Tennessee Williams spoke with a lisp
And my skinny arms ache to hold you
Tennessee Williams, Mr. Williams
Do big men really run the world?
Do big men? Do big men?
Do big men really run the world?
Jesus, tell me
— Do big men really run the world?
Montgomery Clift was a junkie
And I need you more than you want me
Montgomery Clift, poor Monty Clift
Do big men really run the world?
Do big men? Do big men?
Do big men really run the world?
Jesus, tell me
— Do big men really run the world?
You know who?
You know who was a human ashtray
Do big men? Do big men?
Do big men really run the world?
Oh, in my wildest dreams
I hold you in my skinny, honest arms
Do big men? Do big men?
Do big men really run the world?
Jesus, tell me
— Do big men really run the world?
Forced into the faux paneling
An inscription I had some trouble handling
Hold me, hold me, hold me
Hold me, enfold me
Enfold me in your rubbery arms
The future so bright and gold
Has come and gone and left me
Cold, cold and desperate
I am desperate
I am shy
You are shy, too shy
My elevator etiquette suffers
My elevator etiquette is slipping
And the future so bright and gold
Has come and gone and left me
Cold, cold and desperate
I am desperate
Outside, inside, inside out
There are 21 floors of scissors scrapes
And paper cuts; a few simple steps
To realize it's not enough
And the future so bright and gold
Has come and gone and left me
PS — Warm regards
about
For some expressions there is no divine time, no appointment with the zeitgeist. Most acquiesce to anonymity, disappearing in the cluttered graveyard of cultural ephemera. Others refuse to succumb, persisting on the margins, lurking like nagging, disjointed dreams, taking death on the installment plan. Over 25 years from ignition, the music of Myself a Living Torch continues to smolder.
In the beginning...
True to midwestern roots, MaLT began life in San Francisco in 1989 as Darke County, performing a curious melange of highly styled, rusticated indie pop. Moving toward a more expansive, lyrically acute sound, the band swerved direction and identity in fall 1991. After much consternation and debate — and increasingly louder rehearsals — singer Jeffrey Bright, guitarist Eric Schulz, bassist Chris Troy Green (each from Dayton, Ohio) and drummer Christopher Fisher (Oakland, California native) re-introduced themselves as Myself a Living Torch.
Among the first recordings to be labeled MaLT material was a set of four songs captured at 350 Bryant Studio, owned and operated by the late Tom Mallon (known for engineering work with numerous San Francisco indie acts, perhaps most notably on a series of records with American Music Club). Of the four songs, "Do Big Men Really Run the World?" and "The Future So Bright and Gold" were most emblematic of the band's shift from Americana-at-midnight troubadours to more broadly awake-aware existential adventurers — as if drifting to the continent's edge had also drawn them nearer to a musical, emotional and thematic precipice. Seen in that light, "Do Big Men" and "The Future So Bright" can be considered transitional pieces, foreshadowing the sonic and lyric complexity of the band's output in the ensuing two years.
Aside from Bright's consultation with Jesus over America's fixation and confusions in masculinity, notable on "Do Big Men Really Run the World?" is the band's dabbling in exotica. In the guitar work, Eastern/Indian flavors weave around a taut Bo Diddley tremolo making a heady mashup — on the carpet of Green and Fisher's trippy rhythm, Schulz sits cross-legged with Ravi Shankar in Bo Diddley's blues otherworld. Exotic, hypnotic, narcotic ... Then "The Future So Bright and Gold" retrains the focus. Out of a fuzzy dream, falling on concrete reality. The soul sucked from the earthly vessel. Transcendence crumpled at the feet of commerce and spiritual oppression. Yet again. The history of Western civilization.
On the 21st floor, among the scissors scrapes and paper cuts, keep a keen ear for more tender pleas from Myself a Living Torch.
credits
released November 1, 2018
voice, synthesizer – jeffrey bright
guitars, synthesizer, kazoo – eric schulz
string bass, bass guitar – chris troy green
drums, maracas, screams – christopher fisher
initial recording:
produced by myself a living torch
engineered by tom mallon
350 bryant studio
san francisco, california
1991
additional recording, mixing and mastering:
san francisco, california
2018
design - jeffrey bright
c/ 1991 Myself a Living Torch
p/ 2018 JABMA
Fugitive Music Publishing / BMI
By turns surreal, beautiful, arch, and melancholic, MaLT’s sonic adventures explore the meaning of love and role of sex in a
failing, depersonalized culture. Literate enough for lasting relevance, tuneful enough for disposable pop; dark, sometimes heavy, but always with sly humor and a dash of hope. Active in SF CA between 1991 and 1993 ... Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline for the incendiary name....more
Virtuoso showman, songwriter and arranger Harlan T Bobo is a graduate of the MaLT School of Strange Knocks. His new album is a stunner. Download, listen and connect the dots. Myself a Living Torch
Prior to performing with MaLT, singer Jeffrey Bright was a founding member of influential 1980s Dayton, Ohio band The Pleasures Pale. Myself a Living Torch
Boston band featuring members of Have Heart and Basement take their earnest, motivational post-hardcore to thrilling new heights. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 23, 2023
Tightly wound post-punk with splashes of new wave; heavy on twangy riffs, phased-out melodies, and understated vocals. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 2, 2023
"Flower Of Life" yanks riot grrrl south through the unmistakable garage psych sound indispensable to the last 20-odd years of rock music out of Los Angeles. Bandcamp Album of the Day Mar 2, 2023
