Art-as-Art

1983

Programme notes

‘Art-as-Art’ is probably the oldest song that I still do, originally written in San Diego. Wil Parsons, a drummer, came up with the idea of playing the beat backwards, which remains the song’s opening signature. ‘Art-as-Art’ was unabashedly inspired by the writings of the Abstract Expressionist painter Ad Reinhardt who for years made only black paintings. Eventaully, this song made it onto the first Analecta CD and into ‘Art Songs,’ a project with Kleg, a multiple-electric guitar band from Groningen, the Netherlands.

Lyrics

Shiny black pictures that hide out of light
Ad’s funny poems are such a delight
Green comes up green
wherever its seen
Art-as-art

Scratches in darkness in rooms painted white
Let’s read about it and call it a night
Concepts are concepts
When do we start?
Art-as-art

Get drunk, take acid and walk through a garden
Paint fences and streetlights and sign ’em when they harden
Colors aren’t colors
after they dry
Art-as-art

Sharp angles
No tangles
Triangles
A square
Lines that cross
Heavy gloss
Those drippings look like dental floss

Fore and fro
Here we go
Spread that paint
Put it where it ain’t
Water it down
Thicken it up
Mix it in your coffee cup

TV and movies, they’re messing up our heads
Sexual encounters are messing up our beds
Shave your head, paint your bed
Purify us as we’re led to
Art-as-art