In 1992, Kelley Deal joined The Breeders as third guitarist. The Safari EP was the first recording she appeared on. Guitarist, Tanya Donelly left to form Belly a little after the release of Safari. Kim suggested Kelley should be the band's new drummer. After Kelley insisted on lead guitar, Kim gave her a crash course on all the songs in the band's set. Kelley picked up quickly and learned all the lead parts on Pod and the new parts on the album they were about to record, Last Splash. A Dayton, Ohio drummer named Jim MacPherson joined the girls. After Last Splash was released in 1993, the band toured, opening for Nirvana, and also got a slot on the Lollapalooza tour in 1994.
Kelley Deal had been addicted to heroin since her teens, and her heroin use became public and problematic in 1994, after the success of Last Splash and extensive touring. She was arrested for possession in the fall of 1994 and entered rehab in Minnesota in 1995, which temporarily halted The Breeders.
In rehab, Deal began writing her own songs and after rehab, she started The Kelley Deal 6000. The band released two albums on Deal's Nice Records label, Go To The Sugar Altar in 1996 and Boom! Boom! Boom! in 1997, and went on hiatus when The Breeders were reunited.
Deal also joined the The Last Hard Men with Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and Jimmy Flemion of The Frogs. She played bass for them and they recorded an eponymous album in 1997, which was released in a limited edition on Deal's own label, Nice Records, and in 2001 on Spitfire Records.
Kelley teamed back up with her sister in the late 1990s and began recording new demos for the Breeders. With a new line up, they released Title TK in 2002. Title TK features three songs recorded in 1999, where the Deal sisters played all the instruments. In April 2008, The Breeders released Mountain Battles.
Deal turned to knitting as part of an effort to stay sober. She specializes in knitted handbags, which she sells on her website, and appeared on the DIY Network knitting show, Knitty Gritty, and in 2008 released a book of her knitting handbag patterns, Bags That Rock: Knitting on the Road with Kelley Deal. One of her patterns is included in the DIY Network's book Knitty Gritty Knits: 25 Fun & Fabulous Projects'.
Canyon
Kelley Deal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To wit
Success has fit me like a shroud
Oh you fox
What mischief are you up to know
All we had to do
Was take boat number to watch
Cats eat out of our mouth
Should have knelt should have never have stayed
Now we've come undone man howdy
We jumped into a canyon
Kelley Deal's "Canyon" depicts the struggle of achieving success, and the emptiness that sometimes comes with it. The line "The half life of my life is, no life at all" portrays the idea that success doesn't necessarily equate to happiness. It highlights the loss of identity that often happens when one becomes successful, and how it can feel like a burden rather than a blessing. The following line, "Success has fit me like a shroud", is a metaphor that hints at the artist’s feelings of being suffocated by success. The fox referred to in the song is likely a symbol of deceit, a reminder that success is not always what it seems, and can be misleading or even manipulative.
Kelley Deal reflects on the choices she has made and how they have affected her life, singing "Should have knelt should have never have stayed, now we've come undone man howdy, we jumped into a canyon." These lyrics allude to the fact that the artist has made mistakes in her past and that she is now living with the consequences of those actions. The final line, "we jumped into a canyon" is a metaphor for taking a massive risk that has resulted in an irreparable fall or descent.
Line by Line Meaning
The half life of my life is, no life at all
My life is characterized by a lack of depth and purpose
To wit
In other words
Success has fit me like a shroud
My success has suffocated me and made me feel trapped
Oh you fox
Addressing someone with admiration and endearment
What mischief are you up to know
Curious about what someone is plotting or planning
All we had to do
We only needed to take a simple action
Was take boat number to watch
All we needed to do was take a boat to go sightseeing
Now we sleep on the couch
Our lives have become stagnant and unproductive
Cats eat out of our mouth
Our situation has become so dire that even cats are eating out of our mouths
Should have knelt should have never have stayed
Regretting a past decision to stay when one should have left
Now we've come undone man howdy
Our lives have fallen apart and we're facing the consequences
We jumped into a canyon
We took a risk with disastrous consequences
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DEAL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind