SONG | ||
Lonesome Organist Rapes Page-Turner | ||
---|---|---|
Artist | The Dresden Dolls | |
Written by | Amanda Palmer | |
Length | 3:42 | |
Album(s) | No, Virginia... |
Lonesome Organist Rapes Page-Turner is a song by The Dresden Dolls.
History[]
Meaning[]
==' this song about an organist who rapes the person responsible for turning the pages of his music. How did she come up with this image? In our interview with Amanda Palmer, she explained: "I grew up in an Episcopal church, but I was never an
official page turner. The organist never had a page turner. It was a small operation. I wrote that song in college, because there was this guy, I think he might still tour, called The Lonesome Organist. He was like a great sort of vaudeville-y one-man band. And his shtick was that he played, like, 12 different instruments, and he had them all in one
contraption. So it was like a big, crazy drum set with keyboards and
accordion, and things to blow in, and all sorts of stuff. I remember
seeing him, because he toured at my college, and the name stuck. And I
remember thinking, Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner would be a really hilarious newspaper heading. So it was one of those songs that was written off the title. He was totally Dr. Seuss. And his music was really throwback rag-timey, great theatrical crazy stuff."
After our interview with Amanda, we heard from The Lonesome Organist, whose name is Jeremy. He told us: "I always wondered if that band had some sort of vendetta against me. Now I know that that is not the case even if their song paints the lonesome organist name in a creepy unflattering manner. How freaking weird." ' -SongFacts Interview[1]==
- He told me that I knew what to laugh at
- And I wanted to but I just couldn't ask if he would take it back so I could know for certain
- So on the bench I watched his left hand crossing
- While doubling entendres with the voicings
- He said "O darling, you're charming
- Please don't find it alarming if I pull this stop out to free up a hand for heavy petting"
- Now there there
- I'm a friendly man
- I joke about sex because it's funny when you're frightened
- So silently I sat and turned the pages
- Recalculating our respective ages
- Over my shoulder, he muttered, "If I get any older
- You can hack my wrists off with your choice of objects
- No, I'm kidding"
- Don't be scared
- I'm a friendly man
- I joke about death because it's funny when you're frightened
- This is as far as I could get
- He jabbed a needle in my neck
- Erasing all the evidence
- But there were matchsticks in my pants
- And if a rock should hit my head
- And I remember what he did
- You'll be the very first to know
- Maybe I'll find out why this damn thing won't stop bleeding
- He told me that I showed a great potential
- That given I turned heads and pages
- Fame would be a piece of cake
- But practice was essential
- So like a stupid child I believed it
- And golly who would had agreed if
- I had been Schubert or Mozart
- Devoted to the fine art of perfecting absolutely everything inconsequential
- Don't be sad
- I'll come back again
- I joke about trash 'cause it takes class to be enlightened
- So several decades have gone by
- I am still sitting by his side
- I turn the pages faithfully
- He turns his head and smiles at me
- And with a wink he says, "I doubt
- We would be anywhere without
- Your gift for keeping truth and consequence from meeting"
Release[]
- Backstabber (single) (digital download only) - 2006
- No, Virginia... - 2008