I'll open this post with one of the greatest opening verses in music history:
In 1984, I was hospitalized for approaching perfection
Slowly screwing my way across Europe, they had to make a correction
Broken and smokin' where the infrared deer plunge in the digital snake
I tell you, they make it so you can't shake hands when they make your hands shake
I know you like to line dance
Everything so democratic and cool
But, baby, there's no guidance when random rules
David was a very troubled individual who had some good patches wherein he created wonderful art. His parents divorced when he was 7 and split him across the country. His father, Richard Berman, was a lobbyist and partner with some insidious forces that consistently battled labor unions and various humanitarian causes; he once said that he broke up Silver Jews because they would never be enough to undo "one millionth" of the damage his father caused to the world, so he dedicated a period to unearthing the disgusting nature of his lobbying. I think this is key to understanding what ate away at him.
At his best, he was an astonishing lyricist and talented melodicist who kept to the country tradition w/r/t his chord progressions while remaining an indie rock trailblazer with the help of Stephen Malkmus. You can hear a good amount of Pavement influence in their earliest work and fans of the band at their most placid (think the country tracks on Wowee Zowee) will find a lot to like.
After a decade in the wilderness, mostly reading Jewish texts and publishing on his blog, he put together a new band with members of Woods called Purple Mountains. Their album was full of lyrics detailing his depression and recent breakup with his wife Cassie, who was a bassist in Silver Jews. They had very different lifestyles by the end; on the album, he depicts a relationship damaged by his introversion, which was a major part of his personality.
I want to be tantamount to cordial
Tantamount to good
I want to be a warm and friendly person
But I don't know how to do it
She can't make it to her car
Without making a new friend
She's a small-town superstar
Everybody hollering her name
As a fan going back 10 years, I have many warm memories attached to his music that I'm trying to hold onto in this very dark time. American Water, an absolute masterpiece and one of the greatest albums of the 90s, was the first album I discovered before Ashley and I started dating, and it's been a frequent part of my rotation ever since. That album has always been a way of marking time and losing David feels like the end of a period in my adulthood.
This loss reminds me very much of Bowie informing us of his struggles on Blackstar, only to lose him shortly thereafter. This track in particular is barely listenable for me now. I can hardly stand it:
The dead know what they're doing when they leave this world behind
When the here and the hereafter momentarily align
See the need to speed into the lead suddenly declined
The dead know what they’re doing when they leave this world behind
And as much as we might like to seize the reel and hit rewind
Or quicken our pursuit of what we're guaranteed to find
When the dying's finally done and the suffering subsides
All the suffering gets done by the ones we leave behind
All the suffering gets done by the ones we leave behind
Ghosts are just old houses dreaming people in the night
Have no doubt about it, hon, the dead will do alright
Go contemplate the evidence and I guarantee you'll find
The dead know what they're doing when they leave this world behind
This world is like a roadside inn and we're the guests inside
And death is a black camel that kneels down so we can ride
And when the dying’s finally done and the suffering subsides
All the suffering gets done by the ones we leave behind
All the suffering gets done by the ones we leave behind
On nights that won't happen
Time we won't spend
Time we won't spend
With each other again
Nights that won’t happen
Never reaching the end
Nights that won't happen
We can't even begin
We can't even begin
Anyway, that's all I can say for now. We can all focus on his mental struggles in light of the way he passed, but I would rather emphasize his songwriting talent. Please listen to American Water and The Natural Bridge, enjoy them and recommend them to others. His music always should have been more popular, but it wasn't in the cards. He rarely even toured. I was contemplating buying tickets for his September 22 show here with Purple Mountains, but the tour never even began. It was going to start on Saturday.
