CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (18)

By: Deborah Wassertzug
August 18, 2020

One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of our favorite punk songs, c. 1974–1983.

“WHERE WERE YOU?” | THE MEKONS | 1978

The Mekons’ celebrated second single was released at the end of 1978, selling out its 27,500 copies. I did not purchase one. To answer the question posed by the song: “I was visiting Buenos Aires at the height of the Dirty War / Where were you?” In my defense, I was only seven. I was visiting family, sightseeing, dancing the night away at my cousin’s rager of a bar mitzvah party. I didn’t know anything about anything yet, let alone punk. Therefore, you now know that everything I have to say from this point on is inauthentic, within a subgenre of writing about musical experience that relies so heavily on authenticity and cred. I came into Mekons Consciousness only in 1989, after hearing “Club Mekon” on the radio and immediately sending away for my party membership. But The Meex I fell for weren’t who they had been at the beginning. By the Punk Doomsday Clock, I got to know the band around 11 a.m., whereas the group that released “WWY?” were the 5 a.m. incarnation of it. (Today, only Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh remain from the original lineup.)

The version of “WWY?” with which I am far more familiar is the one found on 1999’s compilation of the same name, sung by sometime Mekon Mitch Flacko. I’ve witnessed a number of shambolic, booze-soaked Mekons gigs where Mitch has stumbled up to the stage to sing this number. No matter how late in the setlist, the churning guitar opening, followed by a drumroll, is the cue to get your sorry bones moving again. But the lyrics are a key that unlocks a deeper dimension. The use of anaphora punctuates a frustrated love affair that jerks between extreme closeup (“When I was buying you a drink / Where were you?”) and wide-angle shots (“When I wave to you from a distance / Do you see me?”). Is it a number to pogo to in two feet square in a cramped public restroom while you’re fixing your hair and makeup over a filthy sink? Or is it one to chew over the next morning when you’re waking up alone (again)? There’s even a marriage proposal tossed in, amongst the despair (“Could you ever be my wife / Do you like me?”). The Mekons just wanted to settle down and live in domestic bliss. Even in 1978, posturing was just so exhausting.

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CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2020): Series introduction by Josh Glenn | Mimi Lipson on Flipper’s “Sex Bomb” | James Parker on The Jam’s “Going Underground” | Dan Fox on The Cramps’ “Human Fly” | Adrienne Crew on Bad Brains’ “I and I Survive” | Devin McKinney on Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never” | Deb Chachra on The Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love” | Mark Kingwell on The Demics’ “New York City” | Jessamyn West on Dead Kennedys’ “Kill the Poor” | Douglas Wolk on The Homosexuals’ “Soft South Africans” | Josh Glenn on The Freeze’s “This is Boston, Not L.A.” | Stephanie Burt on Sorry’s “Imaginary Friend” | Luc Sante on Public Image Ltd.’s “Public Image” | Miranda Mellis on X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” | Adam McGovern on The Clash’s “Washington Bullets” | Mandy Keifetz on Germs’ “Forming” | Gordon Dahlquist on The Sex Pistols’ “Problems” | Anthony Miller on The Soft Boys’ “I Wanna Destroy You” | Deborah Wassertzug on The Mekons’ “Where Were You?” | Tor Aarestad on Gang of Four’s “Return the Gift” | Marc Weidenbaum on The Pop Rivets’ “Dream of ’63” | David Smay on The Rezillos’ “(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures” | Vanessa Berry on The Cure’s “So What” | Chelsey Johnson on The Slits’ “Typical Girls” | Lynn Peril on Crass’s “Smother Love” | Mike Watt on The Dils’ “You’re Not Blank”.

MORE ENTHUSIASM at HILOBROW

CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (18)

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