We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Paint Job (The Lament of 1492 Valencia Street)

from Playland at the Beach by Great Apes

/
  • Digital Track
    Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

    You own this

     

  • 12" EP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    An EP about San Francisco's past, current state of flux, and future, inspired by and told from the perspective of different sites and locales in the city.

    1. Rough in the Diamond (A Conversation Between Vesuvio and Specs)
    2. Go Niners (As Told by Telegraph Hill)
    3. Milk: It Does a City Good (By the Civic Center Stairs)
    4. Paint Job (The Lament of 1492 Valencia Street)
    5. Whitney's Playland at the Beach (The Dutch Windmill of Golden Gate Park Speaks)

    Includes unlimited streaming of Playland at the Beach via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Full Digital Discography Full Digital Discography

    Get all 10 Great Apes releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Mill - White Helmets Charity Digital Single, California Heart, Grey Tapes, Playland at the Beach, Live at Thee Parkside 1/4/2014, Thread, Split 7" with Know Your Saints, Atomic Garden Sessions, and 2 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $27 USD or more (25% OFF)

    You own this

     

lyrics

Paint Job features 1492 Valencia, an apartment building above the Dovre Club in the Mission District, lamenting about the neighborhood’s current state of affairs and reminiscing over times and tenants gone.


glass me in with shiny new sills
frankly I prefer a bit of dirt
all these sheep in suits’ clothing
with their boutiques, parlors, and desserts

I miss the smell of posole
the feel of children’s footsteps in my halls
and the verse of the taxi
the choruses of language in my walls

new monotone – the cellular drone
a pink moustache, a bus-sized limousine
culture collage – now blotted out
it’s uniform, it’s hollow, it’s so pristine

there are specters in the dust specs
this paint job’s looking suspect
history’s vibrant hues, they’ve all been painted white
my stories sing in creaking pipes

give me your tired
give me your needy
give me distortion from the park
cover me in graffiti
give me givers
you can keep the greedy
back when it felt like home they just called it seedy

lost in the echoes of low rider roar
the skin of the Women’s Building back in ‘94
the bidders will swarm and the values will soar
while my longing hearth crumbles through the floor

there are specters in the dust specs
this paint job’s looking suspect
history’s vibrant hues, they’ve all been painted white
my stories sing in creaking pipes

the slow death of the decades
from the Irish to the tech craze
history’s vibrant hues, they’ve all been painted white
my stories sing in creaking pipes

weary window eyes with pigeon lashes
watch as condos stalk from the down street
all these memories rest in rotten beams
tear me down – just let me sleep

pray and wait for the great quake
to bring hell cleansing through the crust
we'll be better off when we're all
splintered and shaken back to dust

credits

from Playland at the Beach, released November 12, 2014

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Great Apes San Francisco, California

Insert hype-up descriptors here. Plain and simple, San Francisco's Great Apes are a lyrical punk band. Music, much like a bio, is often at its best when it’s spit out intensely and quickly, with concision and honesty.

contact / help

Contact Great Apes

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account