World of Pooh :: Scissors
I’ve had a crush on Barbara Manning since I was sixteen. I think I can admit that here.
Sixteen was the age that I first heard Manning sing as a part of the band World of Pooh. World of Pooh’s album Land of Thirst (with Jay Paget on drums and Brandan Kearney on guitar) was recorded by Greg Freeman and released in 1989. I’ve always found that the song I go back to most is Scissors. The imagery in the song is a bit violent and disarming like the best folk songs, pointing toward a life of lost connections and self doubt, all within the domestic metaphor of clashing shears and threadless needles. This version of the song is about one part indie rock jangle (less REM and more The Bats) and one part noise rock, like much of World of Pooh’s recorded output. Manning went on to rerecord the song, as well as Somewhere Soon, for her solo album Lately I Keep Scissors in a more straight forward fashion, complete with scissors-as-percussion, flattening out the jagged edges. Without the crazed drumming of Jay Paget, it falls a little flat for me (it’s still wonderful and beautiful, though, as is the whole album, so go buy the damn thing).
For those wondering and or keeping score, the other members of World of Pooh, Jay Paget and Brandan Kearney, were both stalwarts of the San Francisco scene in the 80s and 90s as well. Drummer Paget went on to become a part of the amazing and much-loved-in-our-household Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. Kearney was a part of the band Caroliner, a whacked-out art combo who usually had handmade covers and elaborate costumes (when I saw them in a small club, they had papier-mâché masks and the album I bought was wrapped in a Depends undergarment bag). He also played on some of Manning’s solo albums.
Barbara Manning is still making wonderful music, now with the Go Luckys.
Unfortunately, the album is long out of print and probably won’t be rereleased anytime soon. If you look around hard enough on the internet, you can find a copy, though. It’s completely worth your time.
Scissors
World of Pooh (Barbara Manning’s site)
(Note — Lately I Keep Scissors was rereleased in 2007 as part of the box set Super Scissors, which also includes One Perfect Green Blanket on which Manning rerecorded another one of her great World of Pooh songs called Someone Wants You Dead and some excellent demos.)
joshua said on monday, march 17th, 2008
katy said on saturday, september 13th, 2008
Somehow I completely missed this post for 6 months. Probably because it was posted near St. Patrick’s Day and I was “on vacation.” Um, it is so great, not just the imagery, but how (since I have not familiar with the World of Pooh ) this sounds Tsunami, and my God, I love Tsunami (the band, not the killer waves).
Now I have a fucking theme song! I always assumed it would be a Heart song.
Katy, this should be your new theme song!