UNKNOWN CITY.

 

Hopefully, 2022 will be a transcendent year for Joy on Fire. The group intends to release its full-length album, States of America, which features lyrics and vocals throughout. It’ll be the first such album in the band’s history and I’m proud to be the bloke at the microphone. In the buildup to States, however, I collaborated with the group on a couple songs that appear on another album, Unknown Cities. I wrote lyrics for the title song (above) in French, actually, before situating them in English. While I can’t fully vouch for my Francophone accuracy, I do think that the overall voyage between French and English helped the word formation to be more adventurous. The lyrics in both languages appear below. On the one hand, the song is about a split between two people, with the singer seeking a rapprochement, and on the other hand, it is about loss, about writing the names of the lost in an unfamiliar locale. (For the sake of anonymity perhaps or to be astray within the sorrow?) We are living in an era of loss, even as the song attempts to be timeless. I can only hope that the lyrics match the virtuosity of the music, which is beautiful, and operates in time signatures more moderate than some of our grinding and jumping punk songs. I hope you enjoy the listen.

Unknown City

Did you sleep that night?
In the morning
a wooden bird sang
in a language
that had forgotten its weapons.
You know nothing but
my name in your voice,
the gray light of the rain
behind the door,
clouds in the false river,
the river
where your grief met
the sound of my footsteps.

I write your name
in an unknown city,
write your name
in an unknown city.

Well yes so what
god is a factory.
At the end of a sentence
I put a period.
That’s the dead hand,
that’s my madness.
The despair so beautiful,
a bouquet of stars
on the rooftops.
Leave the door
open.
Leave the door
open.

I write your name
in an unknown city,
write your name
in an unknown city.

Your name
your name.


Ville Inconnu

Dormiez-vous cette nuit?
Au matin,
un oiseau de bois a chanté
dans une langue qui a perdu ses armes.
Tu ne sais rien que
mon nom dans ta voix,
la lumière grise de la pluie
derrière la porte,
des nuages dans la fleuve faux,
la fleuve
où ta doleur rencontra
le bruit de mes pas.

J’ecris ton nom
dans une ville inconnu,
ecris ton nom
dans une ville inconnu.

Eh bien oui et alors
dieu est une usine.
A la fin d’une phrase
je mets un point.
C’est la main morte,
c’est ma folie.
Le desespoir si beau,
un bouquet d’étoiles
sur les toits.
Laisser la porte
ouverte.
Laisser la porte
ouverte.

J’ecris ton nom
dans une ville inconnu,
ecris ton nom
dans une ville inconnu.

Ton nom,
ton nom.


Personnel: Anna Meadors, John Paul Carillo, Chris Olsen, Dan Gutstein. Visit the Joy on Fire website for more information.