FAWM: "Semiotics Can't Support My Ankle (Kiki Boots)"

Semiotics Can't Support My Ankle (Kiki Boots)

Liner Notes

#shoegaze #postrock
I read a piece in the NY Times by a journalist who covered the "luxury" beat. She had scrimped and saved and bought a pair of expensive Kiki boots, which promptly fell apart. When you strap signifiers to your feet, you may find them wanting in certain practical respects. And in this case, I'm pretty sure that these boots ceased functioning as signifiers of hip exclusivity and wealth.

Lyrics

Kiki boots
Supple
Soft
Exclusive
Broke my budget
Broke my heart
Much less than useless
Strutting home through the park
So sexy-clueless
Right until the heel fell off

Semiotics can’t support my ankle
Luxury’s a ripe tomato
Firm and soft and sun-warmed in my hand

I learned that when the heel fell off
I saw the hollow core
Inside the hollow core
I saw my hollow heart
Yes, when the heel fell off
I saw the hollow core
Inside the hollow core
I saw my hollow heart

Semiotics can’t support my ankle
Luxury’s a ripe tomato
Firm and soft and sun-warmed in my hand

Comments

@majormajormajormajor 2w

This had me laughing with delight at first, and what a great chorus. I agree, the way you deliver tomato is a selling point. The whole affair sounds like it could fit in on Slanted and Enchanted, real slacker wisdom. This one could give I Faw Down and Go Boom a run for its money

@scottmcb 2w

Love how you spit out the word tomato. Terrific shoegaze, dream-pop feel

@heid 2w

I love how cheeky and nerdy some of your lyrics are. This song made me smile *and* feel bitter all at once, as you often are able to do. Nice work.

@bitshred 2w

So much good going on here. It’s so catchy cool, especially that chorus melody rhythm. The idea of the song especially is cool too. I have no idea what Kiki boots are, but not curious enough to google so…

@loveonamixtape 2w

Ugh, this hits close to home -- as a young woman I had a couple Marc by Marc Jacobs dresses of my own that I absolutely could not afford on my publishing assistant salary, lolll, but luckily credit card companies were very unscrupulous then in allowing just-out-of-college kids to have credit cards (I'm probably still paying for those dresses to this day?)! But I digress. I'm pretty sure I know the article you're referring to. Anyway, this is a great song with some excellent, excellent lyrics (as per usual, for you.) I love the sound of the recording with the sounds and the drums! Almost as if they're a recording of a recording? There's a distance to it that sounds really cool. Both the verses are *chef's kiss* lyrically, but I especially love the second verse with the variations on the hollowness of the heel and the hollowness of the heart.

@ttg105 3w

Gorgeous melody that conveys the self-doubt of the protagonist. Love the grungy guitar. The semiotics verse is brilliant and catchy, and I like the metaphor of the heel falling off. Nice vocal interplay, too!

@vomvorton 3w

Haha, that's a great inspiration for a song and has led to some killer lyrics. Luxury's a ripe tomato! Thank you for steering me away from a mid-FAWM Kiki boot purchase which would have been near-inevitable otherwise.

@jonmeta 3w

If Umberto Eco was in the Velvet Underground. Layers of meaning, layers of hollowness,... So great to see you. back here, Danny, with your accustomed wry excellence.

@cloudboy 3w

First, I had to look up semiotics! And while the song doesn't make lyrical sense to me (which doesn't bother me), you make it make sense it a deeper way through your musical approach (which excites me). Ie...I FEEL it more than cerebrally understand it. WHICH, when reading a definition of the word, came across this, "In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter." BINGO.

@odilongreen 3w

Grand and majestic and lyrically clever so very tuneful and melodic, as always. I'm just going to copy that phrase into my clipboard and posting it as my comment to all your tracks. Because it's pretty much always true, and I'm running out of new words of praise to say!

@karlsburg25 3w

I adore that approach to music, and its great to hear as a result a song flow so beautifully . I love your vocal, delivered so perfectly

@mahtowin 3w

So great to hear you again!
I‘m smiling through the whole song!
Brilliant lyrical idea (i‘m jealous 😃) packed in some alternative rocklike guitar work! I love the contrast in the vocals like two different people are singing!
Great work!

@zoelogical 3w

this is great and was cracking me up with laughter, A+++ 10/10

@chill4matt 3w

I echo the great placement of the guitar. Love your imaginative lyrics and those extra spicy vocals!

@kvnwoodruff 3w

I like how the guitar feels more tucked away in the mix. Gives it an interesting pent up energy that only adds to the “no one look at me”-ness of shoegaze

@mikeskliar 3w

wild little tale there, great fit of music and lyric!

@autoclamp 3w

Love this. The vocal lays right in the groove while threatening to spin off into its own thing... truly unique and it sounds amazing. Well done!

@coolparadisoMod 3w

There was you teasing me you might not be around and here you are already. So very Danny, Seems all so simple then the depth peeps out! Arrrr the hollow heart! Very enjoyable.

@davidtaro 3w

A very literal take on #shoegaze - love it! Also just googled what a kiki boot is. Wowzers. Anyway. The kind of in medias res opening feels really cool. Lovely warm guitar tones. And 'Semiotics can't support my ankle / Luxury's a ripe tomato' is truly lyric writing of the highest calibre. Hoping this is the first of many this Feb :)

@sbs 3w

So good to hear you again! Love this - such refreshing vocals and clever lyrics/phrasing.

@billwhite51 3w

you still come up with the best titles, and i love your phrasing on this..often unexpected and always just right. the end
verse is brilliant. with the hollow heart inside the hollow core of the broken heel. so good to hear you at it for another season.

@daveyboy103 3w

Very nice melodic construction which produces a very original sound and what a title!!

@thelowestbitter 3w

really enjoyed this, that guitar tone is really nice and I like the lyrical ideas, particularly the "inside the hollow core I saw my hollow heart" verse