Sidewalk surfer girl
I'd do anything to catch you falling
Silent surfer girl
I'd do anything to be with you sometimes
Ooooh!
Since Patty left the scene things got so extreme
Sidewalk surfer girl's searching for a dream
Paraglide from space dye your bungee best
Set yourself alight whilst famine kills the rest
Sidewalk surfer girl
I'd do anything to catch you falling
Silent surfer girl
I'd do anything to be with you sometimes
Ooooh!
Sometime
Ooooh!
Sometime
Ooooh!
When Patty's aunts don't know the uncles will have fun
She cruised the streets at night she left home on the run
(Swell)
She never talks to me thinks I'm a major yawn
(Excuse me)
Return the difference, don't retake me, I'm no pawn
Sidewalk surfer girl
(I dream of sidewalk surfer girl)
Quote (Gruff on ringsaroundtheworld.co.uk):
I'd do anything to catch you falling
Silent surfer girl
I'd do anything to catch you falling (X4)
"That comes from a demo I wrote that was about 15 seconds long. Initially it was about Patty Whitebull who slept for fifteen years. She was in some kind of coma but they could tell she was dreaming. She woke up in 1999 and asked for pizza. Everyone's had a lot of input musically. We didn't really know what we were doing and it's a lot more interesting for it. It's an amalgamation of the lyrics of different songs. I had a period of being totally disgusted by extreme sports. They're what people who don't suffer do to taste what suffering's like. My outlook on the subject is a bit milder now - it's probably better that people throw themselves off bridges on a bit of string than fight. It's probably a war replacement."
Where:
Monnow Valley Studios/Bearsville Studios
When:
2001
Source:
Track 2 (Rings Around The World): 4 minutes, 1 second
Status:
Complete!
DVD director:
Conkerco, Co-Lab and Simon Pike - Sleeping Beauty, Skateboarding, Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys and Peasants! Surf's up! We were given the song itself, the lyrics to dissect and also a concept sheet which described the writers thinking process. The film and the song surround ideas of varying states of reality/consciousness. The song is written about a girl who was in a coma and awoke after many years, the animation in particular literally looks at a woman falling through differing environments uncontrollably, raising a parallel between her being unable to control her sleep. Conkerco were involved with all of the animation of the falling girl. This was produced in flash and then rendered out as QuickTime. This worked well for us as the timeframe and budget were so limited and Flash can produce television quality animation quickly and inexpensively. We wanted to give the falling character some dimension but felt that over polishing the animation would detract from the look and feel of what we were trying to achieve. To do this we took a 3-D model of the girl and traced it of into freehand and then imported it into flash. This gives a more earthy effect to the animation but keeps the 3-D element. We think the most interesting aspect of this project was the technology used. It defined the end products punky look and feel and like some of the other videos on the DVD appeals to a newer generation of viewer bought up on formulaic polished pop promos. Kevin Carter is a London based digital artist. Three years ago he set up Co-Lab projects to explore the creative potentials of interactive media. Conkerco is a young new media collaborative committed to inventive design for the internet and television. For info on Simon Pike, see Receptacle For The Respectable.
Notes:
Sidewalk is the American term for pavement. This song is the tale of Patty Whitebull, the woman who awoke from a 15-year coma and ordered pizza. Patty makes an appearance on the DVD film for the song. Please note that Sidewalk Serfer Girl does not have a remix on the Rings Around The World DVD.
