Eitzel's first solo album was the (now elusive) cassette-only 'Mean Mark Eitzel Gets Fat' (1982), which pre-dates his AMC work. He released a solo live album, songs of love live in 1991, featuring raw and emotional acoustic versions of his best AMC songs. His first solo album proper was 1996's 60 Watt Silver Lining, a highly personal, jazz-inflected work.
He went on to release albums of varying styles and quality, including another difficult-to-find effort in Lover's Leap USA, produced as a tour-only CD and notable for including two songs which Eitzel's own sleeve notes instruct the listener to skip past. This was followed by 1997's West, a collaboration with REM's Peter Buck, and the stark and harrowing Caught in a Trap and I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby in 1998. 2001 saw him take a new electronic direction with The Invisible Man, followed in 2002 by two covers projects: Music for courage & confidence and The Ugly American, which included re-interpretations of American Music Club songs by Eitzel and a traditional Greek band!
american music club reformed in 2003, and released an album, Love Songs for Patriots, as well as touring the United States and Europe. Eitzel released new solo material in 2005, candy ass, which saw a return to the electronic experimentation of the invisible man. A new AMC record, The Golden Age was released in February 2008.
The Mark Eitzel discussion list Firefly can be found at http://mail.neurotica.com/mailman/listinfo/firefly
If You Have to Ask
Mark Eitzel Lyrics
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The street is all blocked off
Police lights spin
Sirens and certain pain
So we drive around
Don't worry, I′m not lost
The cab driver frowns
If you have to ask
If you have to ask
Then you'll never know
Later that night
All your black winter clothes
The wind cuts right through you
Like you weren't there at all
You froze on the street
You froze to the glass
You think I don′t love you
If you have to ask
If you have to ask
If you have to ask
Then you′ll never know
Then you'll never know
My voice gonna sneak like smoke through a crack in your window pane
Gonna curl up your stair
And light a fire in your brain
The music flows and echoes
From the club on the empty street
As you walk away from me
Footsteps, the useless beat
I watch your shadow
Headlights and brick walls
You think I won′t follow
If you have to ask
If you have to ask
If you have to ask
Then you'll never know
The lyrics to Mark Eitzel's song "If You Have to Ask" describe a feeling of being lost and disconnected from the world. The first verse paints a picture of being in a city where the streets are blocked off with police lights and sirens, emphasizing the chaos of the environment. The singer feels lost in this environment, but the cab driver is indifferent to their concerns, as indicated by the driver's frown.
In the second verse, the singer describes a cold winter night that is juxtaposed against a warm club with music flowing from it. The singer's voice is described as sneaking like smoke through a window pane and curling up the stairs to light a fire in the listener's brain. However, despite this connection, the singer feels that they aren't being loved in the way that they want to be loved.
The song ends with the singer watching their loved one's shadow as they walk away, feeling that their connection is slipping away. The repeated line "If you have to ask / then you'll never know" emphasizes the idea that some things are impossible to understand without experiencing them directly.
Line by Line Meaning
There's no way in
We can't enter the street due to blocks put by the police.
The street is all blocked off
There are obstructions in the street put by the police.
Police lights spin
Flashing lights of the police vehicle lights.
Sirens and certain pain
The sound of sirens and a feeling of discomfort.
So we drive around
We take a detour.
Don't worry, I'm not lost
We've got a general idea of where we are.
The cab driver frowns
The cab driver seems unhappy with our decision to take a detour.
If you have to ask
If you are not aware of something, you'll never figure it out.
Then you'll never know
If you have to ask, it implies that you lack the necessary knowledge and understanding to know the answer.
Later that night
Referring to a future point in time when night arrives.
All your black winter clothes
Clothes you wear specifically on cold days.
The wind cuts right through you
The cold wind makes you feel extremely cold.
Like you weren't there at all
You didn't feel a part of that atmosphere.
You froze on the street
The extreme cold froze you on the street.
You froze to the glass
The extreme cold stuck you to the glass, like it was magnetized.
You think I don't love you
You believe that I no longer have feelings for you.
My voice gonna sneak like smoke through a crack in your window pane
My voice will penetrate to reach you like smoke seeping through a gap in the window.
Gonna curl up your stair
The music will flow like smoke and fill every corner, especially the stairs.
And light a fire in your brain
The music will arouse your senses or ignite your imagination.
The music flows and echoes
The music is filling the empty street and being repeated in the background.
From the club on the empty street
The music is originating from the club located on an otherwise unoccupied street.
As you walk away from me
As you are distancing yourself from me.
Footsteps, the useless beat
The sound of footsteps on the empty street is pointless compared to the music that fills the air.
I watch your shadow
I observe the dark shape that's formed by your silhouette.
Headlights and brick walls
The light of the car headlights that meet the brick walls.
You think I won't follow
You believe that I won't try and follow or catch up with you.
Writer(s): Mark Eitzel, Peter Lawrence Buck
Contributed by Jordyn Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.