Dear Chan Marshall, I’ve always admired you sabotaging the music industry, stage appearances and outpours of sadness in front of people. After the very first hearing of ‘I Don’t Blame You’ I knew it was about Kurt Cobain, although you needed a lot of time to admit it yourself.
I will tell you this, even if you become mad and tear this unsent letter – I love listening to Eddie Vedder singing in the background of the song ‘Good Woman’. And Warren Ellis playing the violin in it. I know, I know, even without any of these two, it still is a great song, and only the song counts, stripped from everything, it doesn’t need Lucien Carr, or Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, or the other fallen heroes of New York. It doesn’t need Bob Dylan . Kill Your Idols, just as you said one should do. Don’t be in love with the autograph, just be in love when ya scream that song (on and on)… I get it.
This song is self-sufficient, it is just like all of your songs. But I am also like I am, I get fascinated by hidden details. Because of reasons quite different than the music industry. You have every right to despise it. And you have the ‘Dirty Three’ on your side. Together, you have raised magnificent waves on a number of occasions. It’s time we throw away the keys, because we already know that certain thresholds will never be crossed again.