Mark Linkous RIP

[Skinned]

http://www.nme.com/news/sparklehorse/50109" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am shocked. Mark Linkous was an extraordinary musician, besides being a collaborator and friend of Polly.

[AvrKadavr]

I know only a few of his songs, colaborations with Polly - they are great. "Piano Fire" is fanastic. Thats really sad.

[yarnforhair]

Just heard about this. It's a shame we've lost another great musician.

[head's_bullet]

omg so terrible :S
damm, poor mark, so sad ppl suiciding, even worst talanted and loved ppl like him. im not a hardcore fan but im quite sad, and i just imagine how devastated are his truly fans sad sad. RIP

[Hell and High Water]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8554319.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory ... 152&cat=16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

* Moved from BofP, I forgot to notate this and thank the poster. My apologies and thanks.

[CLBella]

very distressed to hear this , i loved his music and hoped that whatever tormented him was held at bay, obviously not ,-

[bluesman]

Very sad....R.I.P Mark

[ethereal]

Vic Chesnutt and now him is very sad.

I gathered he was to play a London show this year with my other favorite, Kristin Hersh. Gutted

[DrDark]

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog= ... &tb=1&pb=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Beefheart connection? There's a track on TMR called "Fallin Ditch":

When I get lonesome the wind begin t' moan
When I trip fallin' ditch
Somebody wanna' throw the dirt right down
When I feel like dyin' the sun come out
'n stole m' fear 'n gone
Who's afraid of the spirit with the bluesferbones
Who's afraid of the fallin' ditch
Fallin' ditch ain't gonna get my bones
How's that for the spirit
How's that for the things
Ain't my fault the thing's gone wrong
'n when I'm smilin' my face wrinkles up real warm
'n when um frownin' things just turn t' stone
Fallin' ditch ain't gonna get my bones
'n when I get lonesome the wind begin t' moan
Fallin' ditch ain't gonna get my bones


Linkous's Spirit Ditch:

I want my records back
And that motorcycle gas tank
That i, spraypainted black
The owls have been talking to me
But I’m sworn to secrecy

I woke up in
A burnt out basement
Sleeping with
Metal hands
In a spirit ditch

The moon it will rise with such
Horse laughter
It’s dragging pianos to the ocean
If I had a home
You’d know it’d be
In a slide trombone

I woke up in
A burnt out basement
Sleeping with
Metal hands
In a spirit ditch

(mum on answerphone interlude)

I woke up in
A burnt out basement
Sleeping with
Metal hands
In a spirit ditch


The music couldn't be more different between the two, but there are some coincidental words in the lyrics.

[DrDark]

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/ ... review.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CLBella]

thanks for this posting dr dark, still feel greatly distressed about mark Linkous' death but really looking forward to finger's crossed receiving Dark night of the Soul for upcoming birthday xbella

[CLBella]

i agree about the Beefheart connection but mark Linkous was also open about his many sources of inspiration, and often indicated that books( Breece D'J Pancake, Pinckney benedict, frank stanford) and films were as important as music for him x bella

"Did you steal the line from "Spirit Ditch" that goes, "horse-laughter is dragging pianos to the ocean", from a Louis Bunuel film?

Yeah, I think that image is from Un Chien Andalou. "
The Rock's Backpages Flashback: A Mark Linkous Interview
Posted Mon Mar 8, 2010 4:28pm PST by Joss Hutton (1997) in Rock's Backpages
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/rocksb ... interview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


"Some of your lyrics are strange. Where do you get these ideas from? Are you a mentalist?
It’s easier for me to communicate metaphorically than to have a dialogue. It also leaves it open for people to interpret the lyrics themselves and apply them to themselves. Through the years, people tell me that my records have helped them through some bad times.
Some of them are influenced by dreams, some by facts that I’ve read. For instance there’s a line in Babies on the Sun which says ‘a ship full of horses was going down at sea.’ That line relates to a part of the ocean where captains of ships had to throw horses overboard to lighten their load. That’s a true fact. That part of the ocean is called Horse Latitude because of that. Some ideas come from nature and where I lived. I walked out my front door one day and was trapped because there was a bear in my truck going through the trash. Knowing there’s a seven foot creature outside that could rip my head off is exciting. I killed a rattlesnake the other day. I don’t like rattlesnakes. I was going to get revenge and make a belt out of it."...Dannii Levers put some questions to Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/1492" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CLBella]

September 9th 1962 Mark Linkous 's birthday. He would have been 48 today, shame he didn't stay..