Prior to the release of his 1989 debut album March, Penn performed the song "This & That" with his band The Pull on a 1987 episode of Saturday Night Live. Before that, he was a member of the Los Angeles band Doll Congress and had appeared as an extra on a few television series, including St. Elsewhere.
March, particularly the first single, "No Myth," brought Penn attention, as well as the 1990 MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. Penn's follow-up albums Free-for-All (1992), Resigned (1997) and MP4: Days Since a Lost Time Accident (2000) weren't able to match the success of March, although critics praised his songcraft.
Penn met fellow singer-songwriter Aimee Mann in the late 1980s, and during the recording of her album I'm With Stupid (to which Penn contributed vocals), the two struck up a friendship, which blossomed into romance and their 1997 marriage. Together with manager Michael Hausman they formed United Musicians, which is based on the idea of allowing artists to keep copyright ownership of their works and to assist with their promotion and distribution. Penn and Mann live in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. They have no children, but Penn has a son from a previous marriage.
He moved into film scoring after repeated requests from director Paul Thomas Anderson, who had apparently listened to Free-for-All extensively while writing his first feature Hard Eight and wanted Penn to score the film. Penn also scored Anderson's follow-up Boogie Nights (in which he appeared briefly as a recording engineer), The Anniversary Party, Melvin Goes to Dinner and the documentary The Comedians of Comedy.
His fifth album, Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947, was released August 2, 2005, on Mimeograph Records (Penn's own label) and SpinART Records. Penn has said that the album, which may be the first of two parts, is set after World War II and involves "the trauma that a war brings to a person's psychology." [1]
Penn's music "Walter Reed" was used in the fifth episode of House MD's third season, "Fools For Love".
Half Harvest
Michael Penn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Of burying the carnival
But what the hell is in your potion
That's made you so dull?
So I cannot make a blind from sawdust
Much less a cool millennium, but I'd
Much rather feel the heat of August
Than be sheltered and numb
I'm putting in a bed of nails,
'cause missiles, guns and rubber hoses
Will land me in jail
This paradise is slowly crumbling
From here to Wilshire Boulevard
But the rubble over which you are stumbling
Just isn't that hard
What did you do with all that grace, now?
What did you do with all my wine?
What makes you think that just 'cause you dress bright
It means that you shine?
So move out of your bed of roses now
I'm putting in a bed of nails
'cause when this whole production closes
This innocence fails
(and weren't we supposed to)
SHINE...like half harvest never shone
SHINE...like half harvest never known.
The lyrics to Michael Penn's song Half Harvest seem to be a critique of someone who is too comfortable in their own security and has lost touch with the excitement of life. Penn questions the person's desire to "bury the carnival" and wonders what has made them so "dull." He himself prefers to feel the heat of August, to live dangerously and passionately rather than be sheltered and numb. He suggests that the person needs to move out of their bed of roses and into a bed of nails, to experience the reality of life rather than the illusions they cling to.
Penn also questions what happened to the person's grace and asks what they did with all his wine. He seems to be saying that just because someone dresses bright and looks good on the surface doesn't mean they shine with true inner light. He ends by urging the person to "shine like half harvest never shone," to embrace life fully and not settle for a half-hearted existence.
Overall, the lyrics seem to be a call to wake up and live fully, to reject the false security of a comfortable life and embrace the risks and joys of true living.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't care that you won't quit this notion
I am indifferent to your stubbornness
Of burying the carnival
Of ending something fun or exciting
But what the hell is in your potion
What is causing you to act so strangely?
That's made you so dull?
That's made you uninteresting and unappealing?
So I cannot make a blind from sawdust
I cannot create something valuable from nothing
Much less a cool millennium, but I'd
Or even something great, but I'd
Much rather feel the heat of August
Prefer to feel the warmth of life
Than be sheltered and numb
Instead of being cautious and apathetic
So move out of your bed of roses, now
Get out of your comfortable situation
I'm putting in a bed of nails,
I am willing to endure anything
'cause missiles, guns and rubber hoses
As I might be subjected to violence and oppression
Will land me in jail
These things may lead me to be punished
This paradise is slowly crumbling
This idyllic state is gradually falling apart
From here to Wilshire Boulevard
Everywhere, from this place to another
But the rubble over which you are stumbling
But the obstacles you face are insignificant
Just isn't that hard
You shouldn't find them difficult to overcome
What did you do with all that grace, now?
What happened to all the good things that happened?
What did you do with all my wine?
Where did all the happiness go?
What makes you think that just 'cause you dress bright
Why do you think that just because you look happy
It means that you shine?
You are actually shining?
So move out of your bed of roses now
Get out of your comfort zone
I'm putting in a bed of nails
I am prepared for pain and hardship
'cause when this whole production closes
Because when this all comes to an end
This innocence fails
Our youth and naivety will disappear
(and weren't we supposed to)
(and weren't we supposed to)
SHINE...like half harvest never shone
Shine... like never before, without fear of failure
SHINE...like half harvest never known.
Shine... like never before, without having seen anyone else do it before.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Efraim A.
One of my favorite tunes.
pcindirellie
michael penn is still alive. his brother, actor chris penn is the one who died.