Cadillac Couches (25 page)

After a modest fifteen-song atonal set with six repeats, The Cadillac Couches clasped hands and together yelled: “
THANK YOU, EDMONTON
!” Unbelievably, the crowd wanted more and insisted on encores! So they did it all over again: Patsy, Elvis . . . 

The festival program blurb explained who these musical anarchists were. All this brouhaha was a deliberate effort by the Edmonton Folk Festival organizers to be non-elitist. As part of a new initiative, the organizers introduced a new music workshop: the Amateur Stage, to find new talent and to host a live karaoke band. The organizers chose The Cadillac Couches to host the jam because of their obvious musical hopelessness as well as an eloquent letter written by Finn Hingley telling of their universal plight: infinite enthusiasm, no talent. Hingley argued that people were tired of being spectators to the spectacle, they wanted to join in, to get off their asses and in front of a mike.

When asked what she thought about the necessity in art for quality control, Sparks said, “It's completely naive to think like that. Our oeuvre is more performance art. Think
DADA
.”

Eventually, The Cadillac Couches took their bow—beaming at the grass on the way down and the big Alberta sky all the way back up.

Many Years Later

DJ Annie's shambolic soundtrack mix for
Cadillac Couches
: a starter selection of past and future tunes in random order for music freaks . . . 

 

“Just the Other Day” | Jr. Gone Wild

“Where's Me Jumper” | Sultans of Ping

“Ooh Wah Baby,” “Roll with the Punches” | Ben Sures

“Alberta” | Eric Clapton

“Diamond Smiles” | Boomtown Rats

“Crash Into Me” | Dave Matthews Band

“Thorn in My Side” | Eurythmics

“Trumpets” | The Waterboys

“Nobody's Baby,” “Into My Arms” | Nick Cave

“Lights of Montreal” | Luann Kowalek

“Andy,” “C'est Comme Ça” | Les Rita Mitsouko

“Bye Bye Mon Cowboy” | Mitsou

“Tiger Woods,” “Jerusalem,” “I'm Not the Guy,” “Talkin' Woody, Bob, Bruce & Dan Blues” | Dan Bern

“Now and Forever,” “Cynthia,” “Diamond Mind” | Blue Rodeo

“Tight Knit Seams” | Old Reliable

“Don't Be Crushed,” “Paper Shoes,” “No Sissies,” “Safe and Sound” | Hawksley Workman

“Both Hands,” “Buildings and Bridges,” “Out of Range,” “Not a Pretty Girl” | Ani DiFranco

The Ghost of Tom Joad
(whole album) | Bruce Springsteen

“Should I Stay or Should I Go,” “I Fought the Law” | The Clash

“Queer” | Rheostatics

“Handle with Care” | Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins

“Jesus,” “Beauty,” “Fromage” | Hookahman

“Cold Cold Ground,” “Jersey Girl,” “Downtown Train” | Tom Waits

“Hey Good Lookin'” | Hank Williams

“Left and Leaving,” “Watermark” | The Weakerthans

“You Look Like Rain” | Morphine

“Lilac Wine” | Jeff Buckley

“Churchill” | Greg Macpherson

“Lay Lady Lay,” “Tangled Up in Blue” | Bob Dylan

“Shopping Trolley” | Beth Orton

“Mailbox” | Paul Bellows

“That Time” | Regina Spektor

“Bloody Motherfucking Asshole” | Martha Wainwright

“A Boy Named Sue” | Johnny Cash

“Jackson” | Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash

“To Love Somebody,” “Ain't Got No/I Got Life” | Nina Simone

“Mandinka” | Sinead O'Connor

“Ne Me Quittes Pas” | Jacques Brel

“Into the Mystic” | Van Morrison

“Easy Skanking” | Bob Marley

“Don't Go,” “Movies” | Hothouse Flowers

“Indoor Fireworks,” “I Want You,” “Blue Chair,” “Everyday I Write the Book” | Elvis Costello

“Your Revolution” | DJ Vadim

“Satellite” | Danny Michele

“The Eye in Magpie” | Electricity for Everybody

“Teenage Kicks” | The Undertones

“Distillation” | Erin McKeown

“The Man Who Sold the World” | Nirvana

“Right on Time,” “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” | Lucinda Williams

“Mundian to Bach Ke” | Panjabi MC

“My Drug Buddy” | The Lemonheads

“Unknown Legend” | Neil Young

“Better Man” | Pearl Jam

“Tomber la Chemise” | Zebda

“Wear Clean Draws” | The Coup

“Reuben” | Cathy Davey

“Trouble” | Ray LaMontagne

“Wild Is the Wind” | David Bowie

“The First Time” | Roberta Flack

“Isabelle,” “Think About You” | Jean LeLoup

“Fight for Your Right” | Beastie Boys

“As Tears Roll By” | Daniel Lanois

“One” | U2

“A Good Heart” | Feargal Sharkey

“Killing Floor,” “Built for Comfort” | Howlin' Wolf

“Damn Sam,” “Come Pick Me Up” | Ryan Adams

“Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye” | Leonard Cohen

(Some of these songs are cover versions.)

