Having changed his initials from TM to TV, it was more or less inevitable that when Tom put his band together it would be called "Television". And what a band!
We'll hear:
Tom Verlaine on rhythm/lead guitar and vocals
Richard Lloyd on lead/rhythm guitar
Fred Smith on bass
Billy Ficca on drums
The distinction between "lead" and "rhythm" guitar is quite impossible to make with this band; they often wrote intricate interlocking guitar parts. The best of 'em sound quite odd individually -- some of Richard's parts are particularly "off the wall" -- but when they're played together they become beautiful. I don't know of any other band which exceeds the sum of its parts by such a margin or in such a manner.
In addition to his deep and often disturbing poetry and his tortured vocal style, Tom brings serious musical knowledge to the table; his band-mates all do the same. They're "punks" in name only, or punks by association maybe. They certainly don't play like punks. And Tom doesn't write like a punk either.
Television "rejected" all the "rejections" that were (or seemed to be) core values to the punk "ethic". In no other "punk" band was it OK to be very smart, let alone extremely literate (not to mention bilingual). In no other "punk" band was it OK for all the members to play their instruments with skill and precision. And no other "punk" band ever made music like this:
[left to right: Fred, Tom, Richard, Billy]
I remember how the darkness doubled
I recall lightnin' struck itself
I was listenin', listenin' to the rain
I was hearing, hearing something else
Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
There I stand 'neath the marquee moon
Just waiting
I spoke to a man down at the tracks
And I asked him how he don't go mad
He said "Look here junior, don't you be so happy
And for Heaven's sake, don't you be so sad"
Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
There I stand 'neath the marquee moon
Hesitating
Well a Cadillac, it pulled out of the graveyard
Pulled up to me, all they said "get in" ("get in")
Then the Cadillac, it puttered back into the graveyard
Me, I got out again
Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
There I stand 'neath the marquee moon
I ain't waiting, uh-uh
I remember how the darkness doubled
I recall lightning struck itself
I was listening, listening to the rain
I was hearing, hearing something else
