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Rating: It was 1998 and Mark Linkous, aka Sparklehorse, released the album “Good Morning Spider” after many personal struggles, and it is really from that album that we must start to talk about this interesting EP.
In the second Sparklehorse album, there was the song “Chaos Of The Galaxy/Happy Man,” which is a blending of a song (“Happy Man”) and fragments of noise experimentation (“Chaos Of The Galaxy”) that shattered the actual song. In this EP, Linkous includes only “Happy Man,” stripped of noisy interludes, allowing it to be enjoyed in its original and less avant-garde form. However, one should not think of this EP as a sort of extended single. Indeed, the brief but intense “Waiting For Nothing” arrives, which seems like an outtake from “Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot.” Then comes the equally brief “Happy Place,” a b-side of the single "Sick of Goodbyes," where Linkous demonstrates his ability to condense excellent melodic hints into just over two minutes. The cover of Daniel Johnston’s “My Yoke Is Heavy” is an almost obligatory tribute to an artist close to Mark both in lo-fi attitude and personal history, leading to their collaboration on Johnston's studio album Fear Yourself.
The last two tracks are two live recordings: “Gasoline Horseys” is performed live in a less minimalist manner than the studio version, and “Happy Pig,” which is the combination of the aforementioned “Happy Man” and “Pig,” leading to the creation of one of the most rock pieces of the Sparkling Horse.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Pig (02:23)
p-i-g, oh, p-i-g
why don't you sing me that
pretty lullaby
then when you're singing great
pack it all up
I wanna new face right now
and I want it bad
I wanna new body that's strong
I'm a butchered cow
I wanna try and fly
I wanna try and die
I wanna be a pig
I wanna fuck a car
I wanna new face right now
and I want it bad
I wanna new body that's strong
I'm a butchered cow
I wanna be a stupid and shallow mutherfucker now
I wanna be a tough skinned bitch but I don't know how
I wanna be a shiny new baby with a spongy brain
I wanna be a horse full of fire that will never train
06 Box of Stars, Part One (00:33)
my bones wish to escape
and run along an alien expanse
to collapse from the heat
in a cartoonish heap
to sleep oh to sleep
09 Hey, Joe (03:06)
Hey joe
C'mon joe
Don't make that sad song
Any sadder than it already is
Hey jack
Get back
Get yourself together
C'mon c'mon
I know you're thinking about your nervous laugh
I know exactly what you're thinking of
Hey sid
No matter what you did
It can work out
Work out
No matter how you feel
Right now
Hey george
Do your chores
Don't feel sore
I know it's a lot more
Than just being poor
There's a heaven and there's a star for you
There's a heaven and there's a star for you
There's a heaven and there's a star for you
There's a star for you
There's a star for you
There's a star for you
14 Ghost of His Smile (03:12)
he don't get out much
these days
but I wouldn't call him
lazy
he sees the dawn sneak
into the room
and knows the dogs will
be up soon
and we thought that he was doing alright
as the sun chased down another night
and days carreen
like the waters
of a river rushing
to the sea
here she comes again
down the staircase
she never passes without
saying hello
and we thought that he was doing alright
and she says hello
I can't forget the ghost
I can't forget the ghost
I can't forget the ghost
of his smile
dogs will wag their tails
and birds will sing
hell it's hard world
for little things
and we thought that he was doing alright
I can't forget the ghost
I can't forget the ghost
I can't forget the ghost
of his smile
15 Hundreds of Sparrows (02:26)
every hair on your head is counted
you are worth hundreds of sparrows
the tree you planted has become fecund
with kamikaze hummingbirds
wings of hundreds of beats per second
of people whose wings are just a blur
afraid our eyes might become impaled
by their sharp and tiny beaks
I'm so sorry
my spirit's rarely in my body
it wanders through the dry country
looking for a good place to rest
your head upon my chest
and I can feel the pillow of your breast
you are worth hundreds of sparrows
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By zaireeka
Good Morning Spider, an album that was born precisely from that traumatic London experience of Linkous.
What surely strikes is how Linkous manages to modulate his voice... oscillates between the masculine, the feminine, and even the childish in a graceful manner.
