Initial line-up
The group first featured Fier, singer-guitarist Arto Lindsay, saxophonist John Zorn, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and violinist/guitarist Fred Frith, with appearances by bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, guitarist Nicky Skopelitis, percussionist David Moss, guitarist/singer Bob Kidney, turntablist M.E. Miller and others. Their self-titled debut album was released on New York's Celluloid Records in 1983. The album is notable for having some of the first recorded turntable scratching outside of rap music, courtesy of Laswell and M.E. Miller. They were heavily influenced by so-called no wave music (Arto Lindsay had played in the seminal no-wave band DNA), but their music also contained elements of funk and of the improvisational jazz stylings that would become Zorn's trademark. This line-up lasted only for the first record, although all of the core members, save for Zorn, would guest on subsequent Palominos recordings.
1985–1989
The Palominos' next album, 1985's Visions of Excess, would sound vastly different, leaning towards songs more in a folk vein, with a sound in some respects pre-dating the emergence of the alt-country genre by a few years; However, in an example of a stylistic jump, one song, "The Animal Speaks", featured a pronounced, punk-like electric guitar part and vocals by The Sex Pistols' John Lydon. This record was also noteworthy as the debut of singer Syd Straw, whose songwriting and vocals would be featured prominently on this record and the groups next album. Cream's Jack Bruce, guitarist Richard Thompson, and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe also appeared on the record. Of the band members that were on the first record, only Fier and Arto Lindsay had remained.
Blast Of Silence was released in 1986, carrying on in much of the same vein as Visions Of Excess and with appearances by many of the same personnel. It included covers of two songs written by Little Feat's Lowell George, both sung by Syd Straw. The record also featured prominent guest appearances by Matthew Sweet, Don Dixon, Peter Holsapple and T-Bone Burnett.
A Dead Horse (1989) carried on in the sound of its predecessors slightly, but some of the songs also crossed into a darker, more ambient and ethereal sound, a sound which would dominate the Palomino records of the 1990s. Syd Straw had moved on and was no longer in the band, with most of the vocals now handled by Amanda Kramer, formerly of the dance music group Information Society. Fier would later guest on Straw's first solo record, Surprise.
1990–1995
Drunk With Passion marked the first record not on Celluloid Records, with its sound taking from some of the darker cues heard on A Dead Horse and also using more processed and electronic sounds, giving many of its songs an ethereal feel. This album could be argued was more influenced by its guest appearances than any of the others, who included Hüsker Dü's Bob Mould (who would go on to form the band Sugar the following year), Richard Thompson, and Michael Stipe, who would provide (along with a forceful solo by Thompson) one of the band's finer moments, the opening track "Alive And Living Now". Nicky Skopelitis would also became more of a cornerstone of the band, contributing to the bulk of Drunk With Passion's songs along with Fier and Kramer. In 1992, Fier would release his first solo record, Dreamspeed.
This Is How It Feels, released on Restless Records in 1993, continued on in much of the ambient sound of Drunk With Passion, but it also incorporated many elements of club and trance music. It also marked the introduction of new lead vocalist Lori Carson (www.loricarson.com), who co-wrote nine of the CD's tracks with Anton Fier. Bill Laswell also returned to contribute on this record, and his production work on this and on the following record, Pure, would heavily influence Laswell's own remix work of the late 90's, as seen on the CDs Emerald Ather and City Of Light. The album also contains the first cover song since Visions Of Excess, an ethereal, drum-machine laced re-interpretation of Jackson Browne's "These Days". To further highlight the album's dance elements, an EP of remixes of songs from This Is How It Feels , entitled Prison Of The Rhythm, was released shortly after the CD's release.
Pure,released a year later, is seen by many as the band's most focused work, due much to the strong contributions once again of Carson, Laswell, and Skopelitis. Tracks such as "No Skin" and "Pure" continue in the dance/ambient style of the previous album. The CD would also stir a minor controversy over the bare female breast on its cover, with some stores only carrying a version of the CD with a booklet where the cover had been replaced by simple, text-based artwork. Another remix EP (No Thought, No Breath, No Eyes, No Heart) accompanied Pure's release.
Pure would also be the last Palominos record for Lori Carson; However, interestingly, the song "Little Suicides", from Pure showed much of same sparse sound, production, and strong yet quiet vocals (albeit less electronic) that would influence Carson's solo work. Anton Fier would produce Carson's 1995 solo record, Where It Goes.
1994 also saw the release of Fier's second solo recording, blindlight, which used outtakes from Pure for much of its framework.
