Thursday, March 26, 2009

Velvet Underground's The Gift--Eyes in the Box--Self-mailing

Self-mailing has always been one of the primary subjects of this blog. Or at least that was one of the aims of this blog in the foggy days of its creation.

The Velvet Underground has been an abiding interest of mine.

Now, how is it that I never made the connection between these two?

Lyrics from The Gift (off of White Light/White Heat):

It was a New York company. You could go anywhere in the mails. Then it struck
him. He didn't have enough money to go to Wisconsin in the accepted fashion,
true, but why not mail himself? It was absurdly simple. He would ship himself
parcel post, special delivery. The next day Waldo went to the supermarket to
purchase the necessary equipment. He bought masking tape, a staple gun and a
medium sized cardboard box just right for a person of his build. He judged that
with a minimum of jostling he could ride quite comfortably. A few airholes,
some water, perhaps some midnight snacks, and it would probably be as good as
going tourist.


How is it that I never made this connection before?

Notice that both subjects make it into this post. It's taken me four and a half years to make the connection. Sheesh.

I guess I never listened to it very carefully before. I just like grooving to it's funky noise jimjam. It's actually kind of annoying to listen to the words--it's distracting.

4 comments:

Pree-oz said...

In Seoul, they'd make you get a bag your size that you could fit snugly into, then you'd have to take out your battery before even going into the box.

Remember when you were d-runk and made me look for Velvet Underground songs in that bar in Sinchon?

sarcasmus said...

I barely remember. But I thought I had dreamed that. But it turned out to be true. All thanks to a mix of soju, whiskey and beer. And thanks for becoming a follower of sloppy.

Anonymous said...

You haven't noticed the song until now because it is part of your spiritual quest--the search for enlightenment through self-mailing. You are now ready to move onto the next phase...

--thod

Anonymous said...

I just checked out Your Friends of Tuva link and discovered that a major Tuva group is playing at the Lowell (Mass.) Folk festival in July!!!!

K