Jandek plays a very strange and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, often using an open and unconventional chord structure. Jandek's music is unique, but his lyrics closely mirror the country blues and folk traditions of Eastern Texas.
Barely a handful of people claim to have contacted Jandek, whose steadfastness in anonymity is legendary. Without any conventional attempts at promotion, he releases albums through his own record label Corwood Industries, which is addressed at a Houston post office box. Fans can write to Corwood for a typewritten catalogue and order Jandek’s albums, usually at inexpensive prices. Jandek’s work has been available on vinyl and on compact discs. Many of his albums feature pictures of the same young man (seen above) at various ages; in light of Jandek's live performances it is almost entirely certain that the person featured on the album covers is Jandek himself.
Jandek’s first album, Ready for the House (1978), was first accredited to a band called “The Units” but it was obviously a solo work. Jandek presumably plays acoustic guitar and has recorded much of his work apparently unaccompanied (assuming that the person singing is also the person playing guitar). However many other songs feature female vocals and/or different male vocalists. Others feature bass guitar, electric guitar and/or drums, presumably played by collaborators. No proper credits list has ever appeared on an album, but song titles have included "Nancy Sings" and "John Plays Drums".
Some of Jandek’s allure stems from his small but devoted fan base which has included Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore, Kurt Cobain, Indian Jewelry, and K Records founder Calvin Johnson.
The mystery of Jandek's identity was partially resolved in October 2004 when Jandek performed live in Scotland, at the Instal 04 music festival in Glasgow. This was Jandek's first known live appearance and performed with Richard Youngs (bass) and Alex Neilson (drums). The man on stage was obviously the same man who appears on the album covers. Corwood stipulated that the performance was not publicized in advance. Since then, "The Representative of Corwood Industries" (as Jandek sometimes insists on being called) has played a lot of concerts and recorded all of them for future releases. The last years have seen an even higher release frequency, even for Jandek.
For more information, you may go here:
www.tisue.net/jandek
www.jandekoncorwood.com
Time and Space
Jandek Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I looked at my clothes and it seemed
Ahhh, they were all black
They carried my clothes in coffins
You said yeah, put them in the closet
Oooh, time, oh, space
He wound a silver thread around my neck
Land sakes!
They bought all their oranges from Florida
You said just put them in the closet
Oooh, time, oh, space
He brought a lot of phony eyebrow pencils
I hid behind an electric fence
Oh they brought all the jellyfish from Ireland
Ireland
You said ah, just put ?em you know where
In the closet, that?s where
In the closet
Oooh, time, oh, space
He said show up beat up
Wearing black or white
I looked at my clothes, they were all, all black
They carried in my clothes on coffins
Ahh, you just said put ?em in the closet
Oooh, time, oh, space
Interpretation:
The lyrics of "Time and Space" by Jandek are abstract and open to interpretation. The song seems to be about someone being given instructions on what to wear and where to put their belongings, but there is no clear sense of who is giving the instructions or why they are important.
The first verse suggests that someone has been told to wear either black or white, but the singer's clothes are already all black. There is a sense of confusion as to what to do with the clothes, as they are being carried in coffins. The weird imagery of the coffins suggests a deeper meaning: perhaps the singer is a ghost, or perhaps they are to be attending some sort of funeral or ritual.
The second verse begins with someone winding a silver thread around the singer's neck, which again is strange and unsettling. The singer looks around and is surprised by something, but we are not told what it is. In the next line, there is a sudden shift to talking about oranges from Florida, and again, it's hard to see how this relates to what came before. The clothes and oranges are both being put in a closet, suggesting perhaps that they are symbolic of something that needs to be hidden away.
The third verse is the most surreal, with the mention of phony eyebrow pencils and an electric fence. The allusion to jellyfish from Ireland is also odd and out of place. Again, there is a sense of things being hidden, as the pencils and the clothes are put "you know where" and the jellyfish are simply mentioned as having been brought from Ireland.
Overall, "Time and Space" seems to be a meditation on the sense of displacement and confusion that can come with following arbitrary instructions. The singer is doing what they have been told, but there is no sense of purpose or meaning behind any of it. The images of coffins, silver thread, and electric fences all suggest a sense of being trapped or confined in some way. The repeated refrain of "oooh, time, oh, space" suggests a longing to escape this situation and find some sort of clarity or meaning.
Line by Line Meaning
He said show up wearing black or white
The singer was instructed to wear black or white to an event.
I looked at my clothes and it seemed
The singer examined their clothes.
Ahhh, they were all black
All of the singer's clothes were black.
They carried my clothes in coffins
The artist's clothes were treated solemnly, as if they were being carried in coffins.
You said yeah, put them in the closet
Someone instructed the artist to put their clothes in the closet.
Oooh, time, oh, space
The concept of time and space is being contemplated.
He wound a silver thread around my neck
Someone put a silver thread around the singer's neck.
I looked around but ahhh
The artist looked around, but something happened to interrupt them before they could finish their thought.
Land sakes!
An exclamation of surprise or shock.
They bought all their oranges from Florida
Someone purchased oranges from Florida.
You said just put them in the closet
Someone instructed the singer to put something else in the closet.
He brought a lot of phony eyebrow pencils
Someone brought many fake eyebrow pencils.
I hid behind an electric fence
The singer hid behind an electric fence for some reason.
Oh they brought all the jellyfish from Ireland
Someone brought jellyfish from Ireland.
You said ah, just put ?em you know where
Someone instructed the singer to put something in a specific location.
In the closet, that?s where
The specific location where something is to be put is the closet.
He said show up beat up
The artist was instructed to arrive at an event looking disheveled or bruised.
They carried in my clothes on coffins
The singer's clothes were treated solemnly, as if they were being carried in coffins.
Ahh, you just said put ?em in the closet
The singer was reminded of the previous instruction to put something else in the closet.
Oooh, time, oh, space
The concept of time and space is being contemplated.
Lyrics © ESTATE OF CLIFFORD JORDAN, Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JIM HAWKINS, CLIFF JORDAN, MARCUS ANTHONY VIALVA, GEOFFREY WILKINSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Greg Kozak
This guy has a raw, gritty, no-nonsense, spare style that gets right to the point. There's a lot more to him than people think. This is gut-bucket, stripped-down music that looks life straight in the face. Great stuff.
D. H.K.C
... that was real Behind The Music shit right there not gonna lie I'm impressed.
J Ahern
The most danceable Jandek song
Frank Brinkmann
Him and Hazil Atkins could have been the best Duo in Rock History!
Lynn Herbert
This song rocks!
Evan's Gate
that guitar tone...
F. Hawk
Loving Jandek at the min. Got a velvet underground feel to a lot of his stuff.
Ever heard of Lucid Rivers?
Ko Br
+F. Hawk also the gun club
Zigfrids Minets
stop shilling.
The Night Blade Feeds
Sounds like Parquet Courts may have picked up something from this too - especially the "put them in the closet" line