Veruca Salt

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:46 am

Named after a spoiled character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this Chicago band was initially typecast as grunge, though I consider them to simply be a rock band with a lot of melodic hooks in their songs.

Vocalist/guitarist Louise Post ending up running the band from the late 1990s until around 2013, as original members Nina Gordon (vocals/guitar), Steve Lack (bass), and Jim Shapiro (drums, backing vocals) returned to the fold. The three full-length albums the original lineup recorded (1994's American Thighs, 1997's Eight Arms To Hold You, and 2015's Ghost Notes) are my favorites by this band, though some of the Post-led band's work I also find enjoyable.

This song is mostly peaceful and quiet, but with a loud chorus.

EMPTY BOTTLE
(Written by Louise Post, Nina Gordon, Steve Lack, Jim Shapiro)

Time flies and I can't keep up
All the years I have to sweep up
Late at night I'm in my bed and in my head
And the feelings start to creep up

Remember how we used to dress up
You're beautiful until you're messed up
Take a picture 'cause I think we're losing light
This is how we say goodbye
It's how we say goodnight

Bang bang my head against a wall of sound
"Why I Like The Robins" brings me to the ground
We surf the crowd but we will not go down
I don't want to drown if you're not drowning with me

Late December when we're waking
There's an unfamiliar aching
By the way you held my hand, held my heart
I didn't notice it was breaking

This is how you say goodbye
It's how you say good night

My heart cracks open and the stage goes black
I count to 60 and I meet you in the back
I can't stop gushing, I'm a hemophiliac
I don't wanna bleed if you're not bleeding with me

Count the stars but we can't bring them down
It's metastatic beauty and it's buzzing all around
Eight more hours and I'm leaving town
I don't wanna leave if you're not leaving with me
I don't wanna breathe if you're not breathing with me

Love is over, it's over and you can't go back
When you're older, you just keep telling yourself that
The door is open, even if it's just a tiny crack
You're up at night and wandering back

Love is over, it's over and you can't go back
When you're older, you just keep telling yourself that
The door is open, even if it's just a tiny crack
You're up at night and wandering back
You're up at night and wandering back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4A8dTu3NJc

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 1:42 am

Here's a song of theirs that may be about dealing with introversion or shame. It may be simpler than that, though: it could just be about dealing with a hangover.

NUMBER ONE BLIND
(Written by Nina Gordon, Jim Shapiro)

Be my blind.
Be it all the time.
Be it night or day,
Take my sun away, away.

Levolor, which of us is blind?
Levolor, left me in the dark.
Levolor, I can't see a thing but you,
Is it morning?

Blind me please, I am on my hands and knees.
I can only pray
Take my sin away, away.

Levolor, which of us is blind?
Levolor, left me in the dark.
Levolor, I can't see a thing but you,
Is it morning?

It is time.
It is time (oh-oh).

Levolor, which of us is blind?
Levolor, left me in the dark.
Levolor, I can't see a thing but you,
Is it morning?

Levolor, which of us is blind?
Levolor, left me in the dark.
Levolor, I can't see a thing but you,
Is it morning?

Levolor, Levolor, Levolor, Levolor...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHG5P9xFyhI

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:14 am

I think some of the best VS tunes come from Nina's pop songwriting, which is pushed more to being rock by Louise Post and the rest of the band.

WITH DAVID BOWIE
(Written by Nina Gordon)

Did it ever come
Like it did for you?
Like it did for you?
I kind of heard you singing
And I never knew
No, I never knew!

My heart skips around
When I hear the sound
Never alone
Though you're following me home
I'm falling in love
My Walkman and me
With David Bowie
Yeah-ehh!
You betcha!

The teenage medication
Flowing through my brain
I can face the strain, and
It's causing a sensation
That I can explain
Yeah, I can explain

My heart skips around
When I hear the sound
Never alone
When you're following me home
I'm falling in love
My Walkman and me
With David Bowie

You want me to sing?
I can, I can!
You want me to play?
I can, I can!
You wanna be in a band?
I can!
I'll never be anything more
Than what's today
Than what's today, yeah!

Oh, will it ever come
Like it did for you?
Like it did for you?
I kind of heard you singing
And I never knew
No, I never knew!

