I first got to know Matt Smith-Lahrman in a pretty one-sided relationship where he was the host of the podcast New Books in Popular Music and I was a faceless listener. After listening to his excellent and insightful interviews with a variety of authors, I was excited to hear about his new book, The Meat Puppets and the Lyrics of Curt Kirkwood from Meat Puppets II to No Joke!
Music Tomes: When someone thinks of a book with a deep analysis of an acts lyrics, Meat Puppets probably isn’t the first band to jump to mind for most people. What made them jump to mind for you?
Matt Smith-Lahrman: It was a practical decision, really. I was looking for some new research and writing that wouldn’t take me away from being a father on a daily basis (my son was two when I started writing this book). I was already a meathead (Meat Puppets fan). In the process of free writing and journaling I noticed how much I like Curt Kirkwood’s lyrics. I like the way he mashes images together, making nonsense make sense (see “Liquified” from Mirage for a great example of this). I like the way he creates lyrics based on meter and flow, using words not necessarily for their meaning, but for how they sound in the song (see “(Attacked by) Monsters” from Monsters for a good example of this). So writing a book about Curt’s lyrics allowed me to be deeply intellectual about a great band while also being deeply involved in the raising of my kids.
MT: You mention in the book that Curt Kirkwood, the primary songwriter of the Meat Puppets, refused to interpret lyrics preferring to leave it to the listener. Did that present any special challenges to your work?
MSL: On the contrary, it made it easier. Curt probably won’t dispute what I’ve written; he probably won’t support it either. He likes leaving the interpretation of his art up to the listener (or viewer, when it comes to his paintings). So there never was any pressure on me to get it right. As I mention in the introductory chapter, what’s in the book reflects more upon what I think about the world than what Curt does.
MT: How does your study in sociology informed how you analyzed the lyrics or heard the music?
MSL: There’s a field of sociology known as symbolic interactionism that suggests that meaning is created through language. The words we use to talk to one another, the same words we use to think to ourselves, are our realities. Culture, being interactional rather than, say, biological, is passed on from generation to generation through language. Cultural reality is socially constructed, they say. Art of all kinds is one of the ways that reality is constructed. To analyze a songwriter’s lyrics, then, is to analyze one person’s ideas about reality as they are embedded within a larger cultural context. Curt’s ideas aren’t simply his own, they are the ideas of the culture in which he lives, filtered through his unique writing style. To read my interpretations of Curt’s lyrics is to understand my ideas about reality as I see Curt’s ideas about reality embedded within the culture in which I live.
MT: As you mention in the book, when you started the book the band hadn’t released an album in eight years. But since then they’ve released a few others. How do they stack up to what you’ve covered?
MSL: The Meat Puppets are still putting out great records. They’ve released four LPs (do we still use that term?) and a split seven-inch (with Cass McCombs) since 2007 when they reformed. I particularly like Sewn Together (2009) and their most recent, Rat Farm (2014). As we would expect, the songs on these records show a more mature Curt, a Curt coming to grips with his place in life. He seems more content and satisfied with life on the songs on these records.
MT: What are you currently working on?
MSL: I’m in the beginning stages of a sociology of religion project. I’m doing a lot of reading on the subject and, as I did with the Meat Puppets project early on, free writing and journaling about it. I’m not sure where it will go, but I hope to write a book-length treatise on the topic.
MT: Can you recommend some of your favorite music tomes?
In no particular order:
• Jon Savage, England’s Dreaming
• Joe Carducci, Enter Naomi
• Greg Prato, Too High to Die
• Dennis McNally, A Long Strange Trip
• Robert Palmer, Rock & Roll
• Sean Wilentz, Bob Dylan in America
• Andy Neil, Had Me a Real Good Time
• Alice Bag, Violence Girl
• Will Hermes, Love Goes to Buildings on Fire
• David Kirby, Little Richard
• Preston Lauterbach, The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Miles Davis, Miles