to grunge. Its fast and abrasive and leaves little time for thought. Again, we are dealing with the idea of "cyber-punk" or futuristic punk rock. The grunge explosion is only a few years away. The drums are very pounding while the guitar utilizes a more noise riff rather that the three previous songs that have recognizable riffs. The breakdown though is quite melodic and creative.

The lyrics are what drive this song the most. Alot like "Schizophrenia," this song takes inspiration from writer Phillip K. Dick. "I can't get laid cause everyone is dead!" is one of many exact quotes from Radio Free Albemuth.

Although is was performed nightly in 1987, the song never really made it past the initial touring outing for Sister. It came back briefly in 1993 but has not been played since.

This video is another from 10-13-87.

Beauty Lies In The Eye

Track 3 on the LP Sister is called "Beauty Lies in the Eye."

Lee uses an acoustic guitar on this one. That should be an indication of where the song could go or not go. "Beauty" follows two upbeat songs and why? Why place the exotic violent love ballad third? For the first time, Sonic Youth actually takes some time to place the songs in a cohesive running order.

The music is slow and loud. Lee composed the music using 4 guitars all in F#F#C#C#C#C#. A wall of sound type method was used layering each guitar along with some droning on the top two strings. The track was completed  solely by Lee but Kim provided the vocals. Kim sings a melody along with the C# strings and paints the picture of a violent love story. "Do you want to see the explosions in my eye?" she asks in a very powerful manner as if the person the question is being directed to is in for something terrible. Power of woman?

When played live, Thurston played bass, Lee played guitar and Kim sang. Steve got a break. The live version on "Hold That Tiger" bootleg is rather different mostly because of the fewer sounds from the band. It still holds up but not enough to come back into the set. "Beauty" has not been played since 10-24-87.

The band made a video for this song. It can be found on the Screaming Fields of Sonic Love video. I found it on YOUtube but it won't let me post it. If you are that interested in seeing it, just check it out on youtube.

This video is from 9-14-87 Atlanta, Ga.