LYRIC BOOK
The Kid, otherwise known as August Darnell is very excited to be launching his first Lyric Book series:
CALL ME MISTER LYRICAL
The first volume in this Lyric Book series covers the cleverly written lyrics from the re-released Off The Coast of Me – 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.
The debate about whether the music or the lyric is the most important aspect of a song has been going on since the first caveman added grunts to his partner’s humming. My opinion is this: they are equal. Each element has the power to diminish or glorify the other. A.D.
We hope you will enjoy this very first published Lyric Book by August Darnell. Darnell has always been widely reviewed about his lyrics and we feel the contents of this book portray his inspired lyrics perfectly.
The book is available in Kindle and Paperback versions from Amazon. You can pre-order the Kindle version now, set for worldwide release on April 5th. You can purchase the paperback version which is ready to ship now!
(Order from your own country’s Amazon store)
Volume Two of CALL ME MISTER LYRICAL is also out now!
This edition covers the lyrics from Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places. It also contains the original holographs (handwritten lyrics) from when Darnell first wrote and created the songs! Enjoy!
Some great quotes about Darnell’s clever lyrics:
With his brother, Stony Browder Jr, Darnell formed Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band in the mid-70s, and had a hit almost immediately with the slinky, subversive big band/disco hybrid ‘Cherchez La Femme’. Hugely underrated as a lyricist (who else would write pop songs about being unable to get it up, disowning a child, or use the word ‘slut’ in a chorus?), his string of hits with his own band, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, in the early Eighties – as well as the fruits of his stint as in-house producer at Ze Records – still sound brilliantly bizarre. In other times, Darnell might have been called a wit; his best songs are dazzlingly witty: they can also be sarcastic, ambiguous, deceptively eager to please. It’s pop as a moving target, brighty-coloured – even garish, but rich with shades of grey.
AD: Absolutely Ab-so-lute-ly! I went just the opposite way. That was intentional, in the same way that Kid Creole wasn’t what people expected a band like that to be at that time. That’s how crazy songs like ‘Mr Softee’ [about impotence] came about, crazy self-punishing songs. Ridiculous songs like ‘There But For The Grace of God’ [by Machine], with ridiculous lyrics that everyone got offended by. That goes all the way back to ‘Cherchez La Femme.’ The hook-line, where I got hate-mail was ‘They’re all the same, the sluts and the saints.’ Hate-mail came in: ‘how could you say such a thing?’ but the point is, Hey, at least I got your attention didn’t I? There’s always going to be double-entendres, there’s always going to be word-play – but most importantly there’s going to be things in the live show that jar you, upset you, that are going to make you say, ‘Why is that that way.’ America is the only place in the world where I’ve had people say, ‘Why aren’t there any sisters on stage singing?’ I say, ‘Wait a minute – this is the Coconuts, this is the image. Blond, blue eyes – sorry if that offends you. My wife chose two girls who look like her, that’s the image.’ A.D.
With Kid Creole, there’s always something weird going on – and it’s much more evident. There’s always an unease, a dislocation.
AD: We have a saying: my brother created this. We’d write a song, it was a pop song. A hook, a verse, a chorus, a bridge: standard. After we’d listened to it, we’d be sitting around in the studio, he’d have joint – he was never without a joint in his mouth – he’d say ‘Let’s fuck it up.’ Like the last song on I Wake Up Screaming, ‘Just Because I Love You’ – it’s so poppy, that you have to mess it up. There’s always something a little… off target. That’s how I get my kicks. Because at my age, you’d better get some kicks. I’ve been there, got the T-shirt, every accolade known to man, toured every country in the universe, but I still love song-writing. A.D.