I didn’t really start listening to this band until last year. A few years ago, CB mentioned the song Fourth of July and I loved that song with Dave Alvin. I didn’t listen further until last year. This song is from their 1980 debut album Los Angeles. This song has a cool punk feel, plus a vintage cool guitar riff. The song was written by Exene Cervenka and John Doe, the principal songwriters of X.
X was formed in Los Angeles in 1977 and comprised of founding members singer John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom, drummer D.J. Bonebrake, and singer Exene Cervenka. With their first album in 1980, their album Los Angeles was critically praised and considered a great one of that period.
The band was founded by Doe (real name John Nommensen Duchac) and Zoom. Soon, Doe would bring his girlfriend Exene Cervenka to band practice; she was a poet, and the band liked her work so she joined permanently. When trying to think of a name…Doe looked around the band members and focused on Exene Cervenka. Her unusual first name was shortened to X…Exene to X…
After Manzarek saw them live…he really connected to the lyrics. He was instantly struck by the lyrics to X’s song Johny Hit And Run Paulene: ‘He got a sterilized hypo, to shoot a sex machine drug/He got 24 hours, to shoot Paulene between the legs.’ Manzarek thought to himself…those are not lyrics…those are poetry.
Exene Cervenka: It was the first song I wrote where I’d had the ambition to combine a lot of different things. I was writing about the bigger picture – “the world’s a mess,” which is about as big as you can get – and combined it with something more personal – “it’s in my kiss,” which was also a nod to “The Shoop Shoop Song” and the history of rock and roll. There’s a baseball reference in there too, and I feel like the line I wrote “Dirty night dying like a lovely wife” foreshadowed the death of my sister, which is weird. So, yeah, it is kind of a surrealist song, but I chose it because I feel like it was the first time I had a real, kind of developed sense of songwriting, with lyrics that were sort of combining aspects of all the writing I’d been doing since I was young.
Ray Manzarek produced this and also their following three albums. Exene has picked this song in her top 3 of all the songs she did.
The World’s A Mess; It’s In My Kiss
No one is unitedAnd all things are untiedPerhaps we’re boiling over insideThey’ve been telling liesWho’s been telling lies?There are no angelsThere are devils in many waysTake it like a man
The world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kiss
You can’t take it backPull it out of the firePull it out in the bottom of the ninthPull it out in chords of red diseaseDrag on the systemDrag on my head and bodySome facts here (some facts here!)Which refuse to escapeI could say it strongerBut it’s too much troubleI was wandering down at the bricksHectic, isn’t it?Down we go, cradle and all
No one is unitedAnd all things are untiedPerhaps we’re boiling over insideThey’ve been telling liesWho’s been telling lies?There are no angelsThere are devils in many waysTake it like a man
The world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kiss(Go to hell, see if you like it, then come home with me!)The world’s a mess it’s in my kiss(Tomorrow night may be too late)(Both moons are full like a lovely wife)The world’s a mess it’s in my kiss(Dirty night dying like a lovely wife)(Goodbye, my darling!)The world’s a mess it’s in my kiss(How high the moon? Well, I wish I was.)(The world is fine, goodbye, my darling!)The world’s a mess it’s in my kiss(Both moons are full like a lovely wife)(Dirty night dying like a lovely wife)(Goodbye, my darling!)The world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kiss
The world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kissThe world’s a mess it’s in my kiss
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