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Modern Elephants

by Cannonball Statman

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1.
The Bottomless Mississippi 03:44
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This is the place we all got lost; The crumbling went to our heads, and said "Decay." This is the place of decay; Life falls apart at its seams Watch your face; We're gonna push ya Into the bottomless Mississippi This is the place we all let loose; Somebody stole our pants and Louis's grin This is the place of sin; Shoot your bleeding heart right out your chest Drop whatever you're drinking; Let's take a shot Of the bottomless Mississippi How can I be your rock to lean on When I don't even have a rock to lean on Out of all the rocks on this dying rock You came to to get your rocks off? No, you won't get paid tonight; You work for me now In the bottomless Mississippi
2.
Three Women, Georgia 04:56
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Met a small dirty man in my darkroom Tried to claim my body and mind; Chopped off his head and fed him to 3 women From the depths of my soul We took a walk around my little old village Stopped in the theater and the gallery; Had on a play about an ancient baby And an exhibit on my dead body Oh, Georgia; You're on my mind again You know they say about dysphoria It catches up with ya; You let your guard down for a minute it'll kill ya I wanna wake up in the morning Feel the sweet sun on my face Chop off my beard, and my Hitler moustache; Don't you know it isn't me? I wanna get up in the morning Drink a whole pot of coffee Eat a great plate of gravy With you Oh, Georgia; You're on my mind again You know they say about dysphoria It's gotta own ya; It tells sweet lies of you to everyone who sees ya And it'll kill ya It'll kill ya
3.
Hoboken PATH Station 01:19
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You tried to blackmail me into marriage; Was a cold February afternoon Outside the coffee trucks Right by Hoboken PATH station
4.
Positively 42nd Street 04:33
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You looked so good on West 42nd Street Really stood out in the sea of people selling disposable things Disposable people; what a concept! You looked so good on West 42nd Street Really stood out in the sea of people You said, "today, someone is going to war And it won't be you; you've got other jobs to do." But today, our brother is going to war And it won't be long; but it'll be a time And part of us'll die Why didn't some useless old tragically honest contrarian Approach our brother and tell him "There are so many things to do On the street in New York"? There was nothing to do Today You looked so good; You looked so good on West 42nd Street Really stood out in the sea of people selling disposable things Disposable people; what a con
5.
Neon Clown Avenue 05:09
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Don't mind the cars They’re never satisfied Out on Neon Clown Avenue; With the self-made men And the lone wolves All chasing after you You walked the darkest streets of your life Without a soul to guide you And I did the same; So I know what it cost you I wanted to meet you On your home court Hot cement stood there to greet me; With the self-made men Who know exactly what I'd give to be a cell In the mouth of one of their miserable fuck machines You know the darkest streets in this town Are the ones where the wise old women sing They spoke to your heart, and heard the lies you set it to; They can no longer empathize with you I can no longer empathize with you No one could empathize with you; But I'll hold you gently as you fall Into the shit we used to do These are the darkest streets of our lives Yeah; the darkest streets of our lives
6.
A Great Stampede 11:47
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Violent orphan Annie found the portal to another world on the playground Beneath the first brave sliver of approaching daylight At the end of another long, lonely summer Spent by the swing set, next to the railroad tracks And the bones of four peregrine falcons Murdered by the wolves of the world; We all watched in sheer amazement As a great stampede of elephants Jumped off the eternal hamster wheel of our reality Onto every inhabited land mass on this planet Killing everything in its path The air was ripe with blood, smoke, ashes, waste And a deafening ensemble of moans See that little old man over there behind that Surly 1940s teleportal-to-the-wirral motor vehicle? I don't believe I know him; But I do He says "These are the lands where all great love goes to die Come along old friend, I'll show you around We'll go back to Paradiso This is a river; a river of flying wood These were all trees. Can you imagine? Over there on your right, you'll see a great sea of humans And large wild mammals flying into a big black hole There goes Alice, gown and bracelet gone She knows everybody, but no one knows her; Do you?" Tonight, I'll dream of my first love Racing in the snow; Hot chocolate and cinnamon buns And sweet laughter I could hear his heart beating Under his thick coat We went home, and watched the sky Open on television I could hear his heart beating Under everything Our ships landed in Brooklyn Under a late summer sunset I could hear his heart beating What a strange man-child; But what a time Let's go Back to Paradiso

about

Modern Elephants was originally released in 2018 as the lo-fi, home-recorded precursor to Miracle on Neon Clown Avenue. I started writing both albums while I was on tour in Taiwan in early 2018, and they both had similar themes of alienation and suicidality, and a sense of being at war with hopelessness and despair, overwhelmed by the global, structural problems that seemed all-powerful and all-encompassing at the time (and, they both had a song with the words "Neon" and "Clown" in the title).

While Miracle on Neon Clown Avenue starts in Brooklyn and then goes down to Virginia and around the universe again, Modern Elephants takes us on a trip from New Orleans up to Times Square, through the portal to another world, and back to Paradiso. We hear songs inspired by the absurdity of the music industry ("The Bottomless Mississippi"), my experiences of gender dysphoria ("Three Women, Georgia"), queer love or lack thereof ("Hoboken PATH Station"), war and those who exploit people's vulnerabilities to recruit them for it ("Positively 42nd Street"), capitalism and the state ("Neon Clown Avenue"), and childhood trauma and dissociation ("A Great Stampede"). It's dark, brutal, and difficult to listen to in a way that very few other things I've made are, and that seems to be why some people love it.

The title Modern Elephants and the closing track of the album were both inspired by how it had become a bit of a running joke that I saw all this artwork and imagery relating to elephants everywhere I went on that part of my 3 year world tour, wherever I was at the time, be it in Asia, Europe, or Mexico; elephants just seemed to be everywhere in the first half of 2018. Elephants also symbolize community, memory, and the divine feminine, themes that are present throughout the album.

credits

released July 9, 2018

Paul Gubernachuk took the photo on the album cover in Taitung, February 2018.
Jesse wrote music and lyrics, played the instruments and sang, engineered and produced the recordings, and designed the album cover in Oaxaca, later that year.

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Cannonball Statman New York, New York

Romantic punk.

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