about
"No Parlez" dates back to about 1991, I think—a time when I was stuck in an awful marriage in which communication was extremely frustrating. It was as if I spoke a foreign language just well enough to get my face slapped; saying offensive things which I had no idea could cause offense.
It seems odd to me now that I didn't put any percussion on this one. (You may hear a clicking there, but that's just the drum string I added onto the bass drone.) Lazy? Did I record this after breaking the drum guitar for the last time? No matter. It rocks along just fine with a guitar and bass.
lyrics
"No Parlez"
(vonHummer)
If you’re looking for someone to explain things better, letter for letter, I don’t speak the language,
If you’re wishing for someone to make meanings more clear, don’t ask here, dear: I don’t speak the language,
I don’t speak the language, not to your liking, not the right accent, ill phrases striking, I don’t speak the language like the people you walk among, I don’t speak the language, ah but it’s my mother tongue!
If you’re asking for someone who can interpret, I’ll have to forfeit: I don’t speak the language,
If you’re hoping for someone to edit your phrasebook: hey, listen, wait, look, I don’t speak the language,
I don’t speak the language, not like a native, don’t know accusative, I don’t know dative, I don’t speak the language like the people you think of as “hot,” I don’t speak the language, but it’s all the language I’ve got!
I can not “speak the speech,” it’s entirely out of my reach, I can gesture all right, but I say “black,” and you hear “white,”
If you’re waiting for some kind of tender discussion without repercussion: I don’t speak the language,
If you’re looking for someone to explain things better, letter for letter, I don’t speak the language...
credits
from
Pre-Season Scrimmage,
released June 4, 2002
Produced by Clark Kent for Therisno Records.
vonHummer: vocals, guitar drum and percussion, bass drone, high guitar drone.
license