Sonic Youth - Tunic (Song For Karen)

[@LongGone77]

This song still haunts me. I don't think most people realize what they're listening to, or what it's about.

[@spacecadet622]

Embrace the haunt.

[@MrHarvey1968]

Its still an amazing track if they dont.

[@LongGone77]

@@spacecadet622 good point

[@LongGone77]

@@MrHarvey1968 truth!

[@nicolasbarbosa5802]

If you understand Sonic Youth concept, you know, trust me! hehe.

[@cosmicheretic8129]

A powerful tribute if there ever was one. Sad and haunting but liberating as it gives Karen a voice she was denied while living.

[@PedroHenrique-xD]

What's the story? ²

[@jasinta9788]

​​@@PedroHenrique-xDso a singer, karen carpenter (the carpenters) passed away after suffering from an eating disorder called anorexia. this song is about her

[@myrtomoschou69]

Listening to this while in recovery from ana is so painful yet so beautiful at the same time. I love sonic youth

[@page882]

im so anxious every time i listen to it but its so good help

[@myrtomoschou69]

@@page882 hdhfhd same

[@PrvtIdaho]

❤

[@shruggzdastr8-facedclown]

Seriously, Karen was an under-appreciated instrumentalist (drummer), singer and songwriter -- her music may have been too mainstream "poppy" for heavier rock fans, but there was a depth to her lyrics that most pop songs of her times didn't dare have.

[@hollyccam]

ive suffered from anorexia and bulimia for a large portion of my life. this song is almost to painfull for me to listen to but i love it

[@johnbarry1965]

Have you heard 7st 3lbs by The Manic Street Preachers ? really is intense.

[@ネオン-e2y]

*4st 7lbs

[@gabrielortega2869]

I hope you are okay!

[@paolovallejo5500]

@@KAISER-OUTDOORS you must be like a therapist or something!

[@dead7117]

don't listen to the lyrics :/

[@Wrox55]

this song has probably one of their best melodic hooks

[@deletesoon70]

Just came from The Sprawl, and gotta say...

[@losangulos]

just came from Stones, and gotta say...

[@seahorsemcgee9760]

This whole album is the perfect album to run away from home to

[@HaxelStranger]

Gummy Bugz yall white people are hella crazy

[@coolyea1245]

moor murders were definitely insane

[@nicoperezperez140]

90

[@diego23635]

True

[@b4nszki.tam4s]

This whole album is the perfect album to stay at home .

[@73maf53]

The guitar work on this track is on another level 👌

[@isabelasuplicy2658]

the whole rhythm section is fucking madness

[@elizabethhann4028]

Such a shocking, haunting song. The best tribute to Karen Carpenter that I've ever heard: ambiguous, guilty, fascinated. And some days I think that Kim Gordon is one of the ultimate rock'n'roll heroines. She's certainly one of MY rock'n'roll heroines, anyway.

[@silentsky4956]

Don't do heroin kids

[@duckbrew]

Even tho she can't sing for shit?!

[@krisfrederick5001]

Agreed, hip hip

[@ShanghaiRooster]

@@duckbrew Many of the greatest, most innovative voices in rock 'n' roll aren't great singers. So what''s that prove? 😉

[@ryanlusby569]

ShanghaiRooster it’s about the message, art doesn’t need to be pretty if it still conveys a message.

[@jolokia2788]

This song to this day STILL shakes me to my core. Goosebumps from start to finish.

[@alice-in-wonderland.1223]

Me too. It's tragic, yet uplifting to think of Karen continuing a post-life 'life' in her new band, with other great musicians.

[@tristamprice534]

You said honey, you look so underfed. That's one of only two songs that ever made me cry. The other is Motorhead 1916. 52yo male here.

[@bagelman10]

Hope you found healing 🙏

[@danu6718]

Who's listening December '24 ? What an amazing band. Nirvana were the support band when I first saw Sonic Youth.

[@robinbrown4706]

"You look so under-fed" Kim and Karen, two very different people musically but empathy oozes throughout. Only the Sonics. 👌

[@weave_of_k]

when I was a kid who lived in a small town in Alaska(1990) I felt like the song's mood perfectly fit the depressing, dark, beautiful winters there. the guitar work, kim's voice/lyrics, everything about this song. this one's a masterpiece to me.

