The book comes with a CD containing two versions of the song Things The Grandchildren Should Know - the demo version, and the version from the immense double CD Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. Below is one of my favourite anecdotes from the book that references this song, as well as the links to the demo version of the song.
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?
I'm sitting in a posh hotel in Paris. Mick Jagger is having tea in the lobby. I'm stuck in the draughty conference room doing a TV interview. The French TV journalist is asking me about the song Things The Grandchildren Should Know, that's about to come out on the Blinking Lights and Other Revelations double album, which is finally being released, a year after I finished it.
'Do you have children?' the TV journalist asks in her heavily accented English.
I sit back in the wooden chair they've offered me. 'Not yet. I'm gonna go straight to grandchildren,' I say.
She blinks and stares blankly back at me, squinting and squeezing her eyebrows down. 'But ... how is it possible?'
'Uh, well ... think about it; it's a much better deal,' I say, shifting in my chair. 'With grandchildren, you just see them on the weekend. Then you get the rest of the week to yourself."
'But how is it possible?'
'I don't know. I'll figure it out.'
'But ... it is not possible ... '
Eels - 2008 - Things The Grandchildren Should Know (demo)
MP3
FLAC
I've been an Eels fan for some time, and have purchased a handful of his CDs over the years. However, some of his stuff blows hot and cold with me - some songs sound wonderful, and others just seem to drone on.
ReplyDeleteThis one had always sounded odd, but since you were pushing it, I gave it a few more listens.
Ummm, Gotta give E credit for honesty, but it's still too odd for me.
Keep posting'em and I'll keep sampling.
Regards, Dave.
BTW - I never read the book on purpose. After seeing the PBS special on his father and him, and then listening to the album he wrote after his sister's death, I didn't want to know anymore. Great album, though.