Pike St./Park Slope
Recorded
Release history
Credits
- Written by Harvey Danger, © But Mom I Love Music (ASCAP)/
Famous Music - Recorded at Bearsville Sound Studios
- Jeff: piano
- Sean: vocals
- Terry Benshoof: cello
- Jami Sieber: electric cello
- Cellos arranged by Jeff
Alternate versions
Lyrics
Drive across the country, tell your story walking
No one’s keeping you captive in the town that let you down
(So sorry)Blame it on the television, blame it on the company
Don’t blame it on the fundamental fact
that no one owes you something“I’ve come about my share
I only want what’s fair.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not greedy…
Like everybody else, I wanna pay my dues
I only want someone to tell me
who to make the check out to"Maybe we could run away and start a little repertory movie house
or something”She said:
“Sorry, but I think you might be just projecting…
(but here’s the dough)”Pike Street to Park Slope, Brooklyn
A community of dabblers
who are vain and fond of biting backs
(“We hate it when our friends become successful”1)
And a different school
whose energies are spent evading income tax
and silicone enhancements by the breastful“Maybe we could run away and start a little repertory movie house
or something?”She said:
“Sorry, but I think you might be just projecting onto me.
Why don’t you try L.A.?”Pike Street to Park Slope, Brooklyn
“Well, when you like something, it’s an opinion.
But when I like something, it’s a manifesto.”
“Pomposity is when you always think you’re right.
Arrogance is when you know.”“Maybe we could start a little independent repertory movie house
or something?”She said:
“Sorry, but I think you might be just protecting your investment
or else assigning blame.”Pike Street to Park Slope,
Brooklyn
Cf. “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” by Morrissey (Your Arsenal, 1992). ↩
Quotes
SCN: “Pike Street” was an obvious departure, attempted arrangements included the whole band, but it just worked better with piano and later cello; Jeff was reluctant to play piano, and we’re all happy he relented; another true story, though not one that happened to any of us—it was based on a document that made the rounds of local newspapers detailing the futile (and bitter) efforts of a Seattle movie theater owner to close the Pike Street Cinema and open one in NYC; I remember being struck by how he blamed the cities for the failure of his businesses, as though they owed him something; I remember also finding it touching, since running a small independent moviehouse has always been one of my quiet dreams; wish I had changed the Morrissey quote to
debate it when our friends become successful,as I have since done for live shows; many people’s favorite HD song, and definitely in my top 5.10A
SCN: True story: A man once sold his struggling 49-seat Seattle moviehouse to open one in New York, where he felt the audiences would be less provincial, more receptive to his bold vision for cinema programming. A couple years later, he returned, broke, broken, and bitter. Things went no better there than they had here. He had run out of cities to blame. It should happen to everyone once.P&F
SCN: “Pike St./Park Slope” had begun as a guitar piece conceived by Aaron, and then (maybe at my suggestion, but maybe not) transformed by Jeff into the gorgeous piano ballad it became… Revisiting and refining the song for album two provided helpful guidance through the lyrics blockade. Not just the expression of feelings, but an interrogation of them, in the hopes of revealing the flawed conceits that kept people locked in isolated misery.MMV