[@ismaelkjj]

Dreaming, dreaming of a girl like me Hey what are you waiting for, feeding, feeding me I feel like I'm disappearing, getting smaller every day But I look in the mirror, I'm bigger in every way She said, You aren't never going anywhere You aren't never going anywhere I ain't never going anywhere I ain't never going anywhere I'm in heaven now, I can see you Richard Goodbye Hollywood, goodbye Downey, hello Janis Hello Dennis, Elvis and all my brand new friends I'm so glad you're all here with me, until the very end Dreaming, dreaming of how it's supposed to be But now this tunic's spinning, around my arms and knees I feel like I'm disappearing, getting smaller every day But when I open my mouth to sing, I'm bigger in every way She said, You aren't never going anywhere You aren't never going anywhere I ain't never going anywhere I ain't never going anywhere Hey mom! Look I'm up here, I finally made it I'm playing the drums again too Don't be sad, the band doesn't sound half bad And I remember mom, what you said You said honey, you look so under-fed Another green salad, another ice tea There's a tunic in the closet waiting just for me I feel like I'm disappearing, getting smaller every day But I look in your eyes, and I'm bigger in every way She said, You aren't never going anywhere You aren't never going anywhere I ain't never going anywhere I ain't never going anywhere Goodbye Richard, gotta go now I'm finally on my own, but Dan's got a gig Keep the love lights glowing, little girl's got the blues I can still hear momma say: "honey don't let it go to your head"

[@HaleG9]

to me this is by far their best song - still gives me this chills

[@jmckenzie962]

Even without knowing what this song is about it makes you feel emotional - but after I found out about Karen Carpenter and what happened to her this song made me almost cry. Such an unfortunate story of an amazing woman killed by society and the pressures of stardom. Huge respect to Kim for giving her a kind of posthumous voice that she was denied while living.

[@daysofgrandeur]

A great tribute to Karen. Amazing song, amazing band... You aren't ever going anywhere.

[@АлександрРагуз]

1:37 for some reason this moment still plays in my ears after so many years

[@1yearago491]

1:50 there's just something so raw about that riff there that I can't put my finger on. That guy really knew something about life

[@BlackieTimex]

God I miss this band SOOOO much ! Please bring them back to us!!❤❤❤

[@bigg4412]

This song is the only song that makes me cry. Rest in peace Karen, wherever you are I hope you're happy and we all love you. ❤️

[@bigg4412]

P.s, thank you Kim for coming up with these lyrics and letting people hear her story.

[@kryptichands968]

Hits deep

[@orangerollsangelspit]

This video is pure genius. They are my favorite band but after rewatching this video after a while I feel in love with them again…..Brian Molko was right when he said they are the best rock and roll band ever. I would’t be the same person without them

[@spacecadet622]

I am right with you until "Best rock band". I would say "Best of the underrated and unappreciated" rock bands. Pure ponder music in my mind

[@pookieSR71adams]

Never listened to Sonic Youth before, just am now because I came across this song as a Karen Carpenter tribute. As a huge Karen Carpenter fan this song is insanely haunting. Even down to the stuffed animals...something Karen collected and kept to her dying day. The lyrics...are like they fell out of the lyrics Karen wanted to sing but was denied the chance of...just like her solo album. I know other fans like to put this song down but they don’t get it...Karen was so much more than “lead sister” she was a woman with a voice denied and subject to horrible emotional and psychological abuse from her mother and (here’s where Carpenters fans will clutch their pearls and then send me nasty DM’s) her brother and to a lesser extent A&M who thought of her only as their virginal pay pig. The world only knows of Richard because of his sister who started recording at 14 (which Richard still won’t release to this day) but you can hear her on the “Magic Lamp” Looking for Love record and her cover of California Dreamin. I’m glad this song exists.

[@mjrydsfast]

Check out the song "Kool Thing" on this same record.

[@ShanghaiRooster]

The story of how Karen's solo album was suppressed by A&M and Richard is horrible even now. How she must have felt at that point, who can tell. But, of course it suddenly became eminently releasable once they saw it as a cash cow after her tragic death. And, check out Sonic Youth's version of 'Superstar'. Richard hated it, so it must be good.

