Soul Coughing- Screenwriter's Blues

[@AlexWattBum]

When i first heard this song in the 90s i thought "this is the future of music" -- and i still think it is the future of music.

[@AMcGrath82]

Wish I'd seen this comment two years ago.

[@bobtis]

They were great too bad they didn't stay together. They left their imprint on me for sure. Mike did say a while ago it was his fault. Finally admitted it.Big drug problem. They were great

[@joes8344]

Always was always will be frozen in time like a bug in that amber fluid

[@fook-n-bear]

Fook-n- yeah it is! Great minds!

[@fook-n-bear]

@@bobtis so sadly magical that his addiction was a solution to my music addiction. This gets me so high I don't need drugs.

[@ianepps5327]

the sun has charred the other side of the world, and come back to us, and painted the smoke over our heads an imperial violet one of my favorite poetic images of all time

[@CtrlAltPhreak]

I love it. I've seen many LA sunrises and that verse laid it out perfectly.

[@asonuniq]

I learned from this song empyreal is actually a shade of purple (violet) www.colourlovers.com/color/431C5F/Empyreal

[@TheNervousnation]

-

[@BasedRanger]

Profound in a jaded kind of way.. perfect for L.A.

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

"Gone savage for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love..." Haunting and scary.

[@bigbrowntau]

For ages, I searched for this song in vain, hearing it occasionally at 3am on the radio whilst driving through hot summer nights. Then I searched the words "painted the smoke above our heads an imperial violet" and I was able to hear this on demand. Now it's time to explore the whole album of genius!

[@dinosaurusQ]

dude I had a similar thing, heard the song, looks forever to find it, then lost it again right away, turns out it was hiding in my big music playlist this whole time. just happened to have it on continuous play and it came on and i was like "HOLY SHIT THIS IS IT"

[@jameshisself9324]

Same. This is so original and yet so rarely heard. Glad it's on demand now.

[@JakkieDivinci]

I feel like a lot of 90s kids had the same experience with Circles, being on Boomerang all the time.

[@Retrostar619]

Hell of a great line too.

[@HaileyKrakana]

This song is proof that poetry will never die-it merely transforms into something new.

[@cglaurer]

Still a masterpiece after all these years.

[@piliage]

Yuval Gabay is a truly remarkable and under appreciated drummer. Everything he does swings so HARD, his groove is amazing. I can listen to him all day.

[@GoofyRobo]

I just now thought of this song for the first time in over two decades and thankfully it was here. I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's comments and I'm glad you're all here with me.

[@caydencayuga7876]

It is 4 a.m.. And I am listeniiing To Soul Coughing.

[@calumfoster-bayliss7122]

4:10, actually.

[@MelodyTCG]

1:44 actually

[@josephmitchell6112]

Same.

[@voightkampff7936]

5:11pm

[@erwinforbragd1868]

When I first heard this I thought it was Dan Ackroyd-the voice is so similar and it is just like something he would do. Naturally I went out and bought everything Soul Coughing ever did!

[@Atlas_Mohler]

That’s hilarious

[@iancallison3384]

so true.

[@Muryxkitteh]

O. M. G. THAT'S who Mike Doughty has been reminding me of all these years!!! Interesting factoid about the Ackroyd: He hosted a remarkable radio program about the blues for years; interviewing musicians, playing great (and hard-to-find) music, informing with unusual and fascinating anecdotes about the history of the genre. And he did this program in the character of Elwood Blues, which made it twice as fun! (It was titled, "House of Blues Radio Hour," and eventually renamed "Elwood's BluesMobile.")

[@YourAtheistNeighbor]

How have I not heard of these guys before today!? Why? What have I done in my past life to deserve 27 Soul Coughing-less years!? What's coming out of my speakers is me in music form.

[@Assisi4]

I was living my with my girlfriend at the time who was an aspiring screenwriter. For laughs I typed "screenwriter" on iTunes and this came up randomly, downloaded it and we listened to it together. I'm glad we did for it is still one of my favorite songs to this day.

[@jonbbaca5580]

aesthetically pleasing...in other words flllyyyyyyyy

[@rolandweigman8305]

Flyyyyyyyyyyyy

[@MelodyTCG]

Flllyyyyyyyyt

[@voightkampff7936]

Los Angeles loves love

[@33612lasher]

Great band at the time. I started listening to them in the early 90's. Heard them at Simons Rock College, was working in an Art gallery. They came in, we smoked some green, cool.

[@jasonkent7858]

Was it 5am? Were you listening...

[@symons203interwebs5]

That green

[@maxaronow712]

Simons Rock College? do you mean Bard?

[@BasedRanger]

Perfectly captures the jaded feeling one gets when cruising restlessly towards that next fix, whatever that may be.. L.A. really does have everything and nothing that one could ever want.

