Pere Ubu - "Breath": it's now or possibly never.

I was pointed towards this rare video of Pere Ubu's "Breath" - the first track on their recently re-released Cloudland album from 1989 - by whoever runs the Home & Garden MySpace page (Ubu bassist Tony Maimone is/was in H&G).

As much as I love their quirkier moments, "Breath" remains one of my favorite Ubu songs. I think it captures as much as any other of their recordings some of Pere Ubu's recurring themes; people and places; urban development - for better or worse - and decay, and people feeling estranged and struggeling to find their place in this world of constant renewal. Lyrically, "Breath" seems to be a call for the world to stop for a moment, while the grander sound seems less urban than their previous records, perhaps to suggest that urban deveolpment has reached suburbia as well:

I know my way round town. / Used to live around here. / I know the sites to see, / the things they mean to me, / and how we tore it down. / Let me walk with you cuz it's breaking my heart. / The things that we had, / the good and the bad - now it's parking lots. / Don't let's talk about tomorrow - / Baby, standin at the edge of sorrow. / Let's watch the whole world just goin slow. / Let's watch the whole world goin slow.

The thing is, though, Pere Ubu and David Thoms have had issues with You Tube for a while, so I guess it's just matter of time before this clip is taken down. Watch it while you can, or better yet, go buy Cloudland. It's ace.