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King's Daughters Home For Incurables

from King's Daughters Home For Incurables by Karla Kane

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about

There’s a historic Julia Morgan-designed building in Oakland, CA, called the King’s Daughters Home For Incurables. As the name suggests, it was once a hospital for “incurable” patients and is now a mental health facility (part of a Kaiser Permanente medical center). I was attracted to the name for its odd mixture of whimsy, grandiosity and pathos. To me, “King’s Daughters Home For Incurables” sounds like a place where people who feel overwhelmed by the current state of reality might take refuge. I felt it was a fitting title for the album because the songs themselves are a mix of reality and fantasy: true experiences filtered through a skewed lens. It’s a romantic, fairytale-sounding name with sad-yet-intriguing undertones -- perhaps we’re all incurables in search of a home?

lyrics

The queen of the west said her peaches were best
she'd give you a taste for a mushroom or two
The queen of the east didn't come to the feast
She said, "I've seen enough of what peaches can do"
And that was a long time ago
I don't even know why I told you
But that's how these songs tend to go
Be happy with what I've just sold you

I wanted to be an English folk singer
A new Shirley Collins, the next Cecil Sharp
And I would restore the folk songs to my people
Armed with their history, my voice and a harp

But I was a Golden State girl
And I didn't have any people
and that was the olden-day world
And I couldn't climb up that steep hill

A terrible troll lived up in his tower
Surrounded by minions who couldn't say no
And it was our role to take back the power
To turn our opinions up high as they'd go

I went to the King's daughters home
I wanted to know how to fix you
I stood under that starry dome
and learned all damage their tricks do

I went to the King's daughters home
I wanted a cure for what ailed you
I stood in the gloom of the gloam
and heard all the ways I had failed you

I don't know if this machine can kill fascists
but maybe annoying them's alright for now
I'm not very loud, you're rarely the brashest
But we can make trouble together somehow
Come on, let's make trouble together somehow

credits

from King's Daughters Home For Incurables, released October 6, 2017
Karla Kane - vocals, ukulele, percussion
Khoi Huynh - guitar, bass
Rebecca Hall - backing vocals
Ken Anderson - banjo

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The Corner Laughers Redwood City, California

"Their indie pop is sassy and smart, intelligent and intricate, twee with bite" - The Guardian

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