The title of this project comes from a little nugget Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards offered up in a 1997 interview with Toronto Sun writer Jane Stevenson, widely repeated since then in gossip columns across the globe and online. When asked how he felt about Elton John’s reworking of his song “Candle in the Wind†(formerly a Marilyn Monroe tribute) for the occasion of Princess Diana’s death, Richards described John as writing “songs for dead blondes.â€
I latched the phrase “songs for dead blondes†and stretched the metaphor to write a three-hour song cycle about nostalgia as it appears in popular song and elsewhere. Some local musicians and friends helped assemble a band called MEPHI to perform some of the ‘songs’ at a few rare shows around Detroit/Ann Arbor, among them a show at the University of Michigan’s WORK Gallery complete with mock burial (300 pounds of dirt shoveled onto the gallery floor, band wearing funeral attire, flowers, memorials, etc.).
After that show, having finally buried our dead blondes, MEPHI took an extended hiatus. Given the nature of the project, and the nature of nostalgia, we are always willing to ‘revive’ the band – or some new version thereof – if asked nicely. Until then, please enjoy the recordings, images, and texts available here.
RECORDINGS | IMAGES | TEXTS
Recordings
Songs for Dead Blondes live studio recordings (2004) – selected songs from the original three-disc cycle, edited for length and recorded mostly live, with some overdubbing, at 40 Oz. Sound in Ann Arbor, MI
feels like real leather
throwaway
hersatz
rebellion sells
i’ll-wait
peristalsister
no way out
weatherman
different places different times
more than a woman
it didn’t end
with:
Jay Friend (guitar)
Mike Dundon (bass)
Jeff Porter (drum)
Ben Began (engineer)
Ringtones for Dead Blondes
At one of the Bluish Barn’s Craft Nights, I decided to turn a few parts of the original 1999 SfDB demos into cell phone ringtones.
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-shes-not-sleeping
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-one-size-fits-all
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-theyve-taught-you-well-2
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-post-whatever
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-hands-to-yourself-2
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-want-and-will-abuse
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-next-please-2
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-last-one
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-theyve-taught-you-well
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-1-something-new
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-oh-tempora-oh
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-today-2
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-shes-not-sleeping-2
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-today
mephis-ringtones-for-dead-blondes-shes-not-sleeping
Songs for Dead Blondes original demos (1999) – selected tracks
old years morn (a New Year’s sing-along)
today
before they were stars
all the children
hands-to-yourself
she’s not sleeping
with:
Andrew Phillips (lead guitar)
Images
These are just a few of the images that were blown up and used for our memorial performance. (Special thanks to Vinh Nguyen for graphic design help.)
Texts
These texts, all of which describe or exhibit nostalgia, as I define it, are offered here as supplemental reading to anyone who wants it. Some of these were used in our installations, some were not. If you know of other texts that would fit here, please contact me.
Resisting Left Melancholy, by Wendy Brown
“…Jagger said he’s still unsure if the Stones will take part in a Princess Diana tribute album being organized by British tycoon Richard Branson.”
I don’t know anything about it,” Jagger said. “…If we were asked, I’m sure we’d do it, but we haven’t been asked.”
Richards said he’s not sure how he feels about the idea.
“I never met the chick…I have to get some more measure of what’s really going on in England to really be able to say.”
Richards added that Elton John’s reworking of “Candle In The Wind” for Diana, which will be released in Canada on Wednesday as a single, also doesn’t sit right with him.
“I find it jars a little,” Richards said.
“After all, it was written for Marilyn Monroe. This is writing songs for dead blondes.”
- Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards , in a 1997 interview with Toronto Sun writer Jane Stevenson
“We can assert with some confidence that our own period is one of decline; that the standards of culture are lower than they were fifty years ago; and that the evidences of this decline are visible in every department of human activity.”
- T. S. Eliot, “Notes Towards the Definition of Culture”
“Our parents, worse than our grandparents, gave birth to us who are worse than they, and we shall in our turn bear offspring still more evil.”
- Horace, from Odes
First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden race of mortal men who lived in the time of Cronos when he was reigning in heaven. And they lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all evils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and peace upon their lands with many good things, rich in flocks and loved by the blessed gods.
