From the recording NEW JULIA
Lyrics
NEW JULIA
c1993 by Wishnefsky and Rod Clark
Wishnefsky - vocals, electric guitars, synth, tapes
Dave Rodgers - drums
Todd Jameson - synth, vocals
Rod Clark – bass, vocals
COMMENTS
New Julia is a fictional story inspired by someone I met in Russia. It’s another song from the early days of the band.
The tapes of voices portend some of the production touches on Southland.
The voice in the beginning is a loquacious Finnish guy named Mika whom my wife and I met in Helsinki. He volunteered to be our tour guide and took us to a mysterious foggy island where we traipsed about some ancient runes while he recited poetry. I captured some of it on my trusty video cam. It later turned out that Mika’s real motivation was to capture Tina – and me – in the sack. Freshly married and not quite willing to share our passion with anyone else, we politely declined.
I recorded the voices heard during the bridge and outro at a church at the Kremlin in Moscow. A tape of a man’s voice narrated a slide show about the history of the church. The New Julia translated for us. (Shortly after I recorded that, we went to the Red Square and saw Stalin's corpse floating in a transparent tomb for all to behold – a truly ghastly experience. The air was very heavy and gravity seemed stronger than usual.)
I recorded the song heard at the very end in a large public square near the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. It was a propaganda number broadcast over some very tinny sounding speakers. It sounded magical.
Just before the propaganda song comes in, Rod plays several fretless basses multi-tracked in a musical treat only he could create.
A few years later, Todd gave me a piece of his incredible artwork that included a few lines from this song in his sublime calligraphy:
“I’ve been climbing up molehill mountain,
Backstroke in the soda fountain.â€
Wishnefsky