Nuclear Beef

Poignant Audio Beef. Proof that a song can begin with the words "I'm a backstreet boy" and be great.

'Cinderella Backstreet' by Mary Lou Lord from 1997's Martian Saints EP on Kill Rock Stars Records

It turns out this is a cover of a song from the early 1970s by Peter Laughner with a band of the same name. (You can stream a clip of his version on mp3.com, but I'd sure like to hear more if someone's offering.) I don't really know anything about him, so I won't bore you with a summary of the above link.

I think it's a tribute to Mary Lou's talent that she can make this song her own, just like she did with the Elliot Smith Track that Music For Robots got me addicted to. Oddly, her performance also makes me want to know more about both Smith and Laughner.

I imagine the narrator in 'Cinderella Backstreet' lives one block over from Bob Dylan's Desolation Row. Nostalgia for a place I've never been; a feeling I've felt.

I tried to teach naivete /
To kids brought up on.. TV /
I tried hard to smile /
But it got hung up in style /
Yeah, it seems they see right through me
...
Well, there was one down /
For the leather boys /
And one for the never been kissed /
...
And one more that we can dream on /
And still another for the show /
Well, Denise, she did my eyes /
And I felt just like a prize /
Until those tears began to flow

UPDATE: Link to mp3 was broken. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. Fixed now. Thanks to MoI in comments.