- Hesiod, from Works and Days
“The first age was golden. In it faith and righteousness were cherished by men of their own free will without judges or laws. Penalties and fears there were none, nor were threatening words inscribed on unchanging bronze; nor did the supplicant crowd fear the words of its judge, but they were safe without protectors. Not yet did the pine cut from its mountain tops descend into the flowing waters to visit foreign lands, nor did deep trenches gird the town, nor were there straight trumpets, nor horns of twisted brass, nor helmets, nor swords. Without the use of soldiers the peoples in safety enjoyed their sweet repose. Earth herself, unburdened and untouched by the hoe and unwounded by the ploughshares, gave all things freely….Spring was eternal…untilled the earth bore its fruits and the unploughed field grew hoary with heavy ears of wheat.â€
“That ancient age to which we have given the name Golden, was blessed with the fruit of trees and the herbs which the soil brings forth, and it did not pollute its mouth with gore. Then the birds in safety winged their way though the air and the hare fearlessly wandered through the fields, nor was the fish caught through its witlessness. There were no snares, and none feared treachery, but all was full of peace.
- Ovid, from Metamorphoses
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…and God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground…and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden…and out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And (from)the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man…. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
- from the Bible, Book of Genesis Chapters 1-2
“The first law of thermodynamics states that one form of energy, e.g. kinetic, potential, electrical energy, thermal,… can be converted into another without loss. The second law states that thermal energy, or heat, is special among the types of energies: all the forms of energy can be converted into heat, but in a way that is not reversible; it is not possible to convert the heat back fully in its original form. In other words, heat is a form of energy of lower quality….
…The following example illustrates the law. When a stone falls on earth, its kinetic energy is converted into heat, i.e. it becomes random movements of earth particles. The second law says that this random movement will never become ordered again. For example, the random movement will never become synchronized to throw the stone back in the air: the heat energy will not revert to the original kinetic energy.”
- from the Wikipedia article on “Second Law of Thermodynamics”
The following quotations are taken from Mario Jacoby’s Longing for Paradise:
In the Age of Perfect Virtue they were upright and correct, without knowing that to be so was righteousness; they loved one another, without knowing that to do so was benevolence; they were honest and leal-hearted without knowing that it was good faith; in their simple movements they employed the services of one another without thinking that they were conferring or receiving any gift. Therefore their actions left no trace and there was no record of their affairs.
- Chinese sage Chuang Tzu (fourth century BC)
Somewhere down in the underworld we were created by the Great Spirit, the Creator. We were created first one, then two, then three. We were created equal, of oneness, living in a spiritual way, where life is everlasting. We were happy and at peace with our fellow men. All things were plentiful, provided by our Mother Earth upon which we were placed. We did not need to plant or work to get food. Illness and troubles were unknown.
- Hopi elder Dan Katchongva
The most ancient human beings lived with no evil desires, without guilt or crime, and therefore without penalties or compulsions. Nor was there any need of rewards, since by the prompting of their own nature they followed righteous ways. Since nothing contrary to morals was desired, nothing was forbidden through fear.
- Roman poet Tacitus (first century AD)
[In the First Age] there was but one religion, and all men were saintly: therefore they were not required to perform religious ceremonies. There were no gods in the First Age, and there were no demons. The First Age was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hatred or vanity, or evil thought whatsoever; no sorrow, no fear. In those times, men lived as long as they chose to live, and were without any fear of death.
- The Mahabharata of India
That place was pure, that place was clean.
In Dilmun the raven croaked not.
The kite shrieked not kite-like.
The lion mangled not.
The wolf ravaged not the lambs…
None caused the doves to fly away.
- [Sumerian inscriptions about god Enki in land of Dilmun?]
Once upon a time, there was no snake, there was no scorpion,
There was no hyena, there was no lion,
There was no wild dog, no wolf,
There was no fear, no terror,
Man had no rival.
Once upon a time…
The whole universe, the people in unison
To Enlil in one tongue gave praise.
- [Sumerian inscriptions about god Enki in land of Dilmun?]
In the reign of Yima there was neither heat nor cold, neither old age nor death, nor disease….Father and son walked together, each looking but fifteen years of age, or so did they appear.
- [Iranian legend; footnote: Vendidad, Far. II, 3-41, quoted in S.G.F. Brandon, Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East]
Order was established in [the Primeval Gods’] time, and truth…came forth from heaven in their days. It united itself with those who were on earth. The land was in abundance; bodies were full; there was no year of hunger in the Two Lands. Walls did not fall; thorns did not pierce in the time of the Primeval Gods.