[@bkbland1626]

One of the best albums ever. This was my first Soul Coughing song. Naturally, I was intrigued.

[@basketcase4605]

Whenever I'm up at 5 am (any point during the hour) for whatever reason I make it a rule that I have to listen to this song.

[@dylizabeth]

Joshua Lewis Me too. That’s why I’m here right now.

[@calumfoster-bayliss7122]

ayyyeee. 4:10 am hope i'm not too early for the party.

[@marcphillips6780]

The radio man says it's 4:50 am. I'm early...

[@bobtis]

So special so LA

[@elijahthatonepyromaniac5872]

niceeee

[@melissabrown8203]

I saw them preform in the late 90's in Minneapolis, they opened with this song...perfection

[@ddremoboyable]

People thumbed down because the lyrics went over their heads. Not everybody can respect nor understand beautiful poetry.

[@bobstar2683]

and the radio man laughs, because the radio man fucks a model too....

[@bilwisss]

or their a model from Ohio.

[@oglinkgog]

First heard this on Chris Morris' Blue Jam on BBC Radio 1, always imagined playing it whilst driving through LA at night, finally got to do it this year and it was as good as I thought it would be...

[@MOLLYM3]

i’ve been listening to this song since 2020 and it feels fresh everytime i hear it. never gets old.

[@mikepesackis6439]

So fresh, so lyrical, so meditative . . .

[@sweetsavorypodcast2613]

Sloppy deep groove drums are the pavement under a beat poem that sounds like it might fall to pieces at any moment and then that over filtered organ pulls it all back together just in time for the radioman to give us the forecast. Fucking brilliant.

[@anecdoteskywalker]

Every single word of this song is my life right now. God Bless you Doughty. Not figuratively. I just realized my life is a soul coughing song;

[@R0b1zzle137]

Soul Coughing deserves more than 8,000 youtube views. They deserve a fucking grammy.

[@loucious73]

absolutely! so good, underrated and overlooked.

[@Cromm-ci8uz]

Agreed. Wholeheartedly.

[@sphynia-cat8250]

I freaking love soul coughing

[@meowMix03]

metoo! this song especially!

[@nicholasbass8380]

1994 - Driving to school listening to this song on Album 88. This track, and album, is still a banger.

[@MrToonfish]

Goosebumps, even after 25 years !!!

[@willelniff426]

Dude, right? Discovered this song late at night as a kid listening to KLZR 105.9 The Lazer here in Lawrence, Kansas (home of The Jayhawks) - may that station RIP. This song and band were as fabulously unique and spectacular then as it is now. They even played here in 97 but I couldn't go, sad...anyway, peace and love. We will get by, we will survive!

[@marcphillips6780]

In the greater Cincinnati area it was WOXY, 97X... Pretty much where you heard anything that was worth listening to in the Ohio River valley back then.

[@benn8516]

This song takes me back to Merrick and Rosso afternoons on Triple J late 90’s. Good times!!

[@sphynia-cat8250]

this song give me odd feelings of nostalgia.

[@ericgenestvideoclips]

it was easier to value music, wasn't it?

[@BasedRanger]

Right? It's almost like this was on the radio during every single one of those strange sleepless LA nights..

[@etiennedegaulle3817]

Cause it was old when you made this comment and it's even older now. :-) Just like us

[@sphynia-cat8250]

​@@etiennedegaulle3817you brought me back to this at the age of 24,, ahh thank you I still really love this song

[@jj10523]

I feel like i might be arrested for not being high right now.

[@greagandev]

The entire album is brilliant.

[@xeriphism]

Arguably my all time favorite soul coughing track ever

[@GeorgiaGrowGuy]

This is like a flashback to a time in my life every time i hear it. The same as it was the first time i heard it.

[@niconestra]

Worked the door at CBGB when they played. This awesome tune brings me right back to those times in 1993. Despite the lyrics being about LA, for me it will always be the Lower East Side.

[@Muryxkitteh]

The year this album was released, I was coaxed into giving it a listen, thanks to the staff recommendation (and handy listening stations) at Cymbeline Records in Santa Cruz, CA. This song and "Bus to Beelzebub" were rated as Must Listen, so I tried the CD out. My first reaction: "This is sooooo not my kind of music." My immediate second reaction: "--And I am sooooo going to buy it!" Thank you, Cymbeline, for introducing me to a timeless classic of a band: still one of my favorites. You (Cymbeline) are gone, but not forgotten--much like Soul Coughing. Also profoundly true of Logos! (Fellow Banana Slugs will understand the references.)

[@maazvdo]

Soul Coughing- Screenwriter's Blues Thanks for posting, Toby Arguello

[@yankmywank]

finally someone actually put the real version on this god fore saken website. thank you so much.

