Mr Feathers!

[Poor Deportee]

MR FEATHERS

They looked at her this way ever since she was a girl
Mr. Feathers, Mr. Feathers
The echo in every smile that would curl into a leer
Oh my dear, Mr. Feathers is near

The counter is falling
Something is spoiling
It's really appalling
You pleased and you promised
You never saw it through
Nobody knows the damage that we do
Do you carry it with you?

She passed him out in the street
He suddenly seemed so frail
As her fast heart beat
She should kick him anyway
Sharpen her nails...
For eyes that strayed where hands should never stray

She thought she was wanton (or is it 'wanted?' I think that works better) ever since she was a girl
Mr. Feathers, Mr. Feathers
The kindness in every smile that would curl into a sneer
Oh my dear, Mr. Feathers is near

Her lover is calling
Something is spoiling
It's really appalling

You pleased and you promised
You never saw it through
Nobody knows the damage that we do
The damage that we do




I know I'm in a minority, but I always really dug this song - sort of a decadent cabaret with twisted, subtly evasive lyrics. Uniquely Elvis. Listening to it on a long drive today, though, I found myself wondering - exactly what is the nature of these characters? WHO is Mr Feathers? The lady in question clearly has a longstanding (and long-standoffish) connection to him:

Ever since she was a girl
The echo in every smile that would curl into a leer
Oh my dear, Mr Feathers is near!

Note the ambiguity...it's the echo that turns into a leer? (If so, what a powerfully pscyhological image, as though in memory the smile is being perverted, by a paranoid imagination, into something else). Or is it the smile itself actually doing so - ? And who exactly is doing the leering? Him, presumably; or is it her?

And what's with the kitchen intimacy of 'the counter is falling, something is spoiling, it's really appalling?' Is Mr Feathers a servant? A shopkeep? A suitor? WHO made those 'pleases and promises' and 'never followed through?' Him, I presume; so he wasn't some nobody, he was in a position to "please" and promise to her, or her family. He's not just some leering pervert in the neighbourhood.

She is clearly *surprised* to pass him 'out in the street [where he] suddenly seemed so frail...' I come back to that weird intimacy of the first verse. Again, he's NOT just some vague acquaintance, else her heart wouldn't beat fast; and relatedly, there seems to be a fall of some sort implied here. He didn't used to be 'out on the street' - hence her surprise. So he emerges as tragic, especially with 'she should kick him anyway,' but also pathetic: 'eyes that stray...' He still wants her, of course. She knows it, but there's a drama to the encounter that suggests something at stake for her, somehow.

The pathos culminates in the last verse. 'Sneer' comes like a final judgement on 'leer' in the first verse - her final expression of contempt. And then:

'Her LOVER is calling' - Mr F is obviously watching;
'Something is spoiling' - well, it could his dreams, his love, his heart; or (oh dear!) it could also refer to his SMELL, the homeless man in the street;
'It's really appalling' - no sh*t!

'You pleased and promised, you never followed through' comes back again...but who is being addressed here? It sounds like her this time. SHE betrayed him somehow? Given the context of the last verse, and the closing statement - the damage that we do - it seems to follow.

2:44, and EC lifts this little rock of social roaches. Splendidly done.

Any thoughts?

[A rope leash]

I agree that this is a quintessential Elvis-type song. Whatever he's talking about is nobody's business but his, and if what you get out of it is not "correct", that would be okay with Elvis, too.

My take on this tune is that it is about a young girl who had some kind of relationship with an older man that might have went a little too far. Some girls are enchanted by older men, but realize eventually that they are really old men. So, Mr. Feathers may have made some advances, and she may have initially consented, only to find out that what Mr. Feathers was really after was not love and romance, but merely sex. She runs in to him from time to time, and he smiles but also leers knowingly, making her uncomfortable.

Her lover is calling, something is spoiling... well, she's grown up some now, and when she's with her lover her experiences with the old geech kind of make the lovemaking less than what it could be. She can't really trust the intentions of men, can she?

By the way, I haven't heard the new record yet...I'm still into Momfuku. I didn't think it was all that great at first, but now, shit man, let me hear it again. The guy's a genius, Jeb!

[bronxapostle]

MOMOFUKU is in the TOP FIVE!!!!!!!!

[Ypsilanti]

I get the impression that this is a really young girl and Mr. Feathers is kind of a Pedophile...quite a topic for a poppy little song. It's that brilliant thing Elvis does again and again where he matches the darkest lyrics with the catchiest tunes--Other Side of Summer, Red Cotton, Oliver's Army, etc.

Mr. Feathers really does some damage to this girl's life--as a result of her encounter with him, the girl gets the blame, the bad reputation..."They thought she was this way" and "They thought she was wanton". Now grown, her entire outlook toward men & relationships is twisted, jaded. Mr. Feathers has put a terrible stain on her soul. For her, smiles are leers. She feels "spoiled" for her current lover. The narrator suggests that she take revenge on him, even though he is now old and frail because he deserves it, but there is no hint that she acts on this suggestion.

