Songs in the Key of Ethan

The key to the Orange Mothers is the songs, and nobody can explain them like they can. Thus, the Chronicle thought it would be a good idea to sit them down and go over selected works from Plane Crash City and Big Blue House to discover just what they hell they were thinking. Our interviewer and three-fourths of the Mothers met one Saturday afternoon at the Texas Showdown to get to the bottom of things. Bassist "Stinkpot" Johnston couldn't make it because, well, he forgot. Musicians.

"Searchin' for My Soul"

Ethan: Some songs just come out perfect -- you write 'em in five minutes and they're perfect. "Searchin' for My Soul" was probably half a day's work and that song was good to go. We pretty much play it the way we played it when I first brought it to rehearsal.

"Family Affair"

James: The family in "Family Affair," is that based on any people that you knew or just hearing stories of everybody's fucked-up families?

Ethan: No, I think I was just generalizing about people and their families and holidays and fucked-up siblings -- crazy parents -- but no one in particular. I mean, I was the oldest dope-smokin' moron in my family, and I never smoked pot, so it doesn't really apply to me. And my father, I wouldn't say was a hopeless romantic.

James: But was he trying on mama's clothes is the question.

Ethan: Definitely not, that I knew about. That's not to say he wasn't.

"Birthday"

Ethan: As a kid, I used to have these great birthday parties where people would come over, like 50 kids. We'd split up into two armies and have apple fights, mud fights. The parents wouldn't let their kids come to this birthday party after a while, because kids were gettin' hurt. Seriously.

"Rudy"

Ethan: In any given small town there's always this misfit guy who loves to play guitar, who does play guitar, who's slightly screwed up.

James: Village idiot.

Ethan: Yeah. But a nice village idiot.

James: It wasn't based on anybody in particular?

Ethan: No.

Tim: After all these years we finally know.

Ethan: And everybody knows a Rudy.

Chronicle: Paul Minor told me at the hoot night that it's his favorite Mothers song.

Ethan: I think he was pretty drunk.

"Sunshine"

Ethan: Singing folk songs with my parents, hanging out in the sunshine in Vermont.

James: Was it originally psychedelic the way it is now?

Ethan: Yeah.

James: It's weird because the lyrics are all folksy, but the music's psychedelic.

Ethan: When I first started the Orange Mothers, it was that whole psychedelic phase I went through. That was actually one song out of a lot that actually had lyrics. The other songs just had a lot of things I repeated that didn't really make sense.

"Marshmallow Girls"

Ethan: "Marshmallow" was just about some redneck neighbors that lived close by. They weren't necessarily heavy or ...

James: Chewy and gooey?

Ethan: They were just, you know, like rednecks looking for boyfriends.

James: Daisy Dukes ...

Ethan: Yeah, these unattractive chicks lookin' for some action.

James: And hey, what's a little boy supposed to do?

Ethan: Yeah, "Here comes little Jimmy. Look at him, he's so cute! C'mere, Jimmy!"

Tim: Little Jimmy's gonna grow up.

"Audy's Drunken Christmas"

Tim: I try to go up to visit [Ethan's] brother once a year, Jesse, who plays drums and has his own little studio. It was during Christmastime, of course, and he had this bell. This really obnoxious loud bell that would play all the Christmas songs. He hung it up over this doorway, so you'd go to sleep and wake up hearing all the Christmas jingles. We woke up and started drinking and I said, "Man, we have to record this." So he recorded the bell, played guitar, drums, and bass to the bell, and then I tried to sing the Christmas songs. It wasn't fake. That was about all I knew. I don't think you could ever play that again, because it would sound fake. You really have to be drinkin' to even get close to that.

"Heaven"

Ethan: "Heaven" was one of those songs that just happened really fast. At this point, I don't know what "Heaven" is about.

James: It's about heaven, and giraffes ...

Ethan: I'll know in a few months what it's about. I don't think it's anything to do with childhood.

James: It's like a Lewis Carroll song or something. It's nonsense, but not quite nonsense.

Ethan: I was painting with broad strokes.

James: Exactly.

Ethan: Giraffes, and little dogs barking at the sea ...

James: Exactly. It's like your paintings, kinda cartoony. Jellyfish walking on the land, it's great.

Ethan: I like to make images with the lyrics more than say things necessarily. I'm not so much about preaching or singing from experience -- things that have happened to me emotionally. It's more about just imagery.

James: He has a postmodern fear of significance.

"Little Bird"

James: A coconut tree, of all things. Where do you see a coconut tree?

Ethan: There are such things as coconut trees, right?

James: Well, they're called palm trees, yeah. Right.

Ethan: But coconuts grow on these trees, right?

James: Yes they do. And I'm almost sure that on at least one or two of them there are little birds singing. At any given time.

"Country Song"

Ethan: "Country Song" was just inspired by country music and the whole thing that country music seems to pound into our heads, you know, good love gone bad kind of thing. Cryin' in your beer over your girlfriend or boyfriend. I just wanted to sum it up all in one song.

James: Everything's there but the pickup truck.

Chronicle: Are you a big country fan?

Ethan: Yeah, I like country.

James: You like the old stuff, right?

Ethan: I like Merle Haggard, I like Hank Williams ...

James: None of this Bakersfield bullshit.

Ethan: I like Tom Jones ...

James: Tom Jones or George Jones?

Ethan: George Jones. Yeah.