My heart skips around
When I hear the sound
Never alone
When you're following me home
I'm falling in love
My best friend and me
With David Bowie
Him and me
In a tree
...I-N-G, yeah-ehh!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZFWj1muips

Edited to correct errors in the lyrics.

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 4:19 am

Another of many VS songs I find hard to get out of my head after I've heard it a time or two...

EYES ON YOU
(Written by Louise Post, Nina Gordon, Steve Lack, Jim Shapiro)

I'm falling awake at daybreak
And I've got my eyes on you
I'm playing it back the heart attack
That opened my eyes to you

Wait!
Don't grow up, yet!
Cause it's late
We're wired and underslept
I can trace
Arrows and evidence
Back to you

Rewinding again to the moment
When I lost the rights to you
You're holding my gaze
I'd rearrange
The clouds in the skies
For you

Wait!
Don't grow up, yet!
'Cause it's late
We've gotta stay up for the end
I can trace
Arrows and evidence
Back to you

Out under the stars I hear you say
I am your sun and you're my shade
Hey-ey-ey!
Hopscotch in the driveway after dark
These are the thorns and these are shards
Float on the hops

I'm falling awake at day break
And I've got my eyes on you

Wait!
Don't grow up, yet!
'Cause it's late
I'm wired and underslept
I can make sense of the secrets kept
I can trace arrows and evidence
And we hide all the letters sent
And we drive reckless and radiant
And we lied
And we lied lied lied lied lied lied lied
And we lied lied lied lied lied lied lied

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jccImUEWmuE

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:25 pm

Louise Post's songs are often edgier than Nina Gordon's, as is certainly the case with this song from American Thighs, inspired by Post reading the illustrated book by Art Spiegelman on the Holocaust (Maus: A Survivor's Story I and II, where the Nazis are drawn as cats and their Jewish victims are represented as mice), and then not being able to get the images out of her head. I've considered covering a spoiler tag over these lyrics, though no foul language is being used, because they're not exactly comfortable lyrics. If moderation insists that I remove or cover these lyrics, I will do so ASAP. But, considering this is a Stephen R. Donaldson website, where topics such as rape and murder are part of the discussion because of books such as The Real Story and Lord Foul's Bane, these lyrics may not be all that outrageous here. So, for now, I'll post them openly, along with the video link. The music has a kind of rumbling crunch to it that I like.

ALL HAIL ME
(Written by Louise Post)

So sorry, lady.
So sorry now.
I've killed your baby.
I don't know how.

So sorry, so sorry now.
So sorry, so sorry now.

So sorry, so sorry now.
So sorry, so sorry now.

So sorry mister. (oh-oh, oh-oh)
But don't look now (oh-oh)
I got your sister (oh-oh)
I shot her down.

So sorry, so sorry now.
So sorry, so sorry now.

'Cause I'm a bad man, I do what I can.
I'm a bad man, I do what I can.
I'm a bad man, I do what I can.
All hail me.

So sorry mother
I've let you down
I'm soaked in blood, here
I can't get out!

So sorry, so sorry now.
So sorry, so sorry now.
So sorry, so sorry now.

I'm a bad man, I do what I can.
I'm a bad man, I do what I can.
All hail me.

Ha, ha, ha, all hail me.
(oh, I'm melting)
(killed your baby)
(that did not hurt so bad...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LimHXfavgw

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:40 pm

This isn't my favorite VS song, but it's likely the one that has gotten the most exposure. It appears to be basically about trying to keep one's inner rage in check. A thread on VS just wouldn't be complete without this one.

SEETHER
(Written by Nina Gordon)

Ow!

Seether is neither loose nor tight.
Seether is neither black nor white.
I tried to keep her on a short leash,
I tried to calm her down.
I tried to ram her into the ground, yeah.

Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth.

Seether is neither big nor small.
Seether is the center of it all.
I tried to rock her in my cradle,
I tried to knock her out,
I tried to cram her back in my mouth, yeah.

Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth.

Keep her down, boiling water,
Keep her down, what a lovely daughter.
Oh, she is not born like other girls,
But I know how to conceive her.
Oh, she may not look like other girls,
But she's a snarl-toothed seether, seether!

Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth
Seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth, yeah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC9AUR-iTo0

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:16 am

Veruca Salt's second full-length album, Eight Arms To Hold You (a reference to the working title for the Beatles' movie Help!), is my favorite, as the songs seem to be more tightly written and the recording of the instruments feels like it has a sharper, clearer, sound. Founding drummer Jim Shapiro left the band shortly after this album recorded to form his own group Ultraswiss, and Stacey Jones took over on the skins, though he never recorded with the Salts. Stacey is in the videos for this song and "Volcano Girls", though that's Jim's drumming in the audio. While I've always found this song to be a bit tedious in its verse and chorus, it wins me over by its end, as its sound gets sunnier.

SHUTTERBUG
(Written by Louise Post)

It's freezing in Bristol
There's love on the telly
A girl grinning at me
She's doing the shimmy
And she's cool
And she's skinny
And she's a fool
For the last living rock king

It's her thrill
It's her wonder
It's her will
It's her way home
She's right where she always wanted to be
She can't change
Change...
Change...

It's lightening in London
(it's lightening in London)
There's sh*t on the telly
(there's sh*t on TV)
You're pushing my buttons
(pushing my buttons)
You know how to touch me

And I knew
That you'd choose me
By the times
That you tried to refuse me

It's your thrill
It's your wonder
It's your will
It's your way home
You're right where you always wanted to be
You can't change
Change...
Change...
(woah)

It's morning in Philly
(it's morning in Philly)
My head's feeling heavy
(my head's feeling heavy)
The sun makes me dizzy
(the sun makes me sick)
You monkey, you left me

And I know
That you miss me
By the way
That you kiss and resist me

It's my thrill
It's my wonder
It's my will
It's my way home
I'm right where I always dreamed I would be
I can't change
Change...
Change...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHtVvq4I_S0

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 12:52 am

This one I love because of the reference to the lines in the Beatles song "Glass Onion" ("I told you 'bout the walrus and me, man/I tell you, we're as close as can be, man/well, here's another clue for you all:/the walrus was Paul"), as well as the tension between pop melody and rock sizzle that characterizes many of this band's best songs.

VOLCANO GIRLS
(Written by Nina Gordon)

Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go
Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go
Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go

Tell me, tell me what you really want from me
You've got to let me know
I'm falling off and I need you terribly
One down and one to go

Volcano girls we really can't be beat
Warm us up and watch us blow
But now and then we fail and we admit defeat
We're falling off, we are watered down and fully grown

Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go
Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go

A million miles of running and I hit the wall
I bounce back and I run some more
But this is it, I'm giving up, I'm calling quits
So get down and meet me on the floor

Way to go, way to flip off everyone
I steal your thunder then I try to bolt
But I could stand a little pity now and then
I'm falling off, I am watered down and fully grown

Go, I don't wanna
Go, I don't wanna
Go, I don't wanna go

I told you 'bout the seether before
You know, the one that's "neither" or "nor"
Well, here's another clue, if you please:
The seether's Louise

One, two, three, whoa

Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go
Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go
Leave me
Lying here
'cause I don't wanna go

Leave me, leave me, leave me
Go, I don't wanna
Go, I don't wanna
Go, I don't wanna go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyVSKydUxKk

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 2:25 am

By the late 1990s, creative and personal differences between principle songwriters Post and Gordon had reached a breaking point, and Nina left VS for a solo career in pop. Bassist Steve Lack and replacement drummer Stacey Jones soon followed, leaving Louise in charge of the band. She soon recruited guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick, drummer Jimmy Madla, and bassist Suzanne Sokol, and released the album Resolver in the year 2000. On that album, Louise vented about a lot of things, so much so that this album got a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" sticker slapped on it (at least, on U.S. releases). Without Nina's voice with which to harmonize, Louise's voice was often either a whisper or an outright scream, with less mid-range displayed. I like some of the VS work done when the band was Post-led, but the blend of Nina's pop and Louise's rock was something I missed on Resolver and 2006's IV. The Cheap Trick song reference in "Born Entertainer" seems less clever than the Beatles reference in "Volcano Girls". And for the next fourteen years, whenever I thought about this band, it kept coming back to this: the singing voices of Louise Post and Nina Gordon just naturally belong together, and anything they do separately is doomed to be inferior to what they can do together.