1995–2000
Dead Inside (1996) was another stylistic turnaround for the Palominos, and their last proper album. This time, the record had a deathly, industrial sound, with the line-up consisting only of Fier, multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler (who before joining the Palominos, was also in a band with Lori Carson, and went on to join Siouxsie and The Banshees), Nicky Skopelitis, and poet Nicole Blackman. Blackman's dark and deliberate lyrics (tellingly, Blackman had also recently worked with the industrial German band KMFDM) made Dead Inside a challenging record; its sound and tone stand out decidedly as unlike any of the others. The album's opener is the brutal, spoken-word track, "Victim".
In 1997, The Palominos released another EP, named Dead Outside, composed of five remixes of tracks from Dead Inside. However, this EP was released as free MP3s on the Internet, made available for a limited time through Nicole Blackman's website and also through a fan-created band website (since decommissioned).
"Dead Outside" consisted of these five remixes, which were available for download for one month only, as per Fier's instructions. 'Victim: The Last Thing' by Sean Beavan (whose credits include 8MM/Nine Inch Nails/Marilyn Manson) with John Van Eaton (a frequent Blackman collaborator who has worked with NIN for 10 years) 'Ride: Pragmatic Spasmatic' by Raymond Watts (of KMFDM/Pig) "Belfast: Empty As Wire" by Scanner (another Blackman collaborator) "Ride" by Mark Walk (of Ruby) "Victim: Interference" by John Van Eaton.
Post-Palominos careers and reunion
Both Syd Straw and Lori Carson have gone on to moderately successful and critically acclaimed solo careers, with Carson a frequent contributor to television shows and movies. A compilation of some of Carson's contributed songs, called Stolen Beauty, was released by Rykodisc in 2003, and a new Carson solo record, The Finest Thing, was then released in 2004.
The Golden Palominos reunited for two shows in New York City in 2010; A May 7th show at Le Poisson Rouge; and a May 11th show at The Living Room. The personnel on May 7th was Syd Straw, Jody Harris, Jim Campilongo, Tony Maimone and Anton Fier with Special guest Robert Kidney on vocals and guitar. Both shows were an unqualified success and have led to considerable speculation and likelihood of additional show dates through the fall of 2010 and beyond. There was a 3rd show on September 10th.
Ride
The Golden Palominos Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your manufactured cool could blow
Welcome to the land of pointless and destructive
You keep whining and crying into your beer,
Complaining the reception doesn't come in clear
(you just can't make a connection)
No one ever learns to speak American
There are only so many Kung Fu movies you can watch
Haircut, hometown, heroin friends
You make excuses, you should make amends
Who do you call for help when all your friends are dead?
Now they're calling to you from the bar,
And they're fucking with your film noir
And you wear your hope like Christmas
Now I don't know how to break this to you
But her blue eyes were never blue
So now the good times are gone but really, they never arrived
The terrycloth's beneath the tie
And another liar's caught in a lie
"I love you" hangs in the air like a subtitle
There's a war going on inside the bar
She calls for the check, you call for the car
And when you kiss her she tastes like hot candy
Now you're just left to wonder
How she sized you up in three minutes or under
She's out of your league, you're out of your mind
Things only feel true
When someone's abusing you
You are sometimes startled you are never surprised
There are only two speeds: fast and faster,
Now you're lashed to mast and lashed to master
Whether you're in bed or in court, everybody gets off
So she smokes to keep from eating
And you fuck her to keep from feeling
And this is a taste, and this is a waste
And these are all of your days sacrificed
You're rocking out in an empty room
You've built your house, it's become your tomb
Mmm thanks, she says, I'll keep my options open
Now you're nervous with hope, nervous with fear
She's barely gone, and you're barely here
Here comes the cocaine wake up call
And like a boy, not a slave to fame
You kissed lipstick only after money came
Born in New York 30 years ago, you've died several times since
Drive through tunnels and crawl through caves,
And suffer through a life no city can save
They've got an unmarked car with your name on it
So she smoked to keep from eating
And you fucked her to keep from feeling
And that was a taste, and that was a waste
Now these are all of your days magnified
Style over content. You know the other
Keep slugging it out in the superstructure
If you love something, chances are you can't afford it
Forget what's ahead and what's past
And live every day as if it were the last
The dead man never knows he's dead
The Golden Palominos's song "Ride" is a poignant commentary on modern life and the search for meaning in a world that seems devoid of it. The lyrics explore themes of alienation, loneliness, and the futile pursuit of pleasure and distraction.
The opening lines of the song suggest that people are only as cool as they allow themselves to be, and that this facade can crumble at any moment. The chorus speaks to the emptiness and destruction of modern life, where people spend their time on meaningless pursuits and find themselves unable to connect with others.
The lyrics also touch on the idea of futility, with lines like "there are only so many Kung Fu movies you can watch" and "things only feel true when someone's abusing you." The chorus repeats the phrase "you're out of your mind," highlighting the idea that many people are living in a state of detachment or delusion.
Overall, "Ride" is a powerful and evocative song that speaks to the struggles of modern life and the human desire for connection and meaning in a world that often seems to offer very little of either.
