“D.F.W./Black Monday” by Ron Hawkins
I woke up on Sunday mornin’
With a freight train on my chest
Evangelically alone
Just me and that old Infinite Jest
Words can feel like stones
Words can be a noose
Godspeed D.F.W.
Words can take you home
Words can make you choose
Godspeed D.F.W.
Ron gives a great story about the background of the song, about how he started writing it about the dual nature of words, and how it ended up becoming about writer David Foster Wallace.
Like most Ron’s stuff from this period, it’s hauntingly beautiful.
The clip segues into “Black Monday” from his days with Lowest of the Low, one of my favorite songs and a prime example of his lyrical playfulness.
My friend Kate, you laugh like a tidal wave
But "Charlie don't surf" on your laughter on Black Mondays
And the shadows I feel are the shadows in me
And not even your face or your beautiful smile
Or the curve of your breasts or your laughing bright eyes
Could make me believe I'm a winner tonight
When Monday morning is just out of sight