Fillmore Jive
| Title | Fillmore Jive |
|---|---|
| Artist | Pavement |
| Album | Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain |
| Release Date | 1994-02-14 |
| Description | The epic seven minute closer to Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain about disillusionment at the end of “the rock n' roll era” and the current music scene. Its unconventional structure is loose and doesn’t follow typical verses, choruses, and bridges. Instead, it is a jam-sesh burst of ideas intermixed with guitar solos, which may seem disorganized at first glance, but contain a deep grasp of the era it came from and the message it wants to send to the listeners. Half of its title comes from The Fillmore, a famous historic concert hall in San Francisco, is home to the psychedelic movement of the sixties and seventies and the rock revolution of the 80s. The Who, Pink Floyd, and the Grateful Dead are among the many bands who played there and helped shape Pavements sophomore album. The reference to Fillmore in the title “Fillmore Jive” is a response to the the death of the eighties rock era and the birth of the nineties punk movement. The other half, “jive” is a contrast to the song itself. It’s an anachronism, both in style and feeling, coming from the twenties era as a style of dance, it evolved into forties slang referring to the foolishness of a thought or object. In the context of the song, jive is used as a juxtaposition to the intensity of the content of the song highlighting the foolishness of what rock and roll has become in the eyes of Pavement. Ironically, the band never got to play at the Fillmore, they played at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco a mere ten days before the Fillmore was set to reopen. None other than Smashing Pumpkins, a band criticized earlier on the album, was the headliner for the inaugural night at the Fillmore. This controversy reaffirmed the bands belief in going against the grain, Scott Kannberg, guitarist, shouted “Fuck the Fillmore!” during the band’s final set. The sentiment is further intensified by “Fillmore Jive” itself, seeing that the song is about the intrusion of punk music in the era of rock and roll. Some interpret “Fillmore Jive” as a eulogy written for the death of rock and roll music, because there is a sense of respect while bidding farewell to the 80s rock era; however, if Pavement would have known about the betrayal that came from the very subject of their ode, they perhaps would not have written the song in the first place. |
| Lyrics | [Verse 1] Hey lady, what do you need? Do you think you'd like to come and bleed with me? I'd like to invite you to a taste of my chalice It's a special one, it's made of gold (Passed out) Passed out on your couch You left me there, thank you Let me sleep it off, I need to sleep it off I need to sleep, why don't you let me? I need to sleep, why don't you? [Chorus] I need to sleep I need to sleep I need to sleep I need to sleep, why won't you let me? I need to sleep I need to sleep I need to sleep Why won't you Why won't you let me sleep? [Instrumental Bridge] [Verse 2] The jam kids on their Vespas And glum looks on their faces The street is full of punks They got spikes See those rockers with their long curly locks? Good night to the rock 'n' roll era 'Cause they don't need you anymore Little girl, boy, girl, boy You might also like[Instrumental Bridge] [Verse 3] Their composures are so distracted Jasper's skinny arms And the dance faction A little too loose for me Every night it's straight and narrow Laws are broken, amusing era Round and round and round and round she goes [Instrumental Bridge] [Outro] Pull out their plugs and they snort up their drugs When they pull out their plugs and they snort up their drugs Their throats are filled with |