Interview with David Berman of the Silver Jews
Conducted by M.Edwards in 1996 for a zine called Chapter 57
In the Fall of 1996 I was employed as a seafood clerk at a supermarket, I was
also listening to the Natural Bridge quite a bit. I had the idea to interview
David for a zine I was planning on putting out back then. I wrote out a group of
questions while standing behind the seafood counter (the smell of week old perch
in my nostrils and lack of sleep may have had something to do with some of these
questions) and sent them off. Not long after I was surprised to see a letter
from David; he had replied to every question and sent a photo to boot! It always
bothered me that the zine never saw the light of day and David's generosity went
unrewarded. I hope to mend the situation by publishing it here for the first
time in honor of the release of Tanglewood Numbers. - M. Edwards
ME: Is that your car pictured on the back of The Natural Bridge insert?
DCB: That photo is of the interior of a 1979 Subaru station wagon that I owned
for one summer in the early nineties. it had a tiny engine that would top out at
about 25 m.p.h.. That was great in school zones but I kept getting pulled over
by cops for going too slow.
ME: How is it in Charlottesville right now?
DCB: Charlottesville is a good place to live right now. It was a up and down
year if you're a Cavaliers football fan. I was lucky enough to attend the North
Carolina and Texas games with their accompanying post-game celebrations and on
the other hand nearly hospitalized for depression after losses to Georgia Tech,
Virginia Tech, and Clemson. Once Charlottesville was ruled by the legacy of
Thomas Jefferson. Recently Dave Matthews knocked TJ off the throne. We worship
his jams now.
ME: Is the Silver Jews your job now, or are you employed somewhere else? Do you
have any memorable first jobs? I once worked 10 hour nights painting a
restaurant by myself, I think I ate my weight in club sandwiches.
DCB: I've been unemployed for about two years. Somewhere a rumor started that I
was teaching at a university. That would be nice if it were true. I wouldn't
mind at all. From 12-15 I groomed horses. At 15 I got my break in the
dishwashing field, that lasted until I heard Hollywood calling and was hired to
tear tickets at a Loew's theater. In college I got hired by the hospital to take
the dead to the morgue and put them in the fridge. That lasted 3 years before I
went back to dishwashing. In New York I was a security guard at the Whitney
Museum of American Art for three years. I have no skills. I am currently
unemployed.
ME: Speaking of work, I was reading the lyrics to The Natural Bridge on the
clock yesterday, when a woman I work with snatched it and began reading it,
after about thirty seconds she said, "Gosh, they sure do use the word Cum a lot
don't they?".
DCB: Cum shows up three times on the record. When I was a kid people always used
to say "cumbucket". It made a picture in my mind, cum slopped over the edges. I
forgot about the word for years until forming this album it came up again and
kept sneaking into songs. Cum is a very private issue. The Natural Bridge has a
lot of privacy issues going on inside.
ME: How do you write the lyrics that fill Silver Jews records? Is there a
process or is it just a moment by moment kind of thing?
DCB: First I write some simple music. Play it for a couple days until it begins
to make its own lyrical demands. Try to fill the order as best you can. Mood is
the touchstone. It's definitely not spontaneous.
ME: In the song "Frontier Index" you use the term "Sub-space", what is the sub-
space? is that like your separated perception of this reality? Everyone having a
sub-space to move in the over-space.
DCB: What is sub-space? I don't know. It just sounds cool. No, just kidding.
Well I'm only half-kidding. The other half is this: I might use a concept like
sub-space because I know it has meaning, I even know what it is, you even know
what it is or you wouldn't have brought it up, but we probably won't have much
luck talking about it. There is a level at which I can refer, I can even
understand but I am not articulate enough to explain. Religion is nice that way,
it only requires an ability to do the first two things.
ME: "Ballad" is another interesting song on The Natural Bridge. Who is the
"extra in our midst"?
DCB: "The extra in our midst" is supposed to be the devil, from the perspective
of the reverend the devil has brought these different characters to their
individual miseries. This is not the way I see the world. It's funny though, I
found out after I wrote the song, by reading the "Origin of Satan" by Elaine
Pagels that in ancient Israel census taking was against Jewish law. King David
tried to have one taken in 1000 B.C. for the purposes of taxation. The people
were very upset and tried to revolt. In the old testament (I Chronicles 21:1) it
is explained that Satan tempted David into instituting the census.
ME: Do you have a favorite type of pants? A lot of stores in my area quit
carrying Levi 517's, which has forced me too country/western department stores
in London, Ky.
DCB: I like dark blue Duckheads, plain fronts, size 36 waist, 32 length.
ME: What was your favorite class through out your collegiate career?
DCB: My favorite class was Forest Fire Management in the Forestry Dept.
ME: If you were stranded on an island and you happened to bring a book with you,
what do you hope that book would be?
DCB: I don't know it would have to be something that you could go back to time
and time again which for me would discount a novel. I guess I would bring
somebody's collected poems. Probably Wallace Stevens'.
ME: Have you ever visited Louisville? What were your impressions of this town?
DCB: Yes I've been to Louisville two times for 24 hours a piece. I liked it very
much one of those times. Western Ky struck me as being like a mixture of Indiana
and Tennessee. I think Brown and Williamson makes shitty cigarettes and I have
zero interest in racing, but any town that is responsible for Brett Ralph and
Fading Out is A-OK with me.
ME: Was the lyrics to "Rebel Jew" a first person narrative of your own true
heart, or were you writing from another perspective?
DCB: In "Rebel Jew" only the third verse/chorus is strictly from my perspective.
The first two are those strange mixtures: a little of who you are, a little of
who you might have been if things had gone differently, and a little of who
you'd like to be.
ME: Did your parents ever attend any cool concerts, back in the day? My mom
claims to have seen The Beatles in Cincinnati, when she was 14. I heard you were
conceived at Woodstock.
DCB: My stepmother saw Jimi Hendrix and the Doors in Dallas. My Dad met Gerald
Ford.
ME: So what's the skinny, do you like Pearl Jam or not?
DCB: No I don't like Pearl Jam. I tried. Alice in Chains is much better. Nirvana
was boring. Soundgarden has a lot of great songs. Their greatest hits record
will kick ass.
ME: Do you have any collaborations planned?
DCB: No I don't have any collaborations planned outside of sex with my
girlfriend. Wait this is a family magazine. Apparently all the gold ever mined
would fit into a cube 3 x 20 yards.
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