1991
Words: 09-30 and 10-01-1992
Music: 09-30-1992 with Kris Shine
What’s It All About?
This song was born in my bedroom at the house I shared with a bunch of pagans in Irvine, California. I had recently put a call for a guitarist, and young Kris Shine responded. He showed up with his guitar and tricked-out Fender Reverb amp, and we vamped on a surf-rock-like bassline I had been tinkering with. Either that day, or shortly thereafter, I started to put lyrics to it, and finished it up the next day.
The song was one of the first PIGBAT practiced as a whole band once we recruited Yankton, South Dakota drummer Jon Strunk. He put just the right mix of swing and tension into it!
The song is about a very tough relationship during a very tough year. The lyrics are probably about as specific as I want to get.
The PIGBAT version of “1991″ (the first one, below) was recorded live during one of the original line-up’s last rehearsals. It’s a feed from the mixing board into a 4-track cassette tape recorder, with no overdubs or anything else fancier than a little EQ.
In 1994, in my studio apartment in Long Beach, California, I was up late, unable to sleep, and plugged my bass directly into that same 4-track. With headphones on, I quietly played a laid-back, jazzed-down version of the “1991″ riff. I decided it was too cool — and too silly — not to include on the mini-album I was working on, “Hundred Seller.” The semi-acoustic “lounge” version of “1991″ came to be, and is the second song included below.
From the late nineties into 2003 or so, I played bass and shared songwriting and singing duties in a band called Running Erin. We resurrected “1991″, much to my surprise, as it is a pretty punky song for what was essentially a power-pop band. With Erin Foster’s harmonies adding a great counterpoint and Tony Dare’s percussion bringing even more swing to this number, it became a “fan favorite” at our live gigs, and was always fun to play. The recording presented here — the third, below — was captured at a bar in Redondo Beach, California. The “yeah!” at the beginning is from appreciative fan Daryl Jones, of the Spurs, Eyes Wide Open, Planet Roy, and the Dave Rayburn Project.
Lyrics:
Now things are not as they appear to be
White roses that you gave me blossomed into weeds
That night the dragons flew out of your skull
Suicide whispered
And you believed it all
Your bones they run like water flowing from your past
Curled up on the bed as your fingers clutch and grasp
I swore that I would go to any lengths
But now my anger
Is my only strength
I just want to be alone
You think your tragedy’s the reason that I live
Like I was born to smash my head against the bricks
I am so tired always dragged down by your pain
I have my own life
And it’s not for you to drain
Support Independent Music
The media files on this page are provided for your enjoyment — you can listen, and even download the MP3 files, and not pay a dime. I encourage you to share them with friends, provided no one changes or sells the files, and that you attribute them to me.
I do hope you’ll consider contributing an amount proportional to how much you like these songs. When you pay for music on this site, you declare yourself to be a patron of independent creative endeavors… and my supporter. That means a great deal, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Recommended price: $1.00
Listen and Download
1991 by PIGBAT w Matthew Wayne Selznick [3:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (204) 1991 (version) by Matthew Wayne Selznick [4:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (188) 1991 by Running Erin w Matthew Wayne Selznick [3:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (192)