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February 06, 2006
a dun-colored low-slung town
A re-run, but only because during a trip out to Pittsburgh this weekend (for non-football releated reasons), I had this song running through my head:
It swings like the stand-out track from an early to mid-period Disney film, say, circa Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone, or Jungle Book. Kind of a lazy inner-tube rolling down the river vibe to it. Those strings at the end are essential. Vetiver's Andy Cabic's voice is like a comfortable old afghan that sits by the bay window and becomes sun-bleached, frayed, and eroded by many naps. 'Quiri Quirano' is a humble song that struts, on occasion.
To understand what the lyrics are about, you have to know that this comes from Esopus Magazine's recent 'Imaginary Friends' compilation CD that accompanied their 4th issue. The good folks at the magazine asked their readers to submit descriptions of their childhood imaginary friends, which they then took and gave to various bands/artists and asked them to write songs based on the readers' descriptions. Which is just a fantastic conceit. So, for example, when you hear Andy Cabic sing, "Maura, my dear/who are you/talking to over there?", he's referring to Maura Pieretti, who submitted Quiri's story:
For years I had no memory of my imaginary friend. Until one day, many years ago, my mother and I, and somebody else, maybe my new boyfriend at the time, were chatting amiably. Amiably? Hard thing to imagine since I did not really get along that well with either one of my parents until I moved this side of the Atlantic. But that's another story. So, my mother discloses to me the fact that yes, when I was 5 or 6 years old, she worried a lot about me. She, a first-time mother, even thought of taking me to a psychiatrist, but that was not popular back then. She confessed her worries to my uncle- a general surgeon- who told her not to be alarmed if I talked to myself a lot and kept repeating the name "Quiri Quirano" (pronounced "Kweeree Kweerano") while gesturing to the empty room. It was not going to affect my chances to go to the university one day. As soon as my mother said the name Quiri Quirano, during that amiable conversation, a whole part of my memory came back to me. Of course, how could I forget? Quiri, my friend. We had so much fun together. How could anybody doubt the goodness of my friend Quiri? Such a good listener, and always ready to comply with any of my requests. The best thing about Quiri was that his grandmother lived in Firenze, and so in order to visit her- she lived all alone- we would have to get on a train and travel over there. And maybe spend the night with Quiri's grandma. And the train rides...those were relaxing after all the confusion and noise of the train station. Quiri and I would look out the window and see the cows and the peasants, and we would feel so grown up, all alone in the train car. Quiri was a delicate boy, always neatly dressed, not pushy or dirty-nosed like the boys down the street. His knees were never scratched or peeled, and I think he was quite fond of me. I still miss him to this day. Maura Pieretti - Belleair, FL
Vetiver has a new album, "To Find Me Gone", coming out sometime around May. And actually, now that I think of it, Esopus #5 has been out for a bit, featuring a disc (with a theme of audio-visuals) with tracks by Cadence Weapon, Mountain Goats, Josephine Foster, Kevin Blechdom, et al. Go check it out- the magazine is very well-designed, and has some consistently great features.
Posted by Kevin at February 6, 2006 12:47 AM