A deviation from the norm- some music by the French post-punk band Marquis de Sade. I discovered them years ago digging in my father’s old albums but only recently came to love them after stumbling back into them as the second act in this early appearance of The Cure on French TV (starts about 13:20 but The Cure’s performance is more than worth watching first). This is the titular song from their second album, Rue de Siam (no clear relation to the Edith Piaf song of the same name).
First is the original album version:
And second the live version from their 16-09-17 reunion album. I find this the far better one:
Plus the lyrics, helpfully transcribed by a fan in the comments of the first video:
He’s walking down the Rue deSiam
No longer running, no longer talking
Towards the harbour and the quays
Attracted by the long thin wound
Of the sky watching him
Ant the sea calling out to him
D’you know ther’re several ways of dying
You can make a list of them
According to the difficulty
She would long for the night
Out of sheer weariness
Her eyes went dull for she had forgotten
And she gently subsides
Nothing will break on the carpet
No blood no blood, it’s red and it’s dirty
And feels so bad
He’s looking for evidence along the quays and the streets
Some of the pieces of his life
The reflection on the water
The shadow on the ground
Whisper to him something lurks behind his eyes
May be he will laugh about it
He’s walking down the Rue de Siam
Where all things vanish as he walks past
Even his memories of the bedroom
Where they designed the metal network
Whose strands grow taut and interweave
Bring us together
And bind us
And they pull us apart
In any case there’s nothing behind it all
The end of the path
Why repeat same gesture
When you’ve reached the limit ?
And you’re getting cramped in your suit
And no spot on your suit
No blood cos it’s red and makes me feel so sick
He’s looking for evidence along the quays and the streets
Some of the pieces of his life
The reflection on the water
The shadow on the ground
Whisper to him something lurks behind his eyes
May be he will laugh about it
He’s walking down the Rue de Siam
Further along there is nothing
The horizon is a smooth wall
Down which rejected illusions drip
That once drove him along
There’s several ways of dying
And one way of keeping alive
Floating between day and night
Sheltered from rough seas and time
Drifting along with the wind
But out of weariness
She asked for sleep to come
For eyes to shut for the sake of oblivion
Cos blood is red and blood it’s dirty
And it feels so bad
He’s looking for evidence along the quays and the streets
Some of the pieces of his life
The reflection on the water
The shadow on the ground
Whisper to him something lurks behind his eyes
And a bonus for the best post-punk blues album you’ll never hear otherwise, a later project of lead singer Philippe Pascal – Philippe Pascal & the Blue Train Choir:
Extracts 