The Silver Jews "Ballad of Reverend War Character" poll

whoa

for some reason I was misremembering it as "new showgirl in Tahoe", which is certainly a striking-er image, although why would there be showgirls in Tahoe? either way, it's a strong contender; but I gotta go with John Parker III, narrowly edging out the Latin teacher

One of their best. "horror movie" for me.

The guy writes a hell of a lyric...sorry to be boring, last line.

I just voted 5 minutes ago, but I forgot what I picked. Either John Parker III or 'stars don't shine'.

Had a big SJ phase over the last couple of weeks. Might be the time of year, might just be my mood. One of my favourite lyricists of the last 20 years. So many startling lines, rhymes, images. I wish he'd make more music. I miss this.

"stars don't shine" would have been my second choice. just eradicating the importance of human existence.

right, I was a bit torn between a big idea line and a sharp detail line.

love this song. no way i can choose. darrel dotson, russian primadonna, john parker III or the last line

"stars don't shine" is a great line, but the Mahlia Roach line is so well constructed. Internal rhyme!

john parker iii too. I like that spark that comes from the irregular internal rhymes and half-rhymes (2 neat ones in row in the last verse then a blunt nothingy sort of line before the census final double). Such a good sense of that stuff.

Little Wilkie line gives me the chills too. The cruel march of nature over childhood illusions of domesticity.

In space there is no center is kind of the money line of the song for me, but this song has relatively few lines I really like compared to most SJ songs.

agree with that about only a few lines (& musically it's a bit sluggish for me tbh).

or maybe it's that I feel like he gets by on isolated lines/couplets a bt on the earlier albums.

voted john parker iii, but I like many lines from 'dallas' better

Dallas is great, but I hate the "cum buckets on her ankles" line.

I don't have the same problem with "swallowed Sinatra's cum" or "time, cum, sand, and surf" for what it's worth.

It's more the ankles.

'the right to remain silent' may be my favorite track on this album, tbh

also always hated that "cum buckets in her ankles" (thought it was "in" which makes no more or less sense reallY) line. However, "We saw B.B. King on General Hospital/in the Oak Cliff dramhouse where we stayed"

"Hey boys, supper's on me, our record just went aluminium."

I like the sluggishness of this song + the isolated quality of the lines -- it's got a whiff of Creative Writing exercise to it, the way it hews to this weird formal scheme, but the final product is so indisputably good

also to whoever mentioned it upthread: internal rhyme is a common feature of ballads :)

if pressed I could probably spend 15-20 minutes defending my choice of John Parker III... the perfect concord of the image, the language, & DCB's molasses-slow delivery producing these weird, playful/surreal partial readings of the line that evaporate when we reach the end & the whole meaning clicks into place

I think I'd take Dallas as my track from this one – the steers/mirrors rhyme was just such a stare-at-the-speakers rhyme when I first heard it. fwiw I'd always edited the cum-buckets to 'on her ankles', and taken it as the flash of a pearl-drop anklet, but listening again, it is 'in her ankles', which makes less sense to me. Is he sacrificing a bit of meaning for the little/in assonance? Or do the drops look like they're set into her ankles from a CPR position? Or have I just made up a meaning?

latin teacher imo

automatic bump this poll closes in three or four days -- System

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happy halloween

lol, how perfect!