Last Monday, I made a change.  I moved from my small, cozy apartment (with its paper-thin walls and bedroom window that I could never quite get to shut all the way) to a big, two-story house that I’ll be sharing with my sister and BFF, Erin Nicole.  As excited and happy as I am having made this move, it also meant that, last week, I spent less time than usual obsessing over grindhouse exploitation and pop culture.

In other words, I’ve got to make up for some lost time.

I’d like to begin by highlighting one of my favorite songs, perhaps my favorite song of all time.  Siouxsie Sioux may have been first known as simply a groupie for the Sex Pistols (Way back when, Bill Grundy’s lame attempts to hit on her led to the televised profanity that inspired the infamous “Filth and the Fury” headline) but she later proved herself to be a brilliant and intriguing artist in her own right.  As the vocalist for Siouxsie and the Banshees, Siouxsie was (and is) one of the most important figures of the post-punk era.

Proving once again that I was simply born several years too late, I didn’t get a chance to appreciate the Banshees until they had already ceased to exist as an active group.  In 2004, having just recently seen 24 Hour Party People, I was obsessed with all things punk and all things new wave.  While everyone else was discovering the Black-Eyed Peas or trying to maintain a sense of ironic detachment while buying the latest from Ashlee Simpson, I was devoting my time to Joy Division, New Order, The Slits, the Talking Heads, Patti Smith, the New York Dolls, and Public Image, Ltd.  I haunted the used book and music stores of north Texas and, like an archeologist, I would chip away at all of the boring, modern sediment in hopes of discovering something wonderful hidden underneath it all.  Without a doubt, my greatest discovery was Siouxsie and the Banshees.

I discovered a CD entitled The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees at Recycled Books in Denton, Texas and it quickly became one of my most prized possessions.  Over the years, my life has taken a lot of twists and turns but there has always been one constant — whenever I’ve needed them, Siouxsie and the Banshees have been playing on my CD player.

My favorite song off that CD is Kiss Them For Me, a song first released in 1991.  The song, which admittedly does have more of a “pop” feel to it than other Banshee songs, is Siouxsie’s tribute to another frequently misunderstood icon, Jayne Mansfield.  Like Mansfield, the song is unapologetically over-the-top and wonderfully self-aware.  It’s a song that pays tribute to a legend by being legendary itself. 

(It’s also the song that I had playing nonstop while my sister and I were unpacking our things this week.)

The song’s lyrics refer both obliquely and explicitly to Mansfield’s decapitation in a 1967 car accident.  (Mansfield’s daughter — Mariska Hargitay — survived the accident and is currently the star of Law and Order: SVU.)

It glittered and it gleamed
For the arriving beauty queen
A ring and a car
Now you’re the prettiest by far
No party she’d not attend
No invitation she wouldn’t send
Transfixed by the inner sound
Of your promise to be found

“nothing or no-one will ever
Make me let you down”

Kiss them for me — I may be delayed
Kiss them for me — if I am delayed

It’s divoon, oh it’s serene
In the fountains pink champagne
Someone carving their devotion
In the heart shaped pool of fame

“nothing or no-one will ever
Make me let you down”

Kiss them for me — I may be delayed
Kiss them for me — I may find myself delayed

On the road to new orleans
A spray of stars hit the screen
As the 10th impact shimmered
The forbidden candles beamed

Kiss them for me — I may be delayed
Kiss them for me — I may find myself delayed

Kiss them for me — kiss them for me

Kiss them for me — I may find myself delayed