[@bonghoger]

enjoy this great band. they have many albums. hope you like them.

[@DekaRABahar]

L

[@jeremiasmuller9935]

one of the better bands on planet earth

[@Bluepilled-c5t]

ive always just listened to the guitar symphnny and rhythm of that song. Never realised the literal reality of the lyrics until reading the comments section. Brilliant. Seen the Youth plenty of times. Shame they're no more, a great live experience

[@robf1557]

same here, listened to the album for the first time a year ago and was mega vibing to the great guitar work, came back to it today and almost cried when I read a bit about Karen and her death

[@ClassicsCinema]

The subject matter is so sad but this song is so special. Haunting... And the video, it's genius. Sure it's not commercial corporate eye candy, just thank heaven for that.

[@TheSpellShell]

It's just like 6 minutes of trance when I put this song on anytime...

[@cacamou3275]

for me its like 4 of trance and 2 of chorus kicking in clarity (sorry for the weird way i put it in but im solidly crossed rn)

[@brendonkellas9778]

As long as I live, there will never be a band as cool as Sonic Youth! Not a band has convinced me to join a fan club to get exclusive cds like SY! SY forever!❤

[@mixxdodici]

L'attacco di batteria e chitarra fa sognare . Distorti e melodici come nessun altro. Vi adoro

[@ludditerebel]

Its nice to know that a band can break when they hit their 40's.

[@johnnyborealis]

Goodbye Richard! Keep the Lovelines flowin'!...what an intense, dark, yet beautiful track. Kim loved Karen.

[@chetrok1]

I have alot more respect for Kim for doing this, touchy subject, scary and real, props girl

[@jotajotaj1478]

Your avatar is a skeleton. Logical you love Sonic Shit and this mediocre joke about anorexy and death

[@Croot_Music]

This song is heavy. Lyrically and emotionally

[@yonasmichaeltv]

i feel like i'm disappearing getting smaller every day then i look in the mirror i'm bigger in every way

[@williamsheppard4405]

yonasmichaeltv Cosmopolitan LIED...you are already perfect (as is) the way you came out, "Beautiful = Nothing need be added or taken Away." thank U Websters ISH. Oi & Kim Gordan is a God-dess. the end 😘

[@jostewart554]

Sonic Youth fan for 26 years now and still love em. Never saw this video before tho.

[@tomterrif8503]

The whole 'Goo' album is an exercise in beautiful darkness

[@TrollsAreGonnaTroll]

i've never seen their videos. they're fucking creepy and weird. i like it

[@moraseena]

TrollsAreGonnaTroll same

[@LukeMcGuireoides]

This entire album has videos for each song. I used to have it on VHS back in the day. Sy have always had close ties to the art world. Their album covers and many videos are by very influential visual artists. Richard Kelly, Richard kern. Those are merely two among many great ones. I love r kern. So, some of their videos are effin out there

[@LukeMcGuireoides]

Oh yeah, and raymond pettibone. He did the goo album cover. I love him. Hes worked with many influential indie bands. He also did one of the goo videos. Cant recall which one. It was just raymond and sy hanging out basically, I believe

[@monsieurlaguillotine3481]

The bit where they juxtaposed Kim's face over the skeleton is legitimately creepy decades later.

[@MrDegsy69]

That song gave me the shits! Truly this song is haunted but in good way with total love and respect. If Karen could see this today she would completely approve!

[@kellabdjfoo]

huge respect to them for this song

[@sebastiancaterva5760]

Increible cancion y escalofriante video. Solo Sonic Youth puede hacer estas obras de arte. Thank you,Sonic Youth!! Rip Karen

[@LuisFernandoSaavedra]

Uffff temazo! La letra oscura, el video me encanta, amo esta canción ❤️ Un homenaje grandioso a Karen Carpenter.

[@laurutas]

i did not know at all what Sonic Youth was before I boughta book written by Kim - Girl in the Band , which I bought in Vilnius book fair. Since I am only girl in a bad, I was attracted to read and amybe get some good opinions for myself, but actually I learned way more than that - appreciation for completelly different music :)

[@ricardowilsonalvestimoteo]

Adoro Sonic Youth e também adoro todis os clips, mas esse pra mim é o melhor de todos! Anos 90 foi a melhor decada pra ser adolescente .😎

[@aleksandarfrick2656]

One of 5 their best songs .

[@jaredchapman3973]

Why are they not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

[@LukeMcGuireoides]

Because the rnr hall of fame is fucking bullshit. I hope they refuse if if they ever get it. Its meaningless

[@jimnewcombe7584]

Perhaps because most people have never heard of them

[@YTrab1970]

It's the summer of 1990 and Sonic Youth are in session for the late great John Peel. And they play this...

[@isabelasuplicy2658]

fuck me with a chainsaw I thought this was on Sister god damn

[@yckfides5613]

Somehow, I always failed to realize this song is about Karen Carpenter. Watching the video, though, it dawned on me. The first time I saw it and noticed those distorted pictures from the Carpenters music videos (namely "We've Only Just Begun" and "Calling Occupants"), it all made so much sense.

[@user-nw7vn8me2j]

Wait which parts?? Can you time stamp them?

[@yckfides5613]

​​​@@user-nw7vn8me2jSure! The music video for "We've Only Just Begun" can be seen around the 0:28 mark. I'll check the others and edit accordingly. Here's one from "Rainy Days and Mondays" 3:13 "Calling Occupants" 4:15

[@kylabotting]

still, after so long, this sounds just as fresh and amazing as it did years ago...

[@cherrykoolaiddisasters]

0:30 you can see a picture of The Carpenters playing live

[@ess4353]

I love that bass.

[@skii9513]

Oh yeah, my favorite bands... Scion Youth

[@Dalicaruncho]

Farewell, Sonic Youth. Thank you for songs like this one.

[@rodrigosouza7431]

Beyond Karen’s story I think that song is also an analogy about eighties model’s beauty pattern. I love Sonic Youth

[@paulelliott3220]

Classic Youth from Goo Love that album and the time it came from

[@dbrandmill]

This is one of my favorite songs by sonic youth. Kim is such a badass

[@isabelasuplicy2658]

Yeah the 3 dudes who make this song a fucking rock masterpiece also helped lol

[@JET7C0]

And I remember, mom, what you said: "Honey, you look so underfed"

[@grungyasscinema]

Nothing makes me cry, but this song does it easily.

[@timingram9636]

This album meant so much to me at the time, and I always go back to ut

[@PacificMonk]

I've never seen this or many other sonic youth videos. Were these shown on mtv? I stopped watching mtv in the early 1990s when they were mostly showing reality shows and not showing videos anymore. Also graduated high school moved out and didnt have cable tv for most of the 1990s. I remember the videos for dirty boots, kool thing, and 100%

[@impeachy1518]

The stirring feeling of not only growing up with such a haunting song about a woman's battle with a modern disease, from not very long ago, being performed by an innately surreal group, but also when the comment section's latest entries appear over 3 years old.. That's some pre-Pandemic 2019! H-How is everyone these 2022 days ? Nostromo? Come in..

[@sydglover4842]

i'm here!

[@nedwantshisbed]

Anorexia's been known since late victorian times, I wouldn't describe that as modern.

[@impeachy1518]

@@nedwantshisbed The illness is what's modern.

[@nedwantshisbed]

@@impeachy1518 I don't follow

[@anonymous_alien1469]

Whenever i hear this song it just hurts my soul :'(

[@snakeinrake3313]

What i like about this band is they can express so many emotions but not in a traditional way. Their songs have something that doesn't is the popular way on how a sad song should sound, but this song for example has something special idk

[@isabelasuplicy2658]

That rhythm section is INSANE

[@nestorjerizzi]

Memorable! Hermosa canción. SY mi favorito de todas las épocas

[@antivalidisme5669]

"I'm finally on my own" You're such a gemstone

[@Chripiter]

Kim is such a rockstar. If we were lovers we would have torn each other apart, both physically and mentally.

[@seanferrari6825]

I feel like I'm disappearing getting smaller everyday ... RIP Karen Carpenter, wherever in the cosmos u r. Kim Gordon u r my mother, hero, saint etc

[@all.about.cheonan]

3:14 karen playing drums 😭😭😭 as a huge karen carpenter fan, this song is great but also super sad to listen.. :(

[@kwakaman555]

this is about as perfect as it gets. love it...

