Welcome to Language City.

"What is this weirdly titled blog all about, eh Ry?"
Hum, that's the same question I'm asking ,myself as I write. Well, Language City is a great tune by a great band called Wolf Parade from their last album, "At Mount Zoomer" But that isn't enough, I know.

I've got to say I haven't really studied the lyric sheet and sat down and analysed and poured over every last word the chap wrote. For one, I know from experience that a lot of these type of lyrics don't really mean anything. Nothing wrong with that at all in my book. Bob Dylan did pretty well out of it and Stephen Malkamus to a certain extent, still does. Brian Eno has a theory I heartily agree with , that "the rock lyric", can't and shouldn't be poetry. They shouldn't try to be. He can say this cause he knows , well for one thing your average rock singer is not a poet. He would be a poet , if he wrote poetry. Lyrics have to take into account more than how they look on a page and how they sound coming from someones mouth. The most important thing for "the rock lyric" is that they fit with the meter of the song, and work with the melody. Or as I like to say, fit well in the singers mouth. One lyric in the aforementioned song that stuck in me cranium ( and fitted well into the singers mouth ) was
"Language City don't mean a thing to me."
I thought "Why?"
Was he being ironic. Most likely, Wolf Parade like messing around with twisted images and odd phrases. Or, was he taking some Wittgenstein-like stance that words ultimately mean nothing in the end. Maybe. They are white middle class Canadians after all. Then I realised I didn't care for any of these arguments- it was the phrase I loved.
I was just fascinated by the idea of a "Language City". A place made of words and phrases, slang and swearing, propaganda and polemic It set off a succession of images in my head. I wondered , were the more affluent areas in the city populated by a clutch of Henry James sentences layered into sleek white three stories? Were the houses in the red light district framed by de Sade and had walls built from porno mags speak? Was it as obvious as that? Was it a case that certain words and phrases, like "Electioneering ", "Fiscal Policy" and "Three way leather romp", would be used to build the Houses of Parliament?
"Language City" is a rich image, I concluded. A place that I could get lost in, over whelmed by. A place to experience hate , love and every other feeling under the sun. But mostly it was a place that would constantly change and a place I would have to stay in a lot longer if wanted to finish my novel and make it a good one.
It made me realise that a Language city , all be it my version , did mean a lot, to me.
If you give a shit about this, or have heard the song, know if the phrase was knicked from somewhere else, let me know.

I'll be posting stuff about "things and shit", as the Americans say, as I write my book. So there.
Speak soon Chilum'.