Line by Line Meaning
At any moment, you know,
Your manufactured cool could blow
Welcome to the land of pointless and destructive
You know that your fake persona can crumble at any moment, leading to a life filled with meaningless and destructive experiences
You keep whining and crying into your beer,
Complaining the reception doesn't come in clear
(you just can't make a connection)
You keep complaining and crying about your problems, but you can't seem to connect with anyone to fix them
What are all the pretty people on?
No one ever learns to speak American
There are only so many Kung Fu movies you can watch
You wonder what drugs the popular people are on, and no one seems to understand or speak the same language as you. You're tired of repetitive films and entertainment
Haircut, hometown, heroin friends
You make excuses, you should make amends
Who do you call for help when all your friends are dead?
You use superficial things like appearance, where you're from, and drug-using friends as excuses instead of taking responsibility for your actions. You don't have anyone to turn to when you've pushed away all your friends
Now they're calling to you from the bar,
And they're fucking with your film noir
And you wear your hope like Christmas
People are calling out to you at the bar and disrupting your serious movie-like mindset. You cling onto hope like it's a holiday
Now I don't know how to break this to you
But her blue eyes were never blue
So now the good times are gone but really, they never arrived
I don't know how to tell you this, but the woman you're pining over was never as genuine as you believed. You've been waiting for good times that never actually existed
The terrycloth's beneath the tie
And another liar's caught in a lie
"I love you" hangs in the air like a subtitle
Underneath the professional exterior, everyone is just as deceitful as the next person. Declarations of love feel scripted and insincere
There's a war going on inside the bar
She calls for the check, you call for the car
And when you kiss her she tastes like hot candy
A battle is happening inside the bar as patrons try to outdo each other. You and the woman you're with are in a rush to leave, and your kiss is filled with passion
Now you're just left to wonder
How she sized you up in three minutes or under
She's out of your league, you're out of your mind
You're left wondering how she managed to make a judgment call about you so quickly. She's above your level, and you're not thinking clearly
Things only feel true
When someone's abusing you
You are sometimes startled you are never surprised
Things only feel genuine when someone is treating you badly. You're occasionally taken aback, but you're never truly shocked
There are only two speeds: fast and faster,
Now you're lashed to mast and lashed to master
Whether you're in bed or in court, everybody gets off
Life only moves at one pace: fast. You're tied to people who control you, and everyone gets satisfaction, whether it's in bed or a courtroom
So she smokes to keep from eating
And you fuck her to keep from feeling
And this is a taste, and this is a waste
And these are all of your days sacrificed
She avoids eating by smoking, and you avoid emotions by having sex. This lifestyle is a temporary thrill and a waste of time, leading to a lifetime of missed opportunities
You're rocking out in an empty room
You've built your house, it's become your tomb
Mmm thanks, she says, I'll keep my options open
You're alone, listening to music in an empty room. You've created your own living space, which has become a prison. The woman you're with is not fully committed to you
Now you're nervous with hope, nervous with fear
She's barely gone, and you're barely here
Here comes the cocaine wake up call
You're both excited and scared of what's to come. She just left, but you're already missing her. The realization that your drug use is just an escape is setting in
And like a boy, not a slave to fame
You kissed lipstick only after money came
Born in New York 30 years ago, you've died several times since
You're not obsessed with fame like some people are. You only kissed the woman after money was involved. You've been through a lot of changes in your life
Drive through tunnels and crawl through caves,
And suffer through a life no city can save
They've got an unmarked car with your name on it
You've been through the worst and continue to struggle through a life that no city can improve. Your past is catching up with you
So she smoked to keep from eating
And you fucked her to keep from feeling
And that was a taste, and that was a waste
Now these are all of your days magnified
She's using smoking to maintain her weight, and you're using sex to avoid emotions. This behavior only brought temporary pleasure and is now magnifying the wasted days of your life
Style over content. You know the other
Keep slugging it out in the superstructure
If you love something, chances are you can't afford it
Appearance is more important than substance in your life. Others continue to fight it out in the higher-ups of society. If you love something, it's probably too expensive for you
Forget what's ahead and what's past
And live every day as if it were the last
The dead man never knows he's dead
Forget about what's already happened and what's to come, and live in the present. You never know when your time will be up, and once you're dead, you won't even know it
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: ANTON FIER, NICOLE BLACKMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Hirnlego999
There's not enough music in the world with Nicole Blackman doing vocals
Angie ormiston
haven't heard this in 18 yrs! love it
LeeLee Me
This is one of THE hottest songs in the world. Thank you for putting it on youtube!
Wjyndigo
thank you for this i have been looking everywhere for them, oh my this takes me back.
TheCurrentClimate
Dig it. Dig it, hard.
tahda smith
<3
K. R. K.L.
Slow...slow...quick quick quick slow.....mmmmm