Throwing Muses : Milan

TRIVIA:

- This song has not yet been officially released.

WORDS FROM KRISTIN:

"More than one night up all night with a song and I sorta lose patience. 'Cause the kids still get up every morning and the pancakes aren't gonna make themselves and blinking that feels like sandpaper eyelids is distracting, to say the least. Then the song loses patience with me, thinking I'm never gonna get it right, and starts playing louder and repeating "pertinent" lyrics and burrowing melodic lines into my brain. Well... that's when I start thinking maybe I should be a mailman.

After a week of this, I started thinking maybe I should be an ax murderer and that's when "Milan" really started to speak its piece. Not only did it keep me up for a week straight in the swampy heat of a New Orleans summer, it's actually about keeping me up for a week straight in the swampy New Orleans summer. What the hell? I was in a sorry state and needed to be, I guess.

"Milan" itself comes off very civilized, of course; it only makes me look bad, which, after all, is what it set out to do: mess up my hair and smear my mascara and make me lose my temper while it just ambles along, sounding like a goddamn pop song - the bastard.

"Milan" and I didn't get along very well until I figured this out, but I did figure it out: this is not an overwrought song, it just has an overwrought singer. So I finished it, slamming my notebook shut and shoving my guitar back on its stand. Then I said a polite goodnight to "Milan" (who very kindly shut the hell up for once), went to bed and slept of all things. The next morning, I realized I had another Throwing Muses song on my hands ("Good! Let Bernie and David handle it!"), so I recorded this demo version along with a fistful of other Throwing Muses songs.

Still don't know what made "Milan" think it could get away with behavior like that, but, as it says: "All's fair in New Orleans," which seems to be altogether too true.

Love, Kristin"

"Milan"

(written by Kristin Hersh)

What makes you gold-flecked?

You talk backwards, like I do

Hold still, your cold voodoo

Just smacked her upside the head

Blood squeezed through your veins

You wear memories as false pain

Who better than you

To bless her, baptize the dead?

All's fair in New Orleans

So spend the night whispering

Can't stand the heat? Get out of here

Warm blooded, cold hearted

You can't finish what you started

Can't stand the heat? Get out of here

Clear sailing, murky water

You're still the smoothest talker

All twisted up, ham-fisted

You don't want the devil's daughter

Wasted, inebriated

You don't want her, but you brought her here

All's fair in New Orleans

So spend the night whispering

Can't stand the heat? Get out of here

Warm blooded, cold hearted

You can't finish what you started

Can't stand the heat? Get out of here

One step backward, you lost your way

Your haunted virtue, you threw it away

**Thanks to Kristen/sharkskinthing on the Kristin Hersh message board for providing corrections to these lyrics**

Don't worry, dance in the road.