About the book:
Since its 1994 release, Road Movies by Lee Ranaldo has been one of Soft Skull Press's best selling titles. Now in its third edition, the book continues to be in high demand, paying testament to the lasting and true quality of the legendary rocker's writing.
Road Movies is written by famed Sonic Youther, Lee Ranaldo, is like hitchhiking to Woodstock or going mountain climbing in Boulder. You look around, there's a patch of sky, a woman on your arm, love in bloom, a collage of meadows and sunflowers. No noise just the serenity of Mr. Ranaldo's passing visions.
From the book:
Locusts
In a world where
things fall apart
form, substance and force are lost
words of violence
stalk the earth
artificial souls
feign walking edges
like a raging plague
sweeping through the fields.
Is there really a reason?
Throw out your attics full
discard your old loves and
your angels in wait
throw a black cloth over it all
lock the windows
tie down the appliances
the pets
and leave it all
just lock the door
and leave
OPENING
this is the longest movie
I've ever been in
nothing can alter these images
this is life like a movie
so real to the touch
injected with feelings
with no final fading
this is the same still frame
that holds us like frozen lanterns
in mid embrace
this is the movie that should last forever
always on the screen
this is the phone left off the hook
we must be responsible
and contain our movements
to a few frames on each reel
but we can freeze the image
and extinguish the sounds
of everything outside your room
a drawn out sigh becomes the pealing of bells
your skin an endless surface
which I will explore again and again
this is a moment which we must save
to prove such things are possible
this perfect kiss cannot be erased
tho its image may fade and bleach
Road Movies (Soft Skull Press No.7, 1994), Book Store (Hozomeen Press, 1995),...
what comes next doesn't matter
only this perfect, living image
shut from the world
safe in our heads
we'll live in our heads now
bright musty chambers
shut from the world
no windows open
swept under the carpet
by LEE RANALDO
in ROAD MOVIES
Soft Skull Press No. 7, 1994
Soft Skull Press
50 East Third Street No. 5A, New York, NY 10003 USA
CLOUDS
less of you
thinking less of you
up under the swells
the fountain of youth
too far away to get by
on less thinking of you.
code of honor
code of grace
meet me in the secret place
where i sang through you
where everything was too good
meet me there and I'll need
less thinking of you
the streets are hidden
under the wings of truth
ready to reflect
and not let up
ready to reject
time's true foul up
no step you take
can stand up to
this passing of time
this hidden choice
the motel bed
soft on a rainy day
an afternoon hideout
telling some stories
finishing some things
let's take a step up
stand straight and true
what is what?
my head in tight
my hands don't touch
your skin
my body moves forward
and then back
back to which day?
back to the last time
we met
when clouds were low
and our motors ran
up and down
up and down
on the street
by LEE RANALDO
in ROAD MOVIES
Soft Skull Press No. 7, 1994