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Stan Ridgway's Songs Depict a World of Harshness

May 16, 1989|MIKE BOEHM | Times Staff Writer

"That's probably my least favorite song on the record," Ridgway said. "I wanted to write a song that had just four chords in it. I probably had too much television that day. I tried to turn it around in the end to where I was dishonest, too. I kept trying to work the ending, but I just couldn't get there, and time was running out in the studio. Five years ago, those kinds of lines would kill me. But you've got to let things go. Right behind perfection is paralysis."

Ridgway's style of songwriting suggests that he also could be capable of writing good prose stories, but he has no yearning to put down his guitar and keyboards in favor of a word processor.

"If they were stories by themselves, I don't think anybody would think a thing about them," Ridgway said. "I don't think they're terribly unusual. They'd be sad, stupid stories. Writing books and things like that, I'm not as drawn to it. But I am strongly drawn to the balance between words and music. I don't think I could live without it. It's a way of keeping my equilibrium."

\o7 Stan Ridgway plays tonight at 8 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $17.50. Information: (714) 496-8930. \f7

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