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Gospel Claws, "Summer Nights Lakeside"
Martin Cizmar
| Music News |
Martin Cizmar | November 23, 2010 | 8:30am
Local indie rock outfit Gospel Claws' first album is causing quite a stir.
It's not hard to see why the band has caught the ear of everyone up to and including National Public Radio's All Songs Considered with songs like their first single, "Summer Nights Lakeside," ostensibly about a beach party/assisted suicide at an area lake.
It's a wonderful little mid-tempo ditty with a memorable refrain ("No worries, no school, it's summetime") and memorable lines like "I'll drown you if you want me to," that just sort of stick in your head.
But what is the sing about, really? As part of a new series creatively titled "What's This Song About?" Up On The Sun interrogated songwriter Joel Marquard by instant message.
Hear the song and get the inside story below.
Summer Nights Lakeside by Gospel Claws
Joel Marquard:
hey man
Up On The Sun:
ready to do this thang?
Joel is offline.
hey dude you there?
you still there? facebook is really slow today...
keeps showing you offline
Joel is online.
you keep disappearing
I'm not sure what's going on
hmmmm... maybe i should restart my computer or something
so this song "Summer Nights Lakeside" .... what's it about?
it's about two friends and one has got the teenage blues
are you one of these friends?
and what sort of teenage blues?
i don't know if i am... just kinda characters i made up
so in your head these characters are going to which lake?
one around here? it seems like not that fun to go hang around a lake in Phoenix in the summertime
shit...did i miss the first half of the question and did you get my answer?
it's not really clear why he's sad and may not be important.
i got the impression it was over a girl
maybe that's just the obvious conclusion
so the other friend feeling sad mentions he wants to kill himself
He seems very sad though... his buddy offers to drown him, a funny joke
i am not sure i got the first part of that
so the other friend says we can go to the lake and i'll help you if you want to...but it was his way of getting his friend to a change of scenery
and maybe get a lake party going
yes, a wonderful trick to use on friends
now, have you ever been to a "lake party"?
i must confess i have not
but you make it sound really fun
Yeah, a lot of people think it's over a girl or between a girl and boy
(except the cheap american beer; i'm a snob)
I could be over a girl though... it's not clear
but his other friend gets him to the lake and he brings a tent and some beer just in case they want to spend the night and they do and call more friends to come hang out/camp and cheer him up
I was just thinking they were teens and couldn't afford expensive beer or find...
ah, makes sense
so do you actually have fond memories of lake parties or just something that sounds super fun?
whoa, i was just starting to type that out.
Yes, I love the lake in the middle of the night under the moon light
staying up late and what not...
it seems like a lot of people really, really like this song... are you especially proud of it or just think of it as another track you wrote?
Yeah, I have like a billion songs, but i am proud of this one.
it all started with that little guitar lead that i recorded on my computer and went back to it like a month later and it just kinda fell into my lap
The whole story and all that?
which is really how the best songs come about... from thin air.
I must admit I am disappointed you did not actually have this conversation with a friend
Oh, well, I think the drown you part just popped into my head and then i wrote the verses
so that was the beginning of it?
that's a great line
i can understand how you would want to build around that
almost like his friend loves him so much he would even do him a favor and take him out... haha
haha yes
or that he's just razzing him
like "quit whining, i'll drown you if you want me to -- but maybe we can just drink some beers"
this is the sort of thing i would say to a friend
put things in perspective
you still there?
Your chat message wasn't sent because Joel is offline.
Yeah, totally
Man, fbook is terrible today
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