Jarvis Cocker is a God

This is Jarvis Cocker, minor deity and rock god. 

Jarvis and I have had a long relationship, a relationship that goes back to 1995.

Picture it:  Utah in late February of 1996. Grunge is dead.  Eddie Vedder is spending most of his time in Washington D.C. doing god only knows what, Kurt Cobain has been in his grave two years, and most of the new music coming out are the bands that are the copies of the copycats. Sad. What’s a newly minted rebellious 15 year old girl to do?

Right now, everyone firmly believes that the next big thing is going to be Ska and with the Big Band revival a la the Brian Setzer Orchestra there’s a lot of horns playing on the radio. My parents are in Europe with my two youngest sisters. Neither I nor Elizabeth can drive at this point so my cousin Ammon (Whatup, homey?) is “babysitting” us. This entails hanging out and driving us around. We all have tickets to Ska Patty’s Day, a series of rock concerts over a week featuring different Ska bands. We drive between Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley attending events, skipping school and generally slacking. Ammon is delighted to be driving my father’s delicious little sports car and all of us stay up way too late.

That’s when I met Jarvis.

We got home just after Midnight and having the wonderful metabolisms of youth, did not go directly to bed but instead turned on the TV.  It was there, at 2am, that I saw this:

This song was a revelation. Who is this band? we asked ourselves. Are they from the 80’s? No, they weren’t.

I had no idea who they were. I think I heard Pulp once on the radio and that’s how I found out their name. This is pre-internet, people, back in the days when if you were interested in music you had to do a lot of footwork, you know really gumshoe it.

In any case, Pulp and by extension Jarvis Cocker has been with me ever since. He is responsible for my friendship with my friend, Lydia, who was the only other person in my high school who was into them as much as I was or possibly the only other person who even knew who Pulp were.

Jarvis is a lot like David Bowie in that they are both iconoclasts. The iconoclasm of Bowie is in his ability to destroy his own image and then reconstruct himself an entirely new identity all shrouded in lyrics and guitar rifts. Jarvis does a similar thing with his persona but not to the extent Bowie does. His iconoclastic tendencies are more within the way he uses pop music to comment on the world.

Regard the lyrics to Common People:

I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why, but I had to start it somewhere
so it started there
I said "Pretend you've got no money."
but she just laughed an said "Oh you're so funny."
I said "Yeah?
Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here
Are you sure?
Are you sure you want to live like common people
you want to see whatever common people see
you want
to sleep with common people
you want to sleep with common people like me?"
But she didn't understand
she just smiled and held my hand

No, she didn’t understand.  Or what about the amazing and little known “Little Girl With Blue Eyes?“

Little girl (with blue eyes)
There's a hole in your heart and one between your legs
You've never had to wonder which one he's going to fill
in spite of what he said
You'll never get away hey
you'll give it up one day come what may

Or what about this little passage from “Leftovers”:

And so I come to you filled with guilt and self-loathing
And I am praying that you could make me good
And so I fall upon your neck just like a vampire
Yeah, like a vampire who faints at the sight of blood
And I told you once: I wanna be your lover
I'm gonna say it again
And then I told you twice: I wanna be your lover

So far Jarvis has released two solo albums Jarvis and the just released Further Complications which features at long fucking last a decent song with my name in it (Angie by The Rolling Stones doesn’t count because no one calls me Angie, with the exception of my father on occasion). Behold the video for Angela at the end of this post. First, Jarvis is dressed like a lecherous English professor circa 1976. How awesome is that? Second, Jarvis is basically giving a concert on the steps of some random French doorstep. And Oh, Jarvis! Your dance moves are always so wondrously eccentric!

I could go on and on and on and on . . . okay, but I won’t.

// // Common People Lyrics Artist(Band):Pulp Review The Song (2) Print the Lyrics Send “Common People” Ringtones to Cell She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge She studied sculpture at Saint Martin’s College That’s where I caught her eye She told me that her Dad was loaded I said “In that case I’ll have rum and coca-cola She said “fine” And then in 30 seconds time she said “I want to live like common people I want to do whatever common people do I want to sleep with common people I want to sleep with common people like you” Well what else could I do? I said “I’ll see what I can do” I took her to a supermarket I don’t know why but I had to start it somewhere so it started there I said “pretend you’ve got no money” but she just laughed and said “oh you’re so funny” I said “Yeah Well I can’t see anyone else smiling in here Are you sure you want to live like common people you want to see whatever common people see you want to sleep with common people you want to sleep with common people like me?” But she didn’t understand she just smiled and held my hand Rent a flat above a shop Cut your hair and get a job Smoke some fags and play some pool Pretend you never went to school But still you’ll never get it right ‘cos when you’re laid in bed at night watching roaches climb the wall if you called your dad he could stop it all yeah You’ll never live like common people You’ll never do whatever common people do You’ll never fail like common people You’ll never watch your life slide out of view and then dance and drink and screw because there’s nothing else to do Sing along with the common people Sing along and it might just get you through Laugh along with the common people Laugh along although they’re laughing at you and the stupid things that you do because you think that poor is cool Like a dog lying in a corner they will bite you and never warn you Look out they’ll tear your insides out ‘cos everybody hates a tourist especially one who thinks it’s all such a laugh

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