A Hopeless Endeavor: A Joanna Newsom Podcast

In our first episode about Sawdust & Diamonds, we talk about big themes throughout the song, the myth of the city of Ys, and a bunch of other stuff. Thanks so much to Jack, Alexis, and Lise for their contributions to today’s episode, and thank you to David Pizarro, aka Peez, for the wonderful music (his beat is called “Framed Your Eyes”). You can check out the rest of his stuff at https://soundcloud.com/peezismyname . Thank you, too, to every single person who listens. “Drop a bell off of the dock. Blot it out in the sea. Drowning mute as a rock; and sounding mutiny.”

We finish up our discussion on Monkey & Bear, and our hearts break a little bit/a whole lot. Thank you so much to Dirick for their Monkey & Bear cover (which we play at the end of the episode) and to David Pizarro for his Cosmia beat (which is called “Framed Your Eyes”). Also, thank you, thank you, thank you to Zak for his really wonderful and insightful voice memo, to Cory and Jack for their write-ins about M&B, to Alexis for her undying support, and to the entirety of Blessing All the Birds for their absolutely incredible analyses. Melissa and Rachel, we are forever indebted to you. The Blessing All the Birds posts about M&B are particularly amazing and people are missing out if they aren’t on top of that. Hope you all enjoy the episode! “If you could hold up her threadbare coat to the light, where it’s worn, translucent in places, you’d see spots where almost every night of the year, bear had been mending, suspending that baseness. Now her coat drags through the water, bagging, with a life’s-worth of hunger, limitless minnows; in the magnetic embrace, balletic and glacial of bear’s insatiable shadow.”

Our second of three parts on Monkey & Bear! What a trip. Thank you all so much for listening. Thank you again to David Pizarro, aka Peez for the music. “When the blackbirds hear tea whistling, they rise and clap, and their applause caws the kettle black, and we can’t have none of that.”

This is the beginning of our long, long discussion (maybe 3 parts?) on Monkey & Bear. We want to thank M.M. Wright, Alexis, Zak, Cody, Av, and Dirick for their wonderful insights, and their apparently unconditional support. Thank you so much. For real. Thank you, too, to David Pizarro, aka Peez for his sick Cosmia beat. And thank you to actually everyone who listens to this. Lastly, thank you SO MUCH to Melissa Marturano and Rachel Parent for the entirety of Blessing All the Birds. “You know that we must unlearn this allegiance to a life of service, and no longer answer to that heartless hay-monger, nor be his accomplice. (That charlatan with artless hustling.)”

In this episode we finish up our discussion on Emily. Thank you so much to Selene for their super insightful voice memo, and thank you to everyone who listens. Music by the super talented David Pizarro, aka Peez. “Peonies nod in the breeze, and while they wetly bow with hydrocephalitic listlessness, ants mop up their brow.”

The inaugural episode of A Hopeless Endeavor. We talk about the first half-ish of “Emily”, and say “totally” a lot. “Let us go though we know it’s a hopeless endeavor!” Music by Peez, aka David Pizarro.

A trailer for our new Joanna Newsom podcast! The first full episode comes out on December 5th. We’re looking forward to hearing all of your theories and interpretations. Music is by David Pizarro, aka Peez.