- [early Egyptian text, quoted in S.G.F. Brandon, Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East]
Men of the ealiest age, who were akin to the gods and were by nature the best men and lived the best life, so that they are regarded as a golden race in comparison with the men of the present time…of these primeval men he says that they took the life of no animal…Decaearchus tells us of what sort the life of that Age of Cronus was…all things then presumably grew spontaneously, since the men of that time themselves produced nothing, having invented neither agriculture nor any other art. it was for this reason that they lived a life of leisure, without care or toil, and also – if the doctrine of the most eminent medical men is to be accepted – without disease….And there were no wars or feuds between them; for there existed among them no objects of competition of such values as to give anyone a motive to seek to obtain them by those means. Thus it was that their whole life was one of leisure, of freedom from care about the satisfaction of their needs, of health and peace and friendship. Consequently this manner of life of theirs naturally came to be longed for by men of later times who, because of the greatness of their desires, had become subject to many evils….All this, says Dicaearchus, is not asserted merely by us, but by those who have thoroughly investigated the history of early times.
- Porphyry, 3rd century B.C. Neoplatonist
The Krita Yuga [Perfect Age] was so named because there was but one religion, and all men were saintly: therefore they were not required to perform religious ceremonies. Holiness never grew less, and the people did not decrease. There were no gods in the Krita Yuga, and there were no demons….Men neither bought nor sold; there were no poor and no rich; there was no need to labour, because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of all worldly desires. The Krita Yuga was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hated, or vanity, or evil thought whatsoever; no sorrow, no fear. All mankind could obtain to supreme blessedness.
- the Mahabharata, Santiparvan, Moksadharma
In the Krita age human beings appropriated food which was produced from the essence of the earth….They were characterized neither by righteousness nor unrighteousness; they were marked by no distinctions….They were produced each with authority over himself….They suffered no impediments, no susceptibilities to the pairs of opposites (like pleasure and pain, cold and heat), and no fatigue. They frequented the mountains and seas, and did not dwell in houses. They never sorrowed, were full of the quality of goodness, and supremely happy; they moved about at will and lived in continual delight….Produced from the essence of the earth, the things which those people desired sprang up from the earth everywhere and always, when thought of. That perfection of theirs both produced strength and beauty and annihilated disease. With bodies which needed no decoration, they enjoyed perpetual youth….Then truth, contentment, patience, satisfaction, happiness and self-command prevailed….There existed among them no such things as gain or loss, friendship or enmity, liking or dislike.
- Vaya Purana, 8
In a time long past, so long past that even the grandmothers were not yet born, the world was quite other than what it is today: the trees were forever in fruit; the animals lived in perfect harmony, and the little agouti played fearlessly with the beard of the jaguar; the serpents had no venom; the rivers flowed evenly, without drought or flood; and even the waters of cascades glided gently down from the rocks.
- [story told by Caribs of Surinam; Hartley Burr Alexander, “Latin-American Mythology,†in The Mythology of All Races, vol. 10]
After God had created the world and men, he dwelt among them. He called them his children. They gave him the name of father….He showed himself a good father to men for he so placed them in this world that they could live without much effort and were above all free from care and fear. Neither elements nor animals were inimical to man and foodstuffs grew ready to his hand. In short, the world was a paradise as long as God dwelt among man. He was not visible to them but he was in their midst and spoke to them.
- ethnologist Paul Schebesta’s record of a Bambuti Pygmy tradition from central Africa
The first people went their directions, were happy, and began to multiply. With the pristine wisdom granted them, they understood that the earth was a living entity like themselves….In their pristine wisdom they also understood their own structure and functions – the nature of man himself….The first people knew no sickness. Not until evil entered the world did persons get sick in the body or head.
- Hopi description of Tokpela, the first of four worlds [Frank Waters, Book of the Hopi]
The holy men of old, partaking of Brahma’s nature, were not frustrated in the results at which they aimed; they were religious and truth-speaking….And they died when they desired, suffered few annoyances, were free from disease, accomplished all their objects, endured no oppression. Self-subdued and free from envy, they beheld the gods and the mighty prophets.
- Mahabharata
The Great Spirit first made the earth and its creatures. Then he came down to look at his handiwork. Digging in the ground he had made, he found some clay. He took this back into the sky with him and let it fall back into the hold he had excavated. Immediately there came out man, in the form of Montezuma, the hero of this legend. With his help there also came forth all the Indian tribes in order….Peace and happiness [were] in the world those first days. The sun being nearer to the earth than it is now, all the seasons were warm, and no one wore clothing. Men and animals shared a common tongue, and all were brothers.
- Papago Indians of Arizona, creation story [Hartley Burr Alexander, “North American Mythology†in The Mythology of All Races, vol. 10]