Someone Secure A Mop Please, For I Have Melted Upon The Floor: The Guided By Voices/Robert Pollard Key Losers Song Series, Song #1

.
"the key losers . . .
the part-time players
the scrubs"
(r. pollard)


Back in August 2003, I attended a Guided By Voices show at the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky. Matador Records had just announced that they would be releasing a Guided By Voices "Best Of" CD containing 25 songs.

I ran into Robert Pollard before the show and I asked him: "So, how in the hell are you going to narrow the "Best Of" collection down to 25 songs?" He got very animated and said "No, man - I talked them into 32! I first said 28 and they said 'no problem' so I said - what the hell - how about 32 then?"

Three months later "The Best Of Guided By Voices: Human Amusements At Hourly Rates" was released and, sure enough, it contained 32 great GBV songs just as Bob had promised (and a great cover photo!):


. . . . . . . ."Trust the wizard - here we go!" (R. Pollard)

I am still very surprised at how well the album "plays" since "greatest hits" or "best of" releases tend to be a little clumsy and awkward since, by definition, they cover a long period of time. But of course, like every other Guided By Voices fan, I started thinking about the songs that Bob *should* have included.

That's where "Someone Secure A Mop Please, For I Have Melted Upon The Floor: The Guided By Voices/Robert Pollard Key Losers Song Series" comes in. The Guided By Voices songs selected for this series were not on the "Best Of" release and yet they either:

1) melt my heart

2) goose my flesh

or

3) bring tears to my eyes

In my opinion these songs represent the "great unknown" in the Guided By Voices/Robert Pollard canon of song. I suspect that songwriters all across this land would kill for any one of these songs, but each one was deemed not worthy of the "Best Of" release.

Put that in your pipe for a second and smoke it.

OK - time's up.

I will initially limit my selections to songs available on youtube. Please keep in mind that many of the videos vary in quality, and in most instances, were made independent of the band.

Bottomline: it's the song that matters.

So without further adieu, I present song #1 in the "Someone Secure A Mop Please, For I Have Melted Upon The Floor: The Guided By Voices/Robert Pollard Key Losers Song Series":


"Redman And Their Wives" (1996)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qksGCbENelc



Redman And Their Wives

fall out of bed
they're issuing lives
for redmen and their wives

offering hands
and twiddling thumbs
for dreams that never come

it's often said:
"you better not look away
you'll lose the day"

the way I see it
it's already lost
"so then be it" they say

they're sharpening knives
and primitive lives
for redmen and their wives

breadwinner and klutz
and losing it all
before the one eyes shuts

well I see it
as paying the price
nobody feels it these days

well I'd like to go
and kiss them away
well I'd like to know another way

did you notice that
they're taking back lives from redmen?
just to give them time
to find the light
and all the things
that bind with fright
a killer's waking up this time
to rob us clean
and leave us blind
they'll never see it shine
no they'll never find the time . . .

.