Orchard Street
By: Thurston Moore

Written by: Thurston Moore

Versions:
  1. Orchard Street (6:57)
    Available on Demolished Thoughts.
    Credits
    Recorded at: The Library
    Bram Inscore: Bass
    Joey Waronker: Drums, Percussion
    Thurston Moore: Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
    Mary Lattimore: Harp
    Darrell Thorp: Mix
    Beck Hansen: Producer
    Samara Lubelski: Violin
 
Lyrics:
Orchard Street [Version (a)]:

Milky cement light, radiation boys
Breaking happy heart, blood and liquid noise
I see yr searchlight eyes, the stony demons bliss
Wet and drunken desire, dripping tears
Grape stained escape, an immortal kiss
Free jazz hotel, sweet now girl whispers
Crazy crazy crazy night sky orange
Promise and deceit, blindfolds and prayer
Orchard Street is anchored in divinity's shadow
 
The Song:

Thurston Moore's 2011 solo album, Demolished Thoughts, was produced by Beck. It was recorded in Beck's home studio, which is called The Library. Beck is also credited on "additional arrangments," and playing the synths, some bass, and background vocals on the album. Beck's current rhythm section, Joey Waronker and Bram Inscore, also play throughout the record.

"Orchard Street" is the fifth track on Demolished Thoughts. Thurston Moore wrote a less-than-serious track-by-track guide, and this is what he wrote about "Orchard Street":

On day five I flew back to NYC, took a cab to an underground bar on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side called Jericho’s where I was due to DJ. I faked putting on a record, after playing “Hey Jude” (Beatles) and “China Grove” (Doobies), and plugged my acoustic into a double ganged set of vintage Pignose amps and reminisced about those early streets where the pizza is particularly punk and saints lead you to playgrounds of eros and thought-magicks. The bartender, an old fast-folk flyabout from Beck’s NYC in-search-of-the-secret-of-Pussy-Galore days, recorded the jam, titled “Orchard Street”, on his 1984 Sony Walkman WM-D6C Pro and Fed Ex’d the tape to Beck’s L.A. hideout.


"Orchard Street" is a 7-minute track, with lengthy instrumental breaks in between the verses. In that way, it is one of the songs that reminds me most of Sonic Youth; however, it is entirely acoustic in nature.