Podcast: Momus as teenager

[imomus]

To get into mood -- and into role -- for Saturday's 1979 concert here in Berlin (at which I'll play songs written in my teens), I'm making available this recording of the 18 year-old me rambling into a tape recorder on the day of his 18th birthday. Bookended by a couple of fairly terrible songs, this "birthday chat" is followed by a section recorded in August 1979, when I'm 19. I've just seen Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which has put me in the mood for more self-examinations on tape.



Birthday Chat (stereo mp3 file, 25 mins 05 secs, 34.5MB)

The teenager on display in these recordings fits lots of words that begin with "p": he's pompous, prissy, prim, puritanical, poetic, polite, with a touch of Prince Charles about him. He's painfully self-conscious, has an almost religious faith in art and writing, both lacks confidence and has too much of it. He's very recognisably a certain kind of Edinburgh bourgeois, materially comfortable but already showing post-materialist tendencies. He's unhappy in love, and a virgin. He considers going out for a gin and tonic in a pub to celebrate his legal drinking age, but takes his father's advice that "you should be at least 24 before you start drinking shorts" and stays in with his tape recorder instead. I find him fascinating -- somebody alien, who's also obviously me.

Enjoy cringing to this tape -- I certainly did, although it's not terribly different from things I read on my LiveJournal Friends' Page sometimes -- and be warned that if you come along on Saturday (Loophole, doors 20.30) I will be performing the terrible song at the end of this.

Comments

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

"I certainly did, although it's not terribly different from things I read on my LiveJournal Friends' Page sometimes."

lololololol oh god. I feel extremely embarrassment-squicked for your entire flist now.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

PS: are there any 19 year olds on your flist? Except Microworlds, hobv.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I don't know anyone's ages, but teenage is a state of mind, isn't it? To do with self-consciousness, self-examination, self-indulgence, self-doubt, angst. Frankly, I'd rather see reams of that Kierkegaardian stuff on my F-list than Twitterfeed.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Well, Twitterfeed is easier to scroll past if more annoying.

[rhodri.livejournal.com]

Are you sure you didn't just record this, and then just push the playback speed up by about 10%?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

But listen to the accent -- it's much more Scottish than it is now! I sound like Gordon Brown.

did you see this?

[girfan.livejournal.com]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/never-mind-the-buzzcocks-the-reemergence-of-howard-devoto-1546016.html

Re: did you see this?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Yes, I linked to that in yesteday's entry, actually.

[(Anonymous)]

That is hilarious you sound so Edinburgh, the poorer posh end. I can see where the rambling nonsense stems from. You are right it's not terribly different from what you do today. Your accent was much better then. Where did it go?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Enormous entities called London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Berlin gobbled up my nice Scottish accent. I'd fight them to get it back, but they're bigger than me.

[fishwithissues.livejournal.com]

vlo-og!!

[(Anonymous)]

This may all be happening "Benjamin Button" style--Momus gets younger and younger with each new release. All ending with a slap and a scream?

Or maybe this is the ol' Dorian Gray ploy--as the tapes grow older and decay, Momus himself remains eternally youthful.

[doom-fairy.livejournal.com]

I'm 19, and in that recording you sound like the kind of person I would secretly want to be friends with, but never admit to it.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Oh, he was a prig and a nerd. He would have made a dull friend; extremely judgmental and puritanical. Don't drink, don't smoke, what dooyadoo? Subtle innuendoes follow; must be something inside -- but he didn't even do that yet.

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[doom-fairy.livejournal.com]

That's exactly it, though - I'm always drawn to people who project an image of wisdom greater than my own, be it judgmental or priggish... There's something strangely appealing about having a friend who condemns your lifestyle for reasons you can't yet understand.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Young Master Momus wouldn't even have tied you up and thrashed you in a masterful way. He would just have turned up his horse-like nostrils and looked triste.

[(Anonymous)]

Innermost Thoughts is your best work to date.

Enjoy cringing !

[(Anonymous)]

You could read the ingredients off a biscuit tin and it would sound interesting! It's the gift of the Scots.

[(Anonymous)]

A record token for £3, the 'EMI shop'. Plink plink. Laskys. Brilliant. I walk past Momus Street (Place) on the way to work most days.

The snow is back. Probably for about only the fourth time since 1978.

[thetemplekeeper.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think you sound rather sweet. At least you tell yourself off for being pompous - that's a good characteristic, I reckon.

[bonsai-human.livejournal.com]

Is calling him 'father' an affectation?

[(Anonymous)]

It's a very Scottish affectation, not confined to the Currie household.

[bonsai-human.livejournal.com]

I suppose you were dating fetuses at this stage...

young momus

[(Anonymous)]

very funny, very sweet, you actually sound like ronnie corbett, telling one of his stories in his slazenger jumper in the old 70's tv programme, 'the two ronnies'.

i think this recording would sit very nicely on a crepescule compilation, i dunno, say, from edinburgh with love, "och aye the noo!" :)

Re: young momus

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Ha, Ronnie Corbett may have been an influence, we used to watch him on TV at about this period.

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[robinsonner.livejournal.com]