Although Joanna Newsom's Appalachian-meets- avant-gardetake on folkmusic is her most celebrated work, her range is even more inclusive than her solo career suggests: the classically trained harpist adds a decidedly different, textural sound to Nervous Cop, the noise rock trio that also features Deerhoof's Greg Saunier and Hella's Zach Hill, and she also plays keyboards for the Pleased, another San Francisco-area band more akin to Blondieor Televisionthan her other projects. Newsom's family and hometown of Nevada City, CA, were both musically rich: her mother trained to be a concert pianist, her father is a guitarist, and her brother and sister play the drums and cello, respectively; meanwhile, the Newsoms also counted composer/pianist Terry Rileyas a neighbor, along with Howard Hersh and W. Jay Sydeman. Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) started taking piano lessons at a very early age and played for a couple of years, but switched to the harp at seven. Her approach to the Celtic harp, from the percussive aspects of her playing to her chord changes, was also influenced by West African and Venezuelan harp music, which she began studying at a folk music camp she attended in her early teens.
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Swansea Lyrics
Joanna Newsom
If you want to come on down,
down with your bones so white,
And watch the freight trains pound
into the wild, wild night
How I would love to gnaw,
gnaw on your bones so white,
and watch as the freight trains paw,
paw at the wild, wild night.
All these ghost towns, wreathed in old loam
(Assateague knee-deep in seafoam)-
Ho Swansea! Buttonwillow!
Lagunitas! Ho Calico!
And all these beastly bungalows
stare, distend, like endless toads -
endlessly hop down the road.
Borne by wind, we southward blow.
While yonder, wild and blue,
the wild blue yonder looms.
'Till we are wracked with rheum,
by roads, by songs entombed.
And all we want to do
is chew, and chew, and chew!
Dear one, drive on,
when all we want to do
is chew, and chew, and chew.
And if you want to come on down (...)