"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.
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 Isoprolific,
released August 21, 2016
vonHummer: vocals and bass.
vonHummer is a Portland music/cable access legend whose career spanned from Fall of 2001 to Fall of 2011, during which he
recorded a hundred or so songs for use in his absurdist show (and feature film) and played only a handful of concerts. Currently retired, his work shines on for the ages. Or will he someday return...?...more
Long split up, but not forgotten. Some say the Winebirds functioned as an ersatz Fleetwood Mac, and that's more than fair, but to me, they functioned as a real-life Partridge Family. vonHummer
Continuing the rock tradition of talking about awkward, intimate minutiae and nerdy obsessions via mammoth guitar lines. Bandcamp Album of the Day Sep 12, 2017