"The story of how Ponyoak came to be is complex and interesting. Well, not … Read Full Bio ↴"The story of how Ponyoak came to be is complex and interesting. Well, not so much complex and interesting as long and uneventful. One day, I was sitting around my house in suburban Downers Grove, reading a book and taking one of their humorous fake personality tests. It asked me to name the first seven-letter word that popped into my head. Having no friends, I was alone at the time, so I triumphantly shouted out "Ponyoak" and laughed at the fact that I had created a word that sounded like a nondescript subdivision. Later that week, in a similarly reclusive fashion, I was sitting at my writing songs. I began to write a lovely song, replete with hand-plucked melodies and ringing awkward chords. That song became "Ponyoak," track 10 on Kleenex Girl Wonder's hideously unplatinum second album, Graham Smith is the Coolest Person Alive.
I began to develop the idea of Ponyoak, which through a series of quasi-romantic encounters and numerous nights alone watching sitcoms alone playing with myself took shape as a theoretical ranch of perfected romantic enlightenment. It's out in the middle of nowhere, in a sprawling, nonexistant American desert, far from the madding crowd and the sort of typical sociopolitical values which keep the world moving. There's never a fancy meal, only a decent pasta dish with a possble side of lightly seasoned roasted vegetables. Never any resolute happiness, but likewise never any sadness. Everythings just alright. This idea intrigued me so much that I decided to write an entire album dedicated to musings of this sort. During the period between the completion of GSITCPA and the beginning of the Ponyoak sessions, I experienced a relationship of sorts with a winsome suburban gal who did nothing but fuel my unholy obsession with all things cliched and romantic. Since my conscience was so fraught with thoughts of this nature, I decided it would be interesting to attempt to explore the idea of the "break-up" album.
Kleenex Girl Wonder's previous endeavors had been limited to those of the whimsical variety; usually we tried to get some laughs out of our listeners but rarely attempted to actually make them think about the nature of life and love. I'm a very analytical person; I take apart songs I hear on the radio, try to figure out what makes people write them, what makes people like them, and what criteria they have to satisfy to qualify as rock 'n' roll. So I began to attempt to write "break-up" songs without the physical breakup to inspire them. I thought it worked fairly well, and it quelled my urge to produce music that's superficially enjoyable while still exploring the ideas present in modern music and life in general. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to completing the album: the aforementioned charming Jezebel DID in fact break up with me. So now I had about half of an album written, and a whole mess of new thoughts to inspire me. The resulting songs were still obsessed with the nature of cliches in popular music, but at the same time inspired by a "real" heartbreak, if such a thing exists.
By the time the album was done, I was in possesion of a unique collection of songs: the songs which were obviously the product of real emotion response were contrasted with those written by a person trying to live vicariously through the experiences or at the very least bullshit of 30+ years of musical craftsmen. Instead of sequencing the songs in the order they were written, I mixed them together, attempting to create four individual vignettes showcasing different sides of the romantic American psyche. It's tough to call it a concept album, because the idea of love is so omnipresent in popular music that 90% of albums released in this century would be concept albums under that method of categorization.
So I present to the listening public Ponyoak, a slightly bipolar album which still maintains a unifying theme. And of course, at the same time, I want people to simply sit back and sing along and dance without THINKING about it so god damn much. It's an interesting album to me, and I hope it is to everybody else too. And if it isn't interesting, at least it's catchy. For me, this album is a memento of sorts of a very specific time in my life, one that I'm glad to be out of, but still very fundamental. You all can draw your own conclusions.
1999
Graham Smith"
I began to develop the idea of Ponyoak, which through a series of quasi-romantic encounters and numerous nights alone watching sitcoms alone playing with myself took shape as a theoretical ranch of perfected romantic enlightenment. It's out in the middle of nowhere, in a sprawling, nonexistant American desert, far from the madding crowd and the sort of typical sociopolitical values which keep the world moving. There's never a fancy meal, only a decent pasta dish with a possble side of lightly seasoned roasted vegetables. Never any resolute happiness, but likewise never any sadness. Everythings just alright. This idea intrigued me so much that I decided to write an entire album dedicated to musings of this sort. During the period between the completion of GSITCPA and the beginning of the Ponyoak sessions, I experienced a relationship of sorts with a winsome suburban gal who did nothing but fuel my unholy obsession with all things cliched and romantic. Since my conscience was so fraught with thoughts of this nature, I decided it would be interesting to attempt to explore the idea of the "break-up" album.
Kleenex Girl Wonder's previous endeavors had been limited to those of the whimsical variety; usually we tried to get some laughs out of our listeners but rarely attempted to actually make them think about the nature of life and love. I'm a very analytical person; I take apart songs I hear on the radio, try to figure out what makes people write them, what makes people like them, and what criteria they have to satisfy to qualify as rock 'n' roll. So I began to attempt to write "break-up" songs without the physical breakup to inspire them. I thought it worked fairly well, and it quelled my urge to produce music that's superficially enjoyable while still exploring the ideas present in modern music and life in general. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to completing the album: the aforementioned charming Jezebel DID in fact break up with me. So now I had about half of an album written, and a whole mess of new thoughts to inspire me. The resulting songs were still obsessed with the nature of cliches in popular music, but at the same time inspired by a "real" heartbreak, if such a thing exists.
By the time the album was done, I was in possesion of a unique collection of songs: the songs which were obviously the product of real emotion response were contrasted with those written by a person trying to live vicariously through the experiences or at the very least bullshit of 30+ years of musical craftsmen. Instead of sequencing the songs in the order they were written, I mixed them together, attempting to create four individual vignettes showcasing different sides of the romantic American psyche. It's tough to call it a concept album, because the idea of love is so omnipresent in popular music that 90% of albums released in this century would be concept albums under that method of categorization.
So I present to the listening public Ponyoak, a slightly bipolar album which still maintains a unifying theme. And of course, at the same time, I want people to simply sit back and sing along and dance without THINKING about it so god damn much. It's an interesting album to me, and I hope it is to everybody else too. And if it isn't interesting, at least it's catchy. For me, this album is a memento of sorts of a very specific time in my life, one that I'm glad to be out of, but still very fundamental. You all can draw your own conclusions.
1999
Graham Smith"
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Ponyoak
Kleenex Girl Wonder Lyrics
Ain't Going Anywhere Soon Tell me why am I feeling this way? I didn't think…
Anne Marie Anne Marie, won't you dance with me? I've been standing her…
Forget the World Forget the world cause it really doesn't matter When I cal…
I Cut Myself in Half When I held you last night, I could not believe that…
It's So Much Easier I could spend all night telling you how much I miss…
Running From the Wind If I could see myself in calmer smoother colors Then maybe…
Tendency Right Foot Forward Have you ever been so in love with a girl that…
The Nearest Future I don't see what you see, you see me cryin I…
The Sound of Paul What you said hit close to home But nevertheless you know…
Two Places At Once Now that you're gone I guess I'm free To take it easy,…
What Does She Know? There's been nothing but signs, and that's been fine but I'v…