Pages

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Pete Yorn's sunny indie pop sway of "Jeannine" holds sad inspirations and lessons




















"Take me away from this place I’ll never go again"

Pete Yorn has always seemed like he has been around, a consistent singer songwriter whose sound, since the mid 90's, has always felt both classic and nostalgic. His latest, Jeannine, feels like both of  those descriptors once again. Riding on clean electric guitar, a running bass and beat and Yorn's dreamy croon that still fuses in the tender, hopeful sound that says 90's college rock radio to me and I mean that as the highest compliment. Yorn's melodies are always ear-wormy but don't feel like it because they get stuck in your heart as well as your brain. The feeling of losing something and of longing to have something is deeply ingrained in the sound of Jeannine inspired by Jeannine Deckers, who was a Belgium singer songwriter and member of the Dominican Order. 

Marketed as "The Singing Nun" she found worldwide fame in 1963 with the Belgian French song "Dominique" topping the US Billboard Hot 100 but in the end she was basically "ripped off" by the recording contract, reduced to poverty, experienced a crisis of faith and left the church that would not allow her to express her own sadness in her songs. On March 29th, 1985 Deckers and life long friend Annie Pécher committed suicide together by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. There is too much to tell between Decker's leaving the church, trying to resurrect her career numerous times, attempts at teaching, at being a writer and her 2 year bout with depression and therapy but one thing is clear, she was not allowed to be herself as a lesbian within the constraints of the church and her public persona and most likely denied who she was to herself even for most of her life. Ultimately, that is what Jeannine is about as Yorn shares:

“Inspired by the tragic story of Jeannine Deckers, The Singing Nun, who’s #1 hit “Dominique” kept “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen out of the top spot in 1963, “Jeannine” is a deceptively sunny song that deals with the repression of self and the hope that one day the world will understand an individual’s struggle to feel free to express who they are at their core." - Pete Yorn 

-Robb Donker Curtius





THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

A new song from Pete Yorn: http://smarturl.it/pyjeannine 


“Inspired by the tragic story of Jeannine Deckers, The Singing Nun, who’s #1 hit “Dominique” kept “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen out of the top spot in 1963, “Jeannine” is a deceptively sunny song that deals with the repression of self and the hope that one day the world will understand an individual’s struggle to feel free to express who they are at their core." - Pete Yorn 

Lyrics: 

Take me away from this place 
I’ll never go again 
Found a way to replace 
All the things 
I’ve ever been 
You won’t feel this way in the summer 
Look behind the door and let it all in 
You can rely on your friends 
To get you to the end 
And it will come around 
Will always start again 
You won’t feel this way in the summer 
Look behind the door and say goodbye 
It won't take it away, oh no 
You won’t feel this way in the summer 
Look behind the door and fill it all in 
Tell me everything that was on your mind 
When He left you there 
And you came out to them 
It wasn’t your fault that they didn’t understand 

Written by Pete Yorn 
Produced by Jackson Phillips and Pete Yorn 
Recorded and mixed by Jackson Phillips 
Pete Yorn: 12 string acoustic, Telecaster electric guitar, electric bass, vocals Jackson Phillips: Telecaster electric guitar, synth bass, Juno synth, rhythm programming, drums 

Published by Boyletown Music Song master recording owned, licensed and distributed by Shelly Music, 2019. 

Follow Pete Yorn on social media: 

No comments:

Post a Comment