Blue American, Black Market Music, (Placebo lyrics, explanations and press quotes)

Blue American

I wrote this novel just for you
It sounds pretentious
But it's true
I wrote this novel just for you
That's why it's vulgar
That's why it's blue

And I say
Thank you

I wrote this novel just for Mom
For all the mommy things she's done
For all the times
She showed me wrong
For all the time
She sang God's song

And I say
Thank-you Mom
Hello Mom
Thank-you Mom
Hi Mom

I read a book about Uncle Tom
Where a whitey bastard made a bomb
But now Ebonics
Rule our song
Those motherfuckers got it wrong

And I ask
Who is Uncle Tom?
You are

I read a book about the self
Said I should get expensive help
Go fix my head
Create some wealth
Put my neurosis on the shelf
But I don't care for myself
I don't care

I wrote this novel just for you
I'm so pretentious
Yes it's true
I wrote this novel just for you
Just for you

Press Quotes

"What about "Blue American" – What’s that about?
BM : It's a kind of self-disgust. Three and a half minutes of pure self-disgust, American style. The person in the song is at such a low point in his life emotionally that he's started to hit out at everything that is a part of him. He's attacking his parents, his culture, his culture's history, self-help, psychiatry. It was written when I wasn't in a particularly good mood.

What inspired that ?
BM : The strangest things can inspire lyrics. I was watching a documentary on TV about novelists trying to get their first novel published and how difficult it was and I often sit and play acoustic guitar when I watch TV. And I thought of "I wrote this novel just for you/It sounds pretentious but it's true". There's a little, I would say self-deprecation in that lyric but I often try and get to a place before my detractors. Hence the "I'm so pretentious, yes it's true" line that comes at the end of the song. It's just saying, "I know exactly what you think about me".

Isn’t there a reference to your mother in there ?
BM : Yeah. I wanted to say hi to my mum. I'm the anti-Eminem! Hahahahahaha!
That's really genuine, you know. Hi, Mom. It's so American. And, you know, I still love my mother. And it just fitted. When it came out, I thought it would be really nice to make her quite happy. Because I'm sure most of the subject matter of our songs doesn't make her very happy. So, at one point, maybe for one verse at least, she might think, "Oh, that's nice. My son still loves me."

Has she heard the song?
BM : Not yet, she hasn't, no. So journalists get to hear it before parents.
Hahahahahahaha!"

Brian Molko, Melody Maker, October 20th 2000

Well, Blue american is 3'30 of self-disgust American style. The person in the song is at such a low point, just disgusted by the fact he is a human being, a human species, which is the most destructive on this planet, and everything he touches turns into garbage: war, violence and garbage. The person in the song is heading out his culture, his upbringing, his conscious history, the fact his country could be responsible for such institutions, mass racism and violence and he is still feeling the ripple effect of that today, in things like the LA riot, the institution mass racism in the police. You have it France as well, for fuck… sake, you have it in America you have it in Great Britain. And he's sitting out of fashionable self-help things, you know self-help and psychiatry in America… In fact it is the lowest and downest point of the album : it is self-disgust, disappointment of the human race. Basically this is what Blue american is about.

Brian Molko, Interview shamrock 2000

(Translation, quote in French here)

"Gérard Lefort : [...]
Uh, Brian Molko there's another song called Blue American.

Brian Molko : Mm mm.

Gérard Lefort : It could have been Blues American. This is a song, it's perhaps the darkest and the most melancholic song.

Brian Molko :True.

Gérard Lefort : In any case, this song is sad. Uh, is that America for you both politically and perhaps even musically, this, this Blue American?

Brian Molko : Well, Blue American is also a wordplay. This is the name "street" for Viagra and Valium, too. And euhm... but I wrote this song during a period where I felt very, very not... I was quite depressed when it came out. Euhm sometimes, the songs, they come out like that, it's a bit as if you vomit a song, almost. And euhm... that person in the song, the person who lives in this song, euhm, has a distaste for all that is its culture: the fact that America has been responsible for slavery, euhm... the fact that uh... his parents indoctrinated him with religion. So it's someone who gives punches to its culture. And indeed I believe that the person who lives in this song is disgusted with humanity, and ashamed to be a human being because human beings are the only "species", species on this Earth wich turn everything it touches to junk. And uh... I find Darwin's theory of evolution interesting, that all other species adapt to their environment, and human beings are the only ones that have adapted their environment to them. Therefore, it is the most selfish species living on this Earth, on this planet. And besides I think that since this interview began there must be at least 2 or 3 species that no longer exist.

Marie Colmant : But Blue American that's America for you?

Brian Molko : Well, a bit. America is a great country. Euhm... then there's a lot of places that are very very different. I have always said that California is a country, New York is a country, and then the rest is America.

Gérard Lefort : Mm. But does it happen to you, as in Blue American to give yourself some punches? Uh, I hope metaphorically.

Brian Molko : Yes, of course."I'm my worst critic." Euhm... and then... Not just when we talk about art or creativity. I think that in life you never stop learning, and I'm just trying to learn from the experiences I live to become a better person. And to hurt others the least possible. What is funny with life is that it's almost impossible to live without hurting others. But I think it was Socrates, the Greek philosopher, who said "know yourself and do no evil". "Know yourself and do no harm". And it is something that I learned in school and this is something that has remained with me and I try more and more to become someone better.

Brian Molko, Interview Radio France Inter - AToute Allure 22 February 2001

(Translation, quote in French here)

"On Blue American, you seem to knock the United States, your country of origin.
BM : It's more a metaphor than anything else. I'm not referring to any particular country, but something that I have discovered in me, and which I am not proud of. Everyone knows its bad sides, and most often tries to hide them. I think it should be the opposite, externalize these areas of obsessions and frustrations that ultimately destroy us. Because when you overcome that kind of stuff, your life is better. It's a little bit this song message."

Brian Molko, Guitare Mag - mars 2001

"Pure and utter disgust. American style. It's just someone who's at such a low point in their life that they're hitting out at everything and anything . I think the person who inhabits that song is disgusted by the fact that he's human and feels weighed down by that. It's called Blue American simply because it has references to slavery in America . It's also interesting because Blue American is also drug dealers speak for Viagra and Valium"

Brian Molko, Unknown magazine, 2000