 

DJ Annie doesn't know when to stop so will leave it here, with this song:

“Thank You For Your Love” | Antony and the Johnsons

The author wishes to thank these artists for permission to quote excerpts from their songs: “Jerusalem” from
Dan Bern
, © Dan Bern, 1997; “Don't be Crushed” from
For Him and the Girls
, © Hawksley Workman, 2000; “True Revolutionaries” from
Smartie Mine
, © Dan Bern, 1998; “Talkin' Alien Abduction Blues” from
Dog Boy Van
, © Dan Bern, 1997; “Ooh Wah Baby” from
Ooh Wah Baby
, © Ben Sures, 1998; “Both Hands” from
Ani DiFranco
, © Ani DiFranco, 1990; “Providence” from
Providence
, © Luann Kowalek, 1994; “You Had Time” from
Out of Range
, © Ani DiFranco, 1994; “Paper Shoes” from
For Him and the Girls
, © Hawksley Workman, 2000; “If He Tries Anything” from
Out of Range
, © Ani DiFranco, 1994; “Not a Pretty Girl” from
Not a Pretty
Girl
© Ani DiFranco, 1995; “Blood in the Boardroom” from
Puddle Dive
© Ani DiFranco, 1993; “Untouchable Face” from
Dilate
, © Ani DiFranco, 1996; “Aside” from
Left and Leaving
, © The Weakerthans, 2000.

“She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain” derives from an old African-American spiritual and nineteenth-century American folk song.

The author wishes to thank and recognize the Provost and Scholars of King's College, Cambridge, and the Society of Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of E.M. Forster for the permission to quote
A Room with a View
, 1908, and
Howards End
, 1910.

The author also wishes to acknowledge that her characters misquote/paraphrase dialogue from
Bullets Over Broadway
, Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath © 1994, and from
Withnail and I
, Bruce Robinson © 1987.

The references from Emily Dickinson and John Keats fall in the public domain.

I am bursting with gratitude to the universe. And to loads of people.

Thank you, Ruth Linka, for being a dream-maker and holding down the Canada fort for me and for being such an amazing beacon of hard, noble work. Thank you, Pete Kohut, for the gorgeous cover and Emily Shorthouse, Cailey Cavallin, and all of the Brindle & Glass publishing team for your hard work.

Huge thanks to Lynne Van Luven for her expert editing and sculpting guidance! Big thanks to Heather Sangster for the wonderfully attentive copyediting and proofing.

Thank you to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton Arts Council, Edmonton Artist Trust Fund, and Banff Centre for the Arts Writing Program for their
support and encouragement. Jane Bisbee, Vern Thiessen, and Paul Pearson, wonderful helpers for the arts.

Thank you to Duncan Turner and my former colleagues at the
BPAA
for all the support and wisdom, I miss you guys! Kathy Shute would win hands down the best boss/mentor worldwide award if there were one.

Thank you, Mom and Dad and brother Martin, for the love and all that Watson-ness and for surrounding me with books books books. And big thanks to Dad for the best gift ever, the babysitting fund that buys me time to myself to write. Huge thanks to our own Mary Poppins Blanaid Hennessy!

For all the super love and support, thank you, Irish family–Youghalees and Dubliners alike.

Huge thanks and big love to bff J-girl. Thanks for speaking the same language and being there always.

And thanks to MW for all that early inspiration.

Thank you, beloved Parisians, English pals, E-town buddies for life,
BC
sisters, and friends all around the world for all the love.

Thank you, Sheffieldians and Rob Watson, for putting me on a cosmic trail to find creative fulfillment and the best husband ever.

Thank you, ES, for your confidence-engendering love and guidance.

Thank you, stepsisters, for being so inspiring in so many ways.

Thank you, Andrew Struthers, for being so damn smart and such a good teacher.

Thank you, U of A English department, especially Kristjana Gunnars and Ted Bishop.

RK, you and your Bath Spa team were better than I could have conjured. CD, you rocked my writing world with your generous and insightful feedback. Bath Spa Spring Chickens, thanks for those helpful and fun-filled jamming sessions.

Thank you, JK, for showing me how to choose the creative path, and for the big bad love too.

Lorne and Vanessa, you are not gone, you are always with me, especially when listening to music, which is most of the time.

Thanks to everyone I have forgotten to mention.

Thank you to all the musicians whose lyrics I quote and to Ben S. for all his encyclopedic help and affection. Also, infinite thanks to all the amazing musicians/directors/writers who feed my soul every day.

Thank you, Aengus, for choosing me and for being who you are, an amazing man, awesome husband, my own personal editor extraordinaire, and love of my life. And thank you, Toto and Felix, you gorgeous little monkeys are my giant joy-makers.

SOPHIE B. WATSON
is an award-winning freelance writer who has been published in several magazines, including
briarpatch
,
Canadian Dimension
,
Canadian Living
,
Legacy Magazine
, and
The
Sustainable Times
(among others). She holds a degree in English and French literature from the University of Alberta as well as a master's in creative writing from Bath Spa University. She has been a library page, a waitress, a substitute DJ, a bookseller, and, most recently, the editor of Cork University Press.
Cadillac Couches
is Sophie's first novel. Read more about Sophie (and her aquatic larks) on her blog at
sophiebwatson.com
.

Copyright © 2012 Sophie B. Watson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (
ACCESS
Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit
accesscopyright.ca
.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Watson, Sophie B., 1972–
Cadillac couches [electronic resource] / Sophie B. Watson.

Electronic monograph.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 978-1-926972-91-6 (HTML).—ISBN 978-1-926972-92-3 (PDF)

I. Title.

PS8645.A873C34 2012 C813'.6 C2012-902558-5

Editor: Lynne Van Luven
Copy Editor/Proofreader: Heather Sangster, Strong Finish
Design and cover illustration: Pete Kohut
Author photo: Aengus Kelly