‘The Name of the Next Song’: Courtney Barnett’s favourite Arthur Russell song
Arthur Russell is your favourite artist’s favourite artist. New York in the 1970s was a breeding ground for those kinds of countercultural figures, for avant-garde aficionados and sonic experimentalists. From Lou Reed to Patti Smith, the era spawned art-rock reference points for decades to come, but Russell’s output would fly slightly under the radar compared to his peers.
While Russell might not have become a household name quite like Reed, he would attract the admiration and respect of his peers for years to come. From his collaborations with Talking Heads frontman David Byrne to modern samples in Kanye West tunes, the influence of Russell traverses genres and generations.
Aussie songwriter Courtney Barnett is one of many musicians who fell into an Arthur Russell obsession, as she explained during a conversation with The Line of Best Fit. On the recommendation of fellow indie icon and Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa, she fell in love with Russell’s music.
“I just started digging through all of his albums,” she remembered, “I would study each one, and I loved how different they all were.” Barnett found herself enamoured with Russell’s genre-defying approach to production. She was taken in by the experimentalism that marked out his 1986 record, World of Echo, sharing her love for one song in particular.
The record spawned the Kanye-sampled ‘Answers Me’ and the sprawling ‘Soon-to-Be Innocent Fun / Let’s See’, but Barnett opted to lean into the obscurity of Russell’s catalogue, picking out ‘The Name of the Next Song’ as her favourite track. An extra experimental bonus composition from the record’s reissue, it’s a pick that shows just how far she delved into his output.
‘The Name of the Next Song’ has a runtime of eight minutes, making it one of the lengthiest entries on the album. Really, there’s a whole collection of songs within this one composition, with Russell introducing each one by repeating the titular phrase.
“The name of the next song is Anti-America,” he states before delving into around 40 seconds of echoing vocals and strange soundscapes. The name of the next song is ‘Painted Box’, then comes ‘I’m Sorry, But This Is How I Learn, then it’s ‘Take A Gander At That’, and Russell’s refrain continues as the song progresses.
Though the song titles change, Russell’s words don’t. Each time he announces a new section of a song, devoting it a new name, his lyrics are unchanging. “California, here I come,” he repeats throughout, over increasingly haunting and swirling instrumentation. The song is certainly one of the best examples of Russell’s penchant for experimentation, an avant-garde piece for the ages.
It’s easy to understand how Barnett got lost in ‘The Name of the Next Song’ in the strange deja-vu it evokes. Though she has never quite committed to Russell’s experimental depths in her own work, she did take his influence with her in the creation of End Of The Day, a series of improvisations to accompany her Anonymous Club documentary.
Perhaps Russell remains slightly too off-kilter to acquire the wider audience that many of his progressive peers secured, but his legacy still filters through in the sounds of those he inspired. But for those who are willing to dive into his strange soundscapes, from Byrne to Barnett, a whole sonic treasure chest awaits.
Listen to ‘The Name of the Next Song’ by Arthur Russell below.
