‘How to Speak Hip’ - Mercury Records 1959

 Via wikipedia How to Speak Hip was a comedy album by Del Close and John Brent, released by Mercury Records in 1959. The album presents itself as a didactic tool to be used by the listener to learn the secret language of the 'hipster'. As a parody of language-learning tools, the album presents a course in 'hip'. Basic concepts such as "cool" and "uncool" are taught, as well as vocabulary building ("dig", "dig it", "dig yourself, baby", "dig the chick", "dig the cat", "What a drag!"). Social notes are presented as for many language courses, and later in the album, the teacher (Close) is taken on field trips into the secret life of the hipster (Brent). However, the hipster rebels against participating in the teaching tool, leading to a humorously compromised teaching style.

The album itself was illustrated throughout. The woodcuts used as illustrations on the LP were stolen from Del's Chicago apartment in the 1980s.

Brian Wilson can be heard fondly mentioning this album in the box set The Pet Sounds Sessions during the highlights of the recording sessions of the album on "Hang on to your Ego" take 2 on Pet Sounds; a full working title for the album's track "Let's Go Away For Awhile" was "Let's Go Away For Awhile (And Then We'll Have World Peace)," the parenthetical being an allusion to the album.

Listen to the album > http://audio.skeyelab.com/howtospeakhip/

John Lurie paintings

'In this painting the artist’s soul has been corroded by assholism. I think you know who you are.'

'Davy Crockett has lost his fucking mind.'

'Some Animals Noah Only Had One Of, The Ones That Came By Two Put On A Musical, Which Like Most Musicals Was Bad'

'When I die, I want to go like my grandfather, asleep and at peace. Not like the people screaming in the other car.'

'You have the right to the pursuit of happiness. Good luck with that. You have the right to bear arms.'

http://www.johnlurieart.com/art/