That decadent, sort of Kurt Weil-esque sound is really effective and so tasty. I can hear Tom Waits singing this song.

Agree: Momofuku is a wonderful record. I listen to it often and enjoy the entire thing. Elvis should never have made a point of saying how he made it quickly and casually. That only gave haters a reason to reject it--quite unfairly.

[bambooneedle]

I get the impression that this is a really young girl ...

I imagine not necessarily a young girl but the kind of woman who talks and acts little-girlish due to something like Mr Feathers impacting definingly on her as she was growing up. At least under certain circumstances like when something reminds her of it and the feelings come back. The spectre of Mr Feathers haunts her.

[Ypsilanti]

I imagine not necessarily a young girl but the kind of woman who talks and acts little-girlish ...The spectre of Mr Feathers haunts her.

....VERY interesting, Bamboo!!

I picture Mr. Feathers as looking like a slightly more Continental version of Harry Dean Stanton. How do you guys see him?

[Poor Deportee]

Great interpretations! Keep 'em coming.

I picture Mr. Feathers as a decrepit Ian McKellan type. A touch of the grotesque about him. Something in the combination of sound and lyric - if only the use of the 'Mister' honourific - suggests to me a certain Victorian formality to the proceedings. He's wearing a respectable but vaguely threadbare suit and tie. Uses old silk handkerchiefs. 'My necktie rich and modest, asserted by a simple pin' - a pedophile Prufrock, maybe?

'The counter is falling' - did the deed(s) transpire in the kitchen and (incidentally) knock over some food? Oh, yuck.

Momofuku is indeed a terrific record. But what is it about EC's later output that makes it best appreciated in RETROSPECT? It seems that the immediate reaction to a new release is usually tempered appreciation ('it's good, but not as good as he used to do, not as good as his *great records*''), followed by later re-assessment ('wow, this album really is great!'). He's been getting this treatment ever since Spike. What's with that?

[A rope leash]

This is definitely the leer...

johnastinisgreatasgomezaddams.jpg (19.07 KiB) Viewed 14915 times

I picture Mr. Feathers as looking somewhat like this, only less sophisticated.

...and yeah, it might be totally about the effects of pedophilia, but I thought the words were he thought she was wanton...ever since she was a girl...which to me indicates a girl that is somewhat grown, although a pedophile might see a child as "wanton", I hardly see how it applies. Also, She pleased and she promised...she never saw it through may refer to her lover or to Mr. Feathers, and if it applies to Mr. Feathers, it does indicate a willingness on her part that she is now ashamed of, and which is why she should want to kick the old man.

[A rope leash]

No Hiding Place...is about how electronic media has made privacy and civility a thing of the past.

American Gangster Time...Another jab at mass media, with overtones of Radio Radio throughout.

Turpentine...is this some sort of jab at Cait?

Harry Worth...come on, one of Elvis' brilliant ones. Hated it when I first heard it. Sing along every time, now!

Pardon me Madame, my name is Eve...this must have come out of his time in the mid-South doing The Delivery Man. I like the erie religious overtone of the speaker in the song, who seems to have been jilted by her husband for some other woman. It's clear that she sees it as more than a sin.

Yeah, well, Elvis can make it up as he goes along. His worst is another musician's dream.

[Ypsilanti]

'The counter is falling' - did the deed(s) transpire in the kitchen and (incidentally) knock over some food? Oh, yuck.

I was thinking it was a counter, like a timer or an hourglass...The counter is falling, like the seconds are ticking away, or hours or years. Perhaps her life is passing without this terrible thing from her youth being resolved...

Momofuku is indeed a terrific record. But what is it about EC's later output that makes it best appreciated in RETROSPECT? It seems that the immediate reaction to a new release is usually tempered appreciation ('it's good, but not as good as he used to do, not as good as his *great records*''), followed by later re-assessment ('wow, this album really is great!'). He's been getting this treatment ever since Spike. What's with that?

Hate, hate, hate that approach to Elvis' music! It's so lazy! I feel like each release should be appreciated on it's own merits, without the ghost of those first few albums hanging over it. That annoys me to no end, and you're right--you hear that kind of talk all the time.
Could just be my taste--I like the old records, but I don't necessarily like them more or instead of the newer ones. Momofuku isn't good compared to Blood & Chocolate or Brutal Youth--it's just good.

