After years playing violin as a session musician with the likes of John Mellencamp, Indigo Girls and Bob Dylan, Germano embarked on a solo career in 1991 with the understated but occasionally brilliant On The Way Down From The Moon Palace on her own label, which led to a deal with Capitol, who released her second album. Although Happiness was a massive step up in terms of confidence and songwriting, troubles at the label led to her buying back the rights. In 1994 4AD released a re-sequenced and remixed version of Happiness with a new sleeve and a few different tracks (including a gloomy version of the formerly scintillating ‘... Dresses’).
She turned out to be not just a great musician (she plays most of the instruments: piano, guitar, percussion and tape effects, as well as her trademark violin) and a wittily melancholy if kooky songwriter (‘I Love A Snot’, indeed), but a phenomenal arranger whose innovation and breadth of expression is comparable to PJ Harvey at her tape-mangling best.
As her style developed, so the music’s potential commercial appeal increased without compromising its uniqueness. Bright kaleidoscopes during an otherwise dark time in 4AD’s history, the following three albums, Geek The Girl, Excerpts From A Love Circus and Slide all won critical acclaim, but sadly failed to reach the wide audience they deserved; Germano was dropped in 1998, and announced her retirement from the music business.
(In 1997, she also released a collaboration with Giant Sand and future members of Calexico under the name OP8 Featuring The Ilk Of Lisa Germano).
Retirement didn’t suit her, and she was soon out on tour again, sessioning for David Bowie and Neil Finn, before, in 2003, releasing the self-funded Lullaby For Liquid Pig on ArtistDIRECT imprint Ineffable. A return to the woozy, after-the-carnival soundworld of ...Love Circus, the album was made with help from collaborators Finn, Johnny Marr and Wendy Melvoin.
Label-less again after Ineffable dissolved, Swans mainstay and longtime Germano fan Michael Gira snapped her up for his Young God label, which in 2007 released In The Maybe World, a stripped-down but ultimately hopeful reflection on mortality inspired by the death of, well, a cat, but also the imagined death of her Father. Young God subsequently reissued Liquid Pig with an extra CD of live recordings and demos, whose between-song banter highlighted Germano’s unique and cat-slanted take on life and death.
In September 2009 the album Magic Neighbor was released, again on Young God Records.
She also works with Maynard James Keenan's Puscifer
Official site: www.lisagermano.com
Stars
Lisa Germano Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They're so far away
They're always there and safe to look at,
Wish upon one
I could have been you in that fantasy,
Far away from here
I love my man, could it be he takes me there
Here it comes again, that uneasy feeling
I could have been you in that fantasy
So smile real big and wish upon one
Let it take you far away from here
Far from here, far away from here,
Far away from here
I could do about anything
Great excuses make it easier to forget
That awful feeling
So smile real big, oh precious moment
In this vague world full of fantasy like my man
Could it be he takes me there
Anywhere far away from here
Far away from here,
Far away from here,
Far away from here
I could do about anything.
The opening line of "Stars" by Lisa Germano immediately sets the tone for the song's melancholic exploration of escapism. Germano asks why people are so enamored with stars even though they are far away and unattainable. They offer a comforting presence, always there to look at and wish upon. Germano then shifts her attention to a fantasy of being someone else, specifically someone who is far away. This desire to escape the current reality is further explored in the second verse, where Germano sings about feeling uneasy and desiring to be somewhere else. She mentions her love for her man and how being with him takes her away from the difficulties she faces in her daily life.
Throughout "Stars," Germano captures the universal longing to escape reality and find solace in a fantasy. The chorus repeats the phrase "far away from here," emphasizing the desire to be anywhere but in the present moment. The final lines of the song bring the theme to its conclusion, where Germano suggests that the ability to forget through "great excuses" allows her to do anything.
Overall, "Stars" is a beautiful and introspective song that ponders the allure of escapism and the power of fantasy.
Line by Line Meaning
Why do people like stars,
Questioning the human fascination towards stars
They're so far away
Reflecting on the great distance between humans and celestial bodies
They're always there and safe to look at,
Stars are always present as a constant in the sky and provide a sense of security
Wish upon one
Alluding to the age-old tradition of making wishes upon shooting stars
I could have been you in that fantasy,
Envy towards how limitless the universe seems compared to our own lives
Far away from here
Longing to be away from the reality of everyday life
I love my man, could it be he takes me there
Wondering if love is the source of the otherworldly sensation she experiences
All those stars lighten up my head
Finding comfort in gazing at the stars
Here it comes again, that uneasy feeling
The return of anxiety from being unable to escape the limitations of reality
So smile real big and wish upon one
Encouragement to find temporary solace in the idea that wishes can come true
Let it take you far away from here
Hoping that the desired wish will transport her to a better place
I could do about anything
Feeling as if anything is possible when looking at the stars
Great excuses make it easier to forget
Acknowledging that excuses can help in temporarily avoiding problems
That awful feeling
Reference to the uneasy feeling mentioned earlier
So smile real big, oh precious moment
Emphasizing the importance of finding joy in small things
In this vague world full of fantasy like my man
Viewing her partner as someone who is able to provide an escape from reality
Could it be he takes me there
Wondering if her partner is the source of the euphoric sensation
Anywhere far away from here
Desiring to be far away from the current situation
Far away from here,
Emphasizing the distance between the desired location and reality
Far away from here,
Reiterating the desire to be far away
Far away from here
Final expression of the desire to escape reality
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: LISA GERMANO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
David Bluth
love this song
Gary Lehmann
Smile real big
Thanks to Lisa
ZeeDDD65
Possibly the most underrated artist ever.
Eric M. Van
Way beyond any doubt.
Julian Leil
ever
Rick J
From the REV 105 Radio Archive CD. One of the best radio stations of the 90s, killed by Radio Disney in 1997.
Solid Jockey
Yeah, I miss them. I wore out my CD