[@KAGDAIS]

Love Chuck Palanuik's writing and Doughtry just sang it perfectly

[@MicrowaveJellyfish]

+J P What do you mean? Are there actual Chuck quotes in the lyrics?

[@juliusebola9389]

wait... wut

[@FishfryOGMcTaco]

I first heard soul coughing in 99 and every once in a while it drifts through my head so I come here.

[@maxoleson962]

The high water mark of the decade

[@brandontwohawks]

Some of the best songwriting in the last 20 years. Gods I love this album.

[@johnsdea]

I am not young and have heard alot of music. THIS, is 1 of my favorite tracks of all time, pissed stoned or sober

[@AnonsCrossfader]

This band is like the pinnacle of good taste.

[@sphynia-cat8250]

God this freaking song, that background music omg ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

[@bezzarguy]

Where's stuff like this today? Has that whole jazz/spoken word thing. Nice.

[@TheCandyHole]

When I was a kid I only knew soul coughing as an obstacle to finding system of a down in a Barnes & nobles or borders, as an adult Spotify threw them in and I'm glad to finally sit down and hear them.

[@tilde456]

seriously need more of them, fukin rhythm section from hell, psycho manic vocals, compliments of mike doughy.... roll in it an PURRR

[@smithtukerson]

Poetry at its finest.

[@Polacerbic]

This song rings true.

[@dchuricci]

Exits to freeways Wisted like knots on The fingers Jewels cleaving Skin between Breasts. Your Cadillac breathes Four hundred horses Over blue lines You are going To Reseda To make love To a model From Ohio Whose real name You don't Know You spin Like the cadillac was Overturning down a Cliff on television And the radio is on And the radioman is speaking And the radioman says Women were a curse So men built Paramount Studios And men built Columbia Studios And men built Los Angeles It is 5 am And you are listening To Los Angeles And the radioman says It is a beautiful night out there! And the radioman says Rock and Roll lives! And the radioman says It is a beautiful night out there In Los Angeles You live In Los Angeles And you are going to Reseda; we are all In some way or Another going to Reseda someday To die And the radioman Laughs because The radioman fucks A model too Gone savage For teenagers with Automatic weapons and Boundless love Gone savage for Teenagers who are Aesthetically pleasing In other words Fly Los Angeles beckons The teenagers To come to her On buses; Los Angeles loves Love It is 5 am And you are listening To Los Angeles I am going to Los Angeles To built a screenplay about Lovers who Murder each Other I am going to Los Angeles To see my own Name on a Screen, five feet Long and luminous As the radioman says It is 5 am And the sun has charred The other side of The world and come Back to us And painted the smoke Over our heads An imperial violet It is 5 am And you are listening To Los Angeles. You are listening. You are listening. You are listening. You are listening.

[@supadupahilton6848]

This song is amazing. I love listening to it back to back with Nicole Blackmans 'Christian's calling'. And yeah, I play it whenver I have to go to Reseeda lol.

[@ariwalls9644]

Addicted to him soul is amazing

[@ponzischeme]

what a great number ! !

[@marrallisa]

I Love This So Much...!

[@NinjaMoogle218]

20 years ago, Mike Doughty buried a treasure chest for me to find. I found it 5yrs ago. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

[@Vampire_Nightshade]

Does anyone else think this song fits perfectly with David Lynch's movies?

[@lyramckenzie8550]

fuck yes!

[@Pigcapitalist89]

This band seriously needs to come back!!!

[@chillbeats4296]

soul coughing, cake and queen, good ass night

[@connectingthedots100]

Love it. It's poetry.

[@mike92505]

One part Rod Serling, two parts night owl, with a splash of bourbon!

[@nefgs]

Love this song!This guys were great!!

[@MrSpaceplatypus]

Love this one!

[@sidDkid87]

*"It is 5 am* / *and you are listening* / *to Los Angeles"* 🎶

[@meandyou9521]

sidDkid87 I read this just as he said this in the song. Love, Bob. (-:

[@TimArtPeace]

Lisssssstening*

[@voightkampff7936]

Los Angeles loves love

[@sidDkid87]

@@voightkampff7936 nice ... is *Voight Kampff* a Blade Runner reference?

[@voightkampff7936]

@@sidDkid87 you betcher butt it is! Good one!

[@EricMcCarthy_creative]

As always, Soul Coughing is awesome.

[@hamdelsun]

All i know is this.......in the their song `Janine'....the way Doughty says `Jesus to my left, the Holland Tunnel on my right.....Angels shine down from the traffic light, light, light, light, light, light, light....'...provoked me to seek the Lord.......Seriously. Life-changing....Yes, I believe he is grappling with the light and the dark, as we all do.....but still, he pointed the way to this lost soul.....

