Nan
| "Nan" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Song by Ween | |||||
| from the album GodWeenSatan: The Oneness | |||||
| Released | November 16, 1990 | ||||
| Recorded | c. 1989 | ||||
| Length | 2:55 | ||||
| Label | Twin/Tone Records | ||||
| GodWeenSatan: The Oneness track listing | |||||
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"Nan" is a song from the 1990 album GodWeenSatan: The Oneness.
Appearances
- GodWeenSatan: The Oneness (1990)
- At the Cat's Cradle, 1992 (live, 2008)
- GodWeenSatan: Live (live, 2016)
- Bananas and Blow (compilation, 2018)
Song Details
Recording and Composition
"Nan" is an alternative rock song with jangle pop and funk rock elements in addition to spoken word vocals. The funk-influenced sections consist of the chords E9, C9, E9 and C9 played up an octave, while the rest of the song is in the key of G major.
The lead vocals are by Gene Ween (facetiously credited in the liner notes as "guest vocals by Eddie Dingle").[1] Dean Ween plays the guitar. Like most of the songs on GodWeenSatan, the drums are played by Dean Ween and the bass is played by Andrew Weiss.
Live Performances
"Nan" is known to have been played live as early as February 1990, and has fairly consistently been a common inclusion in live sets throughout the years.[2] Gene Ween played the song on a solo-acoustic radio show in May of 1990, apparently with radio-friendly lyrics.[3] There was also another radio-friendly version played with Kramer and Claude Coleman for their February 1992 John Peel Session. The song was also played a few times by the Dean Ween Group in 2015.[4]
A 12/9/1992 recording from the Pure Guava tour can be heard on the At the Cat's Cradle album; a 9/14/2001 recording from a special anniversary show is found on GodWeenSatan: Live.
Live Spoken Intro
[From Live at Pranzatelli’s]
- Gene: This next one is a song that Mickey and I did. Or Mickey did actually.
[From February 2nd, 1990]
- Dean: This is a song we've never really played live before and we'll try do it for you now and not fuck it up too bad. It's a beautiful love song that we wrote.
Lyrics
Official lyrics, handwritten by Dean Ween, were printed in the GodWeenSatan liner notes:
What's your big secret? Could u give me a clue?
Oh silly girl, I'm so in love with u
Won'tcha tell me what's on your mind?
If u opened your head, tell me what would u find?
Are u 4 real?
What do u feel?
Finders keepers, losers weepers
If I could get the lid off, I'd look inside the jar
Is this the best thing I can do?
T'ain't done me no good so far
Mind over matter
But it seems that I don't matter at all
Nan, a party of one
Do u think I could be invited to come?[5]
Song Themes
Eddie Dingle, Love, Profanity/Swearing, Screaming, Song Title Is a Woman's Name, Sung by Gene Ween, Tape Speed Manipulation
References
- ↑ GodWeenSatan liner notes
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=all%20bands&song_id=131
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/setlist.php?band=all%20bands&show_id=1366
- ↑ https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=all%20bands&song_id=131
- ↑ From the GodWeenSatan liner notes; lightly edited for clarity.