I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: DAVID LYNCH-“Crazy Clown Time” (2012).

It’s hard for me to divorce this song from the video, because the video is so…David Lynch.  Even though it pictures the lyrics literally, there’s so many weird little Lynchisms that it’s an art unto itself.  Imagine David Lynch directing a rocking music video, but of a song he wrote.  Wow.  But I’m not going to talk about the video.

Musically, his song is a fairly simple construction–it’s primarily drums with some echoing guitars (with no real melody) and other crazy noises.  Over the rhythmic cacophony, we get David Lynch’s bizarre falsetto/spoken words.  Lyrically the song seems to be describing a party that gets pretty out of hand (and the video certainly shows that).

Lyrics include: Paulie he had a red shirt; Suzy, she ripped her shirt off completely; Petey set his hair on fire. And then the chorus: It was crazy clown time.  It was real fun.

Lynch’s voice sounds like an excited child (or demonic clown) as he talks about certain details of this party.  This is definitely a song that people will ask you “what are you listening to?”  There’s very few who will want to listen to this, although I’ve found that after three listens, it makes a kind of twisted sense.

If you dare, watch the NSFW video

[READ: September 10, 2013] Animal Instincts

I very rarely talk about reviews of TV shows–that’s a slipper slope if ever there was.  But I like Lorrie Moore and I like Jane Campion and I hadn’t heard about Campion’s show called Top of the Lake  Moore suggests is the best show on TV.  It aired on the Sundance Channel but was originally a BBC production.  Like Campions’ other works, it is set in New Zealand and the location and cinematography are part Deliverance, Road Warrior, Winter’s Bone and Hobbit.

The show sound very dark, but as soon as Moore started describing it I couldn’t help but think of Twin Peaks.  And indeed, there is a David Lynch nod within the show (girls say they are reading Blue Velvet for their book club).

Like in The Piano, Holly Hunter stars, this time as GJ a leader of a group of women who have seceded from society (they make their money mostly through divorce settlements).  There’s also a group of men who dominate the show (and the bar) mostly under the “leadership” of Matt Mitcham (actor Peter Mullan).  Mitcham has apparently fathered half of the kids in the town, but seems responsible for none of them.  Elizabeth Moss also stars in the show as a detective.  She has come to the remote location to have a bit of a think but she gets involved in a case about a pregnant twelve-year-old girl who has disappeared.

Moore says it’s fun that Mullan is Scottish and Hunter and Moss are American and none of them disguises their accent even though it is set in New Zealand–it’s all part of the weird charm and (in my head, Lynchian) appeal.  She also says that show should feel familiar to fans of The Piano–Campion’s symbolism hasn’t changed much, but that this story is much fuller, more fleshed out with intrigue and genuinely scary moments.

The show was 6 episodes on the BBC and 7 on Sundance.  It’s available on Netflix and I do hope I can convince Sarah to watch it.