[@skibboshadow2670]

This is amazing!

[@stefv7797]

still the best

[@rancemohammitz2304]

"gone savage, with teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love..."

[@MelodyTCG]

Gone savage for teenagers who are asthetically pleasing in other words fllyyyyyyy

[@hopitopia]

One of my favorite bands of all time; the man has a way with lyrics and the band perfectly backs it. I miss them.

[@park7854]

this is so fantastic

[@robertbehringer4787]

Fantastic.. Unique. Great

[@vaclavshovel]

That has to be one of the coolest things I have heard related to this song.

[@mikegutierrez552]

Gone savage, where teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love…

[@tugatom]

this song is so damn amazing

[@KAGDAIS]

First I heard this song I was on acid camping. It was the best time ever

[@ronin_user]

Another world. In and of itself. Like Manhattan.

[@janedoe-dy3rr]

"Weirdness"--also known as poetry or "spoken word". And it's awesomely done here. Too much spoken word (boomed in the 90's, a throwback to the Beatniks) comes off as proselytizing from the 90's (ala Jello Biafra, Henry rollins). This is a wonderfully surreal prose poem set to music--infinitely more appreciable than things like Jello's "Die for oil, sucker." However relevant it may have been--a pope of punk is still a bore.

[@CariP_916]

This is so F@$&🍾G good man!

[@willelniff426]

53 people are going to Reseda, someday, to die...this is hip hop lyricism! Love it! Mr. Doughty is very tragically underrated!

[@DemorenKeneka]

To me, that is beautiful

[@KidCop2011]

I'm so surprised, I think i head this on the radio awhile back.

[@dollface5025]

its 6:00pm in minneapolis practice your trip plan and do your pre-trip inspections in-cab and out of it

[@Elidoransgar]

You are going to Reseda. The inevitable heat-death of the universe means that we are all going to Reseda someday...to die. And though this song never says it, the Radioman lives in Reseda, and the Radioman will be there someday, when he dies. You live in Reseda...

[@pointlesstoaster7615]

As someone who lives in reseda it used to be such a nice place but lately it seems it’s full of lost souls and homeless on drugs seems people are going to reseda to die someday

[@clivedamagedgoods]

"We give thanks to God... We give thanks to God... We thanks to God... for the evils of Mother Theresa."

[@jasonsanders222]

i could have sworn there used to be an official music video of this, but i can't find it anymore.

[@doingthework737]

Cool shit mayne

[@meowMix03]

LOVE IT!

[@HaileyKrakana]

Jack Kerouac would enjoy this.

[@muletonic]

+Hailey Krakana yes.

[@maxaronow712]

+Hailey Krakana Doughty actually didn't like Kerouac at all. Loathed him, actually.

[@HaileyKrakana]

Good for you. I enjoy his work but reading taste is, after all, quite subjective.

[@maxaronow712]

+Hailey Krakana "good for you" don't shoot the messenger.... check Doughty's interview from some Canadian music program in 1995, its on KZbin.

[@HaileyKrakana]

Oh wow, I'm sorry, I completely misread your comment. I thought you were saying you didn't like him. Hmm that is interesting, I will have to look that up. Soul Coughing's lyrics just reminded me of the stream-of-concisousness writing style of notable modernists and later of some of the beat writers, so that is a little surprising to me. Interesting though, nonetheless!

[@evysteffens-faulkner9722]

heard this at 2:50am...not in Los Angeles tho...in bed,on radio WXPN...I was lisssssssssssssssening.👍💗🍻

[@jamiegwhite30]

and the radio man is; speaking....

[@spankrod]

That Dan Ackroyd can pretty much do anything, can't he?

[@bryanhallman8183]

Now, in 2024, I need to hear Yoyoka play this.

[@alexenglish88]

It's 4:00 pm and I'm listening to this in Detroit. heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!

[@dreadee34474]

I love him!

[@tylilbug88]

And the radioman...

[@arthurdent6256]

Tyler Tucker isn't listening

[@zerodono]

Heard this song for the first time while in LA lmao

[@rolandweigman8305]

Good shit mang!

[@didgeboy287]

@hopitopia I remember discovering Soul Coughing and later checking them out thinking "gee, it'd be nice to actually see this band." and yeah, their site said something like "well, we're sad they broke up but we'll keep up the site for fans" etc.

[@werewolf74]

I knew about Get onto the bus.... But this is almost like Ska + Spoken word poetry / open mic night + trance. I really should have listened to more of their stuff before now. This is also very 'Cake' like.

[@memeco50]

2:30 am working security and I kind of remember this song. Here I am listening to it again. Something brought me here. But I don't know what it was.