ALICE NOT JOHN Episode 7: A Fictional Radio Transmission Guest: Clara Lissens
ALICE NOT JOHN
Episode 7: A Fictional Radio Transmission
Guest: Clara Lissens
Host: Joeri Bruyninckx
A conversation I overheard in a record store:
Customer: “Do you have Coltrane?”
Record shop owner: “In the jazz section.”
Customer: “I mean Alice, not John.”
Record shop owner: “In the jazz section.”
ALICE NOT JOHN is the name of a fictional radio show. The idea is this: for every episode, I ask a musician the same 12 questions. The answers I receive are the “playlist” of my fictional radio show. The questions are these:
1) Which song always brings you back to your childhood?
Clara Lissens: ‘Für Elise’ by Beethoven, my sister was learning piano at some point and she would play parts of it almost every day, at least in my memory. It got unpleasantly stuck in my brain, including the long pauses between the notes.
2) Which is your favorite shower sing-along song?
‘The Triumph Of A Heart’ by Björk
3) What was your favorite song as a teenager?
‘Streams Of Whisky’ by The Pogues
4) What is your favorite air-guitar song?
I didn’t feel this urge yet to play air-guitar. But If I would, I choose the more recent song ‘I’m A Man’ by Kim Gordon.
5) Which song do you associate with your 20s?
‘Stolen Kisses’ by Chris & Cosey
6) From which song do you know the lyrics by heart?
‘Get Closer’ by Valerie Dore
7) Which song gives you consolation when you feel sad?
‘Born Never Asked’ by Laurie Anderson, ‘Around My Heart’ by Sandra and ‘Tu Dégages’’ by SEXY SUSHI.
8) Tell me about a song you think people wouldn’t expect you to like.
The ‘Twelve Fantasias’ of Georg Philipp Telemann. I used to play the recorder as a teenager. Playing Telemann on the recorder gave me a lot of comfort.
9) Which song do you recommend to people if you think they don’t know it?
‘Nature Alarm, Flies And Cows’ by SIUXSUN
10) ‘Wonderful Tonight’ by Eric Clapton is a break-up song (about a couple who decide not to tell their friends they just broke up because they don’t want to spoil a party they’re planning to go to). Strangely enough, this song often gets played as the opening song at weddings. Tell me about a song you misunderstood when you first heard it.
I always thought ‘Banana Split’ by Lio was just a playful naïve song about ice cream. Recently my girlfriend (who speaks French) explained the lyrics better which are actually kind of dark metaphors. I was first thinking it was an intentional critique, but then I was disappointed to discover it was not intentional. I like how misunderstanding can also be used consciously in music. Creating a medium to communicate indirect about certain things. For example the song ‘L’Aigle Noir’ by Barbara, the lyrics sounds like a dream about a bird and were later revealed to be about something way darker.
11) Which song always makes you do silly dance moves?
‘Liar’ by BigKlit
12) Which song do you quote most often? Which line?
‘Girl It’s Not The End Of The World’ from Ivana Spagna. The line: ‘Girl, it’s not the end of the world’
Joeri Bruyninckx