[Jack of All Parades]

I have tried to refrain from commenting-we do not exist in vacums nor do we listen in vacums-an artist's predecessors and previous work impacts upon his/her current efforts-this is the whole critical argument of "the anxiety of influence"-I cannot listen to a current album by EC and not ignore previous efforts-the previous work resonates within the current and I am unable to separate it entirely-does this make me 'lazy'?-no- do I hold to standards that he has previously set?-definitely-do I think some artists get lazy and regurgitate past successes ad nauseum?-yes-does EC do this? I do not think so-has some of the recent work been turgid and to my ears an exercise in style-to me, yes-but that is not lazy listening-we consistently filter the present through the past-one of the reasons I listen to Momofuko is that he chose not to labor over it-it has a freshness that is not worn down by too much time in the studio obsessing over the material-I like the notion that you get in and lay it down and then get out-this is how many of the so called great albums have been cut-Dylan consistently works this way-at the same time speed in the studio does not make me want to listen to SP&S with any consistency-I do not think it makes one a 'hater' to not always be a cheerleader.

[A rope leash]

All Elvis has ever done is capture the cliche and make it his own. Exactly what is it he has borrowed from his past that he hadn't stolen in the first place? Most pop musicians do this...Elvis is not Edgar Varese or Frank Zappa or Miles Davis. Sure, maybe a new song sounds like one of his old songs, but what did that old song sound like? He got it from the Beatles, he got it from The Stones, he got it from the Velvet Underground, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, you name it...and they all picked it up from their own idols and influences. There really isn't much newness to any pop music, it's all rehashed and made to sound fresh. Come on, Elvis complained when the NYT called The Juliet Letters naive...why? Because he said he stole a lot of the movements from Beethoven...and was Beethoven naive?

Elvis is a genius, for sure, but is he an instrument of musical advancement? Is anything he does really "new", musically? No, not even North, not even Il Sogno. Elvis just takes what he knows about all music and incorporates it into his own. Yes, he deserves a marble bust in the Hall of Fame...but not a place in history as a Brahms or Mozart.

There is no shame in not loving everything Elvis does. I'm a huge fan, but I am repulsed by some of his more countryfied stuff, and I can't stay awake during North. I still hold out hope that Elvis will retire to Jazz or Classical, and find the true music of his soul.

[Ypsilanti]

has some of the recent work been turgid and to my ears an exercise in style-to me, yes-but that is not lazy listening-we consistently filter the present through the past

My fault, I guess. I am actually aware that music doesn't exist in a vacuum, but I thought Deportee was talking about published, professional reviews--not private opinions. Possibly I misunderstood. Perhaps I should have been more clear. It was certainly not my intention to call anyone on this board a lazy listener. Jeez!

Just about every time I read about a new Elvis release in print, the current work is held up against his previous work and compared to it. These reviews aren't talking about how various albums may or may not resonate with each other. They don't speak in subtle terms about filtering the present through the past. They are literally making comparisons, along the lines of... "best since Blood & Chocolate" or "doesn't stand up to My Arm is True", etc. Surely we have all seen reviews like this dozens and dozens of times. I was reacting to this kind of Journalism, which in my view is lazy. And smug. Anyone getting paid to assess a new record ought to make a little effort and actually review it --on it's own merits.

[Jack of All Parades]

Ypsilanti-I do not want you to think I was taking you, in particular, to task-just the thought that legitimate criticism is hermetic-sealed up-I am embarrased I cannot even spell vacuum correctly-it is just that any legitimate review I have encountered-either personal or by a paid reviewer is touched by the history of the engagement of the reviewer with his/her subject-no play, book, artwork, performance, piece of music, dance, show opening or any review I have read is without some framing in historical/artistic context-that a person weighs a piece or performance in relation to previous efforts is a given-it is how we hear, listen or observe-that a piece or performance ulitmately has to stand on its own merit is also true but that piece or performance still stands in relation to what has gone before.

[Poor Deportee]

For what it's worth, I had in mind media critics, but also some fans - including myself. Brutal Youth and Momofuku in particular are both albums that yielded their full measure to me only with the passage of time. I think one common thread with these two is that they were widely perceived as RETURN OF ELVOID!!! albums that invite particularly forceful comparison with his old stuff. But they are actually much more 'mature' than the early records - not as hyperactive and showy. The relative lack of verbal pyrotechnics (in favour of richer, complex storytelling) can lead to initial disappointment. Only later do you fully realize just how rich, compassionate, and well-written a 'Harry Worth' really is.

Other underrated albums, like MLAR and TJL, are simply too complex to be well-received on first listen. It's almost inevitable that they would look better after the fact.

(Incidentally, I also agree with much of what Christopher Sjoholm says. In no way am I saying that everything EC does is gold; I agree that there has been an element of 'writing exercises' to much of his post-Attractions stuff; and indeed, I find that sometimes his best-received efforts, such as WIWC, turn out, with the perspective of time, to be among his very worst albums. Nonetheless, this tendency to like his stuff BETTER years after it was released strikes me as common enough, and odd enough, to warrant comment).