Momus - The Guitar Lesson

Momus - "The Guitar Lesson"

[ from the album "Don't Stop the Night" (1989) ]

The pupil is twelve, attractive, withdrawn
In a midnight blue school uniform
Lips just a little too full for her face
Distant eyes full of space
In her posture no trace of coquette
No defiance

She fingers the frets looking forlorn
Crossing her legs where her tights have been torn
Starts as her mother comes into the room
And the afternoon grows still
And her mother feels chill
Shivers and buttons her coat

I gently correct the curve of her back
And open her book in the now-empty flat
At the classical piece I've had her prepare
And her arms are bare as she plays
And I draw back behind her ear
A few strands of hair gone astray

She shows me her bracelet, the lesson is done
I turn it around between finger and thumb
We sit face to face and it seems to me that
Her face is the face of a cat
And touching the place where her breasts will be
I press my hand flat

She comes into my lap, I turn her around
Her hands clasp my neck and her feet skim the ground
Her skirt travels up under my palm
But the pupil sits looking so calm
As if listening to the distant sound
Of a burglar alarm

What happened next it's hard to recall
The guitar lesson left no traces at all
Now, from afar, it seems to resemble
A strange composition in oil
Of a man, a guitar, and an innocent little girl

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Momus
• Nick Currie
• Guitar Lesson
• Don't Stop the Night
• Indie Pop
• Synthpop

[PrickyKorv]

Really good and creepy song. I like Steven Wilsons version more though.

[erinmerle]

Momus thinks he's a provocateur but he's just a gross old pedophile. 

[joebstarsurfer]

I prefer space jews didnt expect that .

[thatgoesinthere]

@flypizzapop Stop being so fucking literal. Often songs are sung from a character's perspective. Do you go around bashing screenwriters for writing villains? Go tell Stephen King what a sick fuck he is for writing all these legendary monsters and freaks we love to hate. I am in no way okay with pedophilia and was once a little girl myself, but you don't see me making asinine accusations.

Also, this version of this song is not so great. The one from "Slender Sherbet" is much better.

[flypizzapop]

@PennyDreadful1 Yeah, I'm sure from the point of view of the abuser it wasn't abuse. Nothing wrong with "touching the place where her breasts will be". Fucking disgusting.

[PennyDreadful1]

@erinmerle What is abuse here? Sounds more like statutory rape. Which is wrong but not abusive.

[PennyDreadful1]

@erinmerle Why is this a top comment? Anyway pedophila seems to be the final frontier of shock lyrics in music. It sure seemed to have worked on you.

Satanism and violence and sex is so everyday isnt it? But mention kids and youll get a reaction sure as clockwork. There are so much more terrible things in the world than a song about creepy sexual perversion sung in character. Just keep it in fiction. Hmmph kind off liked girls when I was twelve actually but I digress.

[vjosanas]

@PrickyKorv Steven's version is much better. very sweet but creepy too

[PostcardKittenMeow]

@erinmerle Yes. I agree; it's not right at all - though I think there's something a little more complex than that going on in this song - see, for example, Germaine Greer's The Boy. It's off an album full of dubious characters doing, often, very dubious things but, they are characters, NOT Nick Currie.

[erinmerle]

@PostcardKittenMeow It doesn't matter what this is referencing. It's a first person graphic account of child sexual abuse paired with kiddy porn images. What is wrong with you people?

[jocksilver7]

@PostcardKittenMeow - I wonder why you even bother; people had 22 years to understand this song - those who didn't (or even couldn't grasp the depths of a character) should be left in their own idleness. Anyway, it's a number to be felt (or experienced) rather than to be deemed a confessional pedophile abomination. But anyway, old Nick wasn't the 1st- from time to time I still spot re-stocks of Lolita and Ballad of Melody Nelson, on stalls at my local Tesco-equivalent. Cautionary tales sell.

[ThirdLunarRising]

Love the song in general, amazing meaning, but Steven Wilson covered it and made it sound a bit better than the original to me. No offense to any Momus fans :P