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don't drive dead

by Gelmahenji

/

about

Gelmahenji provided me with the greatest experience of my life. Perhaps surprisingly, she was a woman, who nonetheless sang and played all instruments on this track. She had come to the UK for a summer tour which turned out to be itself an improvisational art piece - she had done no preparation, made no contacts prior to landing at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth. She lived on a houseboat in the centre of a lake just north of Ginoza, Okinawa island. Some people you meet, and the rest of the world disappears, just falls into them. we slept together a couple of times, just holding, stroking hair and eating wotsits, nothing sexual. She was 78 years old.
She had a wispy salt and pepper goatee in the Summer months which looked beautiful dripping with miso soup at sunset. I built her a makeshift Shamisen from the door of an Opel Kadett and wire from the neighbours broken fence. Which I came to realise was electrified.
The cover photo is rather sad. In the three months Gelmahenji stayed on our island, a tourist town was built on the shores of the lake which had been her residence and the popluation rose from 3 to 23 000. this photo was the last I heard from Gelmahenji. just an email with this attachment, a short message: 私は今ここで働い and a golden-M McDonalds emoticon.
Even now I buy bags of wotsits in twos - one to eat and one to throw in the bed. I don't get much company.

lyrics

the landscape turns to negative
like some old TV dream
the edges start to solarise, surrealise the scene
black is your machine
the chauffeur is a slave to the executor of death
she take the things she needs, the things she wants ’til nothing’s left
the radio plays messages in code from other worlds
you’re haunted by the words
blinded by obsession you ignore the traitor’s warning
the silence of the birds goes unheard

don’t drive dead
lady death has watched o’er your head
please don’t drive dead
he nightmare has escaped from your head tonight

credits

released April 4, 1997
inspired by Orphée, by Jean Cocteau (1950)

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Ah! Records Nasty, UK

Ah! Records is officially the least successful record label of all time. Plagued for 30 years by bad luck, criminality, drug- induced recklessness and vandalism, only founders Bill Easton & Andy Matthews' belief in the merits of these releases have ensured Ah!'s continuity. Currently a toilet on a houseboat in Portugal, the office of Ah! introduces these gems to a new generation via bandcamp. x ... more

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