[@MSB-fj7cd]

GOO is one of my all time favorite albums.

[@EyalRonen11]

one of my favorite song ever. ever.

[@outmywritemind1739]

This is the most fun song of all time and my opinion cannot be swayed

[@kryptichands968]

So much love for Kim for liberation, my sisters fell for this "model shit" in the 80s, Im glad I didnt loose them. Body dismorphia and bulimia and anorexia are real. Women should never have to feel a societal push to be something theyre not. All women are beautiful

[@shanowilliams9988]

Sonic Youth rule,best band to come out to,n they couldn't give a stuff,I love this band so much,I saw them In Melbourne and they really are nice people😅

[@BIGSHRIMPpt2]

I freakin love sonic youth

[@pps4531]

I really love this song, it's PERFECT. Lyrics are amazing.

[@HAVOCNOIR]

This was the first Sonic Youth song I ever heard.

[@lawrenceleong8747]

Still so bloody good even after all these years!

[@windskm]

One of my favorite songs, first time I heard this was almost 15 years ago

[@warrenpelnar146]

First time I heard this song 1991 when it came out should I feel old

[@michellecasada5553]

love this 90s'retro quality

[@Blackheathenly]

Oh shut up, Millennial.

[@frankrizzo4879]

michelle casada uh it is 90s lol

[@nomadben]

@@Blackheathenly More of a Gen Z thing to say, I feel like (if you buy into all that "generation" crap, that is).

[@rexchiquine6049]

This is simply a work of art,,, sonically rules,,,in every single way,,,

[@heathermooney3656]

I love Karen Carpenter & I love Kim Gordon & Sonic Youth.

[@LukeMcGuireoides]

Yes! Same here!!

[@zveena]

my favorite band

[@BettieLeefleur]

Minha eterna banda!

[@NachoDCBVlogs]

I love Sonic Youth since 1990 ❤❤❤❤

[@dariuszolczak8255]

od czasu jak usłyszałem ich po raz pierwszy, lat temu 20 - wciąż brzmią wspaniale ! ! ! Dzięki SY :-)

[@lost1ns0und]

im currently dealing with a eating disorder and have been for a long time, this song is hauntingly comforting.

[@bergedie]

In all my years how could I miss this one.

[@musicsavage]

"Another green salad, another ice tea There's a tunic in the closet waiting just for me."

[@hadielshabazz6230]

2022 I fell in love with sonic youth 51 is it to late

[@aspenhodge6231]

I love how I had a food commercial before this song😅

[@anus333]

Yeesh

[@keeganandre1708]

this meaning behind this song is completely different than what i thought. my impression from the lyrics i could make out over the sound is the song was a about kim gordon's mother, a partial tribute to her and gordon's transition from a child into an adult while her mother ages. didn't know what it was actually about until now

[@infesticon]

Loved the hook before I knew what the song was about. Find out what it's about gave me chills. Awesome song and video.

[@norbertovelazquez7441]

Que canción tan espectacular!! Sonic Youth rules

[@OlafProt]

an extraordinary song, and a really honest haunting video.

[@jimpetro2141]

Love this song. I can't say anything else.. sad, sad.

[@stephenbradley6285]

Back in 87 felt like I was vanishing into thin air.Got no idea as to how I pulled through.Wished there was a hand to hold on to.

[@ChrisKotra]

I was born around the time this album was big. So my early memories of life involve a lot of these blurry looking video clips that have psychedelic imagery and loud walls of guitar sounds. It makes me wonder if this is why I see this stuff in my dreams constantly. I live with a little existential fear and I feel as if exiting life will look similar to this.

[@micaela7159]

When was this MV? Discription says 2004 but it looks out of the 90s

[@ChrisKotra]

@@micaela7159 no idea, I presume within the year the album came out which was July, 1990

[@edisdead1]

Sonic Youth's take on 'The Other Side', also opens people's awareness and perception.

[@bansheecrofton]

i miss you karen

[@IslesKin-gg2do]

She was awesome

[@bansheecrofton]

@@IslesKin-gg2do she was

[@Jack_nnn_]

If a Sonic Youth song has a female first name in the title, you know its going to be a banger