BORN ENTERTAINER
(Written by Louise Post)

This couldn't get any better
She didn't get it, so [@#%!] her
I'll never be any saner
I'm a born entertainer

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah

You couldn't be any cuter
(You couldn't be any cuter)
You couldn't be any cooler
(You couldn't be any cooler)
You'll never be any saner
(Insane)
'Cause your a born entertainer

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah

I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I dare you to ditch me
I beg you to miss me

So rock
We couldn't get any radder
(So rad)
We couldn't be any better
(So sad)
We couldn't be any lamer
(You got out of danger)
'Cause we're the born entertainers
(You got out of danger)

We're the born entertainers
We're the born entertainers
The born entertainers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU7IWZ-ClW8

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:00 am

During the years of Louise Post being the only original VS member, guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick did prove important as a songwriter for the band. However, the drums and bass positions were revolving doors. From 2006 to 2009 , drummer Kelli Scott (of Failure) and bassist Nicole Fiorentino (who would later join the Smashing Pumpkins) were strong players and added to the sound of VS, and so I concede this version of the band had its own positives (even if I don't like it as well as when Nina Gordon was in, for her lyrics are just more interesting to me, and the melodies and harmonies are just not the same without her). This song is from the album IV, the only VS disc to feature Scott and Fiorentino.

SO WEIRD
(Written by Stephen Fitzpatrick, Louise Post)

Speak
You're speaking words
But all I ever heard
Is white noise from weird boys

Space
You're spacing out
By the way
What's that face about
It's so weird
It's so weird

You don't know me
You don't own me
You're just passing through my life
You're a stranger
With bad behavior
You're so weird I'm terrified

Back lounge
A chain smoking Charlie Brown
You're busted up
And broken down
So you're so low rent
You're texting vegan sex again
It's so weird
It's so weird

You don't know me
You don't own me
You're just passing through my life
You're a stranger
With bad behavior
You're so weird I'm terrified

Slowly, faintly
Slowly, faintly
Slowly, faintly
Slowly, faintly

You don't know me
You don't own me
You're just passing through my life
You're a stranger
With bad behavior
You're so weird I'm terrified

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsI8X7UBTA0

[Edited to correct the drummer's name as "Kelli Scott", and not "Kelli Ward" as previously typed.]

Post by **Cord Hurn** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:38 am

This next song made me aware of The Museum of Broken Relationships that exists in Zagreb, Croatia and now has a counterpart in Los Angeles. People contribute items that represent their lost relationships, along with brief notes, and I suppose visiting such a place is supposed to be cathartic and promote empathy, as well as be a reassurance for other disappointed lovers that they're not alone in their experiences. Perhaps seeing such a place could be a productive experience; I don't know. Anyway, the reunited original lineup of Veruca Salt released this song on the EP MMXIV in 2014, and also put it on the full-length album Ghost Notes the following year. The lyrics sum up some of the emotions expressed in the notes that accompany the museum displays. There are of course many, MANY songs about broken relationships, but I think this may be the only song about a museum dedicated to broken relationships. Even if I'm wrong about that, it's still a relative rarity as a song subject. I like the vibe of this tune; it's a keeper.

THE MUSEUM OF BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS
(Written by Nina Gordon, Louise Post, Steve Lack, Jim Shapiro)

In the garden of rejection, the broken people go
There's a hook where you can hang your heart
Frame it on the wall and let it go
Hah, la-la-la, let it go

Exhibition is of the essence, it's what we come here for
Put the relics of your lost love
On display and lock the door
Hah, la-la-la, lock the door

Snake, always kissing her and this and that
Snake, going underground to skin the cat
Snake, always sneaking out and creeping back
Snake...I set the trap

He's a cheater, a bottom-feeder
In this box a lock of his hair
Jubilation, he loves me again!
Hah, la-la-la, I don't care!

Hah, la-la-la
Hah, la-la-la
Hah, la-la-la-la, I DON'T CARE!

(Smoo-ooth, oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo!) (Snake, always kissing her and this and that)
(Hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo!) (Snake, going underground to skin the cat)

Jubilation, he loves me again!
Jubilation, he loves me again!
Jubilation, he loves me again!
Jubilation, he loves me again!

(Jubilation!) (Hah, la-la-la, hah, la-la-la!) (Hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo!)
(Jubilation!) (Hah, la-la-la, I don't care!) (Hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo!)
(Jubilation!) (Hah, la-la-la, hah, la-la-la!) (Hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo!)
Jubilation, he loves me again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nneYpx5bk60

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Veruca Salt

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