DarkArc009
Some songs will haunt you, Etta’s debut for The Tapes will stay with you forever
Ceiling / Sky
Arkansas-native Etta Vale made a trip to Europe, not to ‘find’ herself, but to lose a lot of pain she wanted to leave behind. But she found us, and that’s really something.
“Florence is such a strange place coming from rural America” Etta explains.
“Like a real European city, and ancient. Every stone seems like it’s telling a story of centuries ago. It’s a cliché for Americans to come here, and nobody gets I can’t be a Yankee if I’m from Arkansas, but I just found it such a great and cool place to hang out. I can’t tell you how much i needed that change of scene. Oh and crazy cheap too, like you can buy coffee for about a buck fifty, so of course I’m gonna stick around. I had nothing to go back to anyway
“So I ran into Mujiki and Rei while they were record shopping, I had a copy of the Go-Gos first album under my arm and they were freaking out I’d found it before they did!
“We got talking, and Mujiki told me how she runs this ‘kinda’ record label, that does half ‘normal’ music releases, although the word ‘normal’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting here to my mind — but also half this…weird shit that sounds like Japanese shipping forecasts from the 1940s along with a broken 808 and a Theramin recorded down a mine shaft.
“And now I’m on their label I guess. This first release, it was a pretty heavy song for me to do. But I took it as a good sign I could sing it in front of some people I’d only just met. It was liberating. Maybe saved my life doing it even.
“So, still here. Still recording. I wasn’t looking for anything here, but I found it anyway.
“Like Mujiki says, all roads lead to Florence.”
“The word ‘normal’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting here to my mind”
LISTEN NOW
Your smoke-stained ceiling, it becomes a spreading sky
And I really don’t mind at all, that I’m about to die
I always knew it would come, you know, this day
And deep down, it’s a secret thing I want anyway
-
It was just another bar, you, just another face
Then what got me, to go back to your place?
Wasn’t your jokes, and sorry, neither looks or charm
It was the promise, you could shoot gold into my arm
And so we arrive, and fall right through your door
Knowing we can’t stand, to be straight anymore
We don’t even say much, talk seems so small
When you want the great high, from which you can't fall
And you let me go first, a great gift to a guest
I went all in, even though I guessed what would come next
Oh no
Oh no
Your smoke-stained ceiling, it becomes a spreading sky
And I really don’t mind at all, that I’m about to die
I always knew it would come, you know, this day
And deep down, it’s a secret thing I want anyway
Look, there’s a house, picket fence and everything
Look, there’s that old oak, where I used to swing
That crappy Datsun, you know I bought that myself
Through my childhood window, there’s a bear on a shelf
My high school comes to view, but doesn’t stay long
The place taught me nothing, and I knew no one
Just that one time neath the bleachers, what a golden day
There’s a guy sticking a needle in, and it all went away
I’m so done with all this
Your ceiling’s clouds open, and I find I’m floating up
To the place us losers go, when there’s simply no more luck
And that’s OK, no really, truth told I’m finished, done
If a night like this was always gonna come,
Why not make it this one?
Let’s make it this one
Stuck between stations, I am a radio dial
I got a sense…
That I’m still
Here, now, Here, now
Here, now,
Here, now
Here, now, Here, now
Oh God, oh god
Why am I still
Here, now
Oh god
And I got the feeling…
That I’m not alone
Dana’s shaking me ragged,
He’s called the first number in my phone
And now I’m above
And you’re all below
And Dana, I can see you screaming
Etta you fucking idiot
Don’t go
Don’t go, don’t go
Don’t go
Etta you stupid fuck
Come back
Come back
Come back
Etta what did you fucking do?
Oh Dana, I don’t mean to, I have to
Etta don’t do this to yourself, me, us
Oh Dana, you know me, it’s something I can’t, must
Etta, don’t you dare fucking leave, leave the me and you
Oh Dana, if only you knew, you’d let me go too
The clouds close, black comes, bringing storm and rain
I'm back on the solid ground, growing heavy again
That guy’s crying in the corner, Dana’s hand is to her weeping face
Blue and red and blue lights, they flash around the place
My face, is stuck to months of sugar, on a stranger’s kitchen floor
Looks like I’ll spin on this planet, least one day more
“She’s back” Dana shouts, guess I am at that
And I really can’t tell you, how I feel about that
There was that time when a smoke-stained ceiling, became my sky
When it suddenly struck me, that all told, it was OK to die
But I was deceived, denied what was promised me
When your dark apartment's heaven opened, to set me free
I had a sky for a ceiling for sky, no, the other way round
When I lost all the treasures I saw could be found
Sun smiling on shining rivers, a chance a change
Something wonderful, something new, something strange
In God’s great ceiling, I saw everything that was promised me
I’m so sorry Dana, it’s not enough, to be you and me
So I can’t say to you, I don’t want to go back
And I can’t promise you, I won’t try to go back
In that short moment, I saw everything I lack
“Sorry Etta” I say,
“Can you really deal with that?”
Because I can’t tell myself, I don’t want to go back
Because I can’t promise myself
I won’t try to go back
