Go Tell the Mountain: The Stories and Lyrics of Jeffrey Lee Pierce

by Jeffrey Lee Pierce

No creases in binding. Minimal wear to cover. Slight warping of inside pages for the first few chapters, but no discoloration.

Genres: Music, Biography

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge Gun Club/JLP fan so reading this was a treat. I especially loved reading Jeffrey Lee's journals and the lyrics were pure poetry.

[Avis Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not Pierce's writing you need to discover, but his singing. Go dig up some Gun Club albums and you'll find out why Pierce was important. First of all, Pierce was the greatest singer who ever recorded. Secondly, don't listen to his music unless you have a clean bill of mental health--and I stress that--because his music is also the most depressing ever recorded. Thirdly, you must have musical savvy beyond the norm; if your tastes are middle-of-the-road and you listen to him with the idea of getting some pleasant casual tunes, you're going to be bewildered. Some of his work sounds like it's from another planet, but not in an obvious way such as the work of trite hacks like Captain Beefheart. Some of his work is so strange you can't even describe why it's odd. Fourthly, even for someone of his brilliance Pierce was erratic, and you have to bear with him.

I have heard Pierce sing while falling down drunk on stage and yowling off-key, and STILL manage to deliver performances that outdid everybody else. I would not have thought this humanly possible before Pierce's arrival on the rock and roll scene.

I rate singers on their ability to 'Break on through to The Other Side,' and there are many professionals who never reach that level even once in their entire career. Pierce managed to hit it about 30% of the time, the highest ratio I've ever encountered.

[Evette Braunstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeffrey Lee Pierce, simply stated, was an underrated genius His musical works were literally a world apart; authentic, raw, ethereal, violent, romantic and surreal. This book is the first draft of his autobiography and other experimental pieces of prose including song lyrics. Sadly Jeffrey suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage the day the first draft of this book was due, never regaining consciousness. At times disarmingly funny and honest, surreal and erotic, Go Tell The Mountain leaves an impression of what might have been had Jeffrey lived and continued to develop as an author.

[Nicholaus Patnaude · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could play some chinese restaurants with you Jeff. R.I.P.

[Gregory Kuchmek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe at the time, mid-90s, I woulda thought a bit more highly of this. However, post-#metoo, I hafta call out the creepy sexism and super weird Asian fetishism throughout. Cringey is the word. Also, Rollins' low-rent imprint needs to work harder on spelling and spacing!

Otherwise, you get a good heaping of JLP's lyrics! Not bad! And, despite my complaints about his juvenile sexual behavior, it actually was engaging and interesting. Maybe not enough depth or interior perspective. Often felt exactly like what it is: Unfinished.

This plus Kid's book should give anyone a good picture of JLP, the Gun Club and the 80s/90s Cali "alternative" scene.

[DrimbleWedge · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could've been great, but it was more of a rough draft for something better. Jeffrey Lee's writing style is fantastic, but overall it's seems incomplete. The Gun Club are still one of the greatest bands EVER

[Tiffany Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

After listening compulsively to 80s glam rock band the Gun Club, a band that oozes punk rock swagger at its finest, I was obsessed with tracking down Go Tell the Mountain, the rare and strange bio-fictional book written by the band's legendary front man Jefferey Lee Pierce. Written on his deathbed, the biography is interesting enough; Pierce writes about his obsession with Debbie Harry (Blondie) whose bleach-blonde wild style he mimicked, his time getting hammered and falling in love in Japan, and his friendship with literary iconoclast William S. Burrough. Go Tell the Mountain also features Pierce's fictional love story about an American man's obsession with a Japanese high school student. It's soft porn sequences of a young girl seduced by her lover's aggressive advances might turn some readers off, but I ultimately found the story tragic and honest, even sweet in its depraved desperation. But the best part of Go Tell the Mountain is that it includes a complete compilation of Gun Club lyrics. Hands-down, Pierce composed some of the most beautiful punk rock poetry of all time (e.g., I had a dream/and there was foxfire in your hair/I am your brother, your lover/I give you my blood/I'll follow you anywhere [track: Brother and Sister, album: Miami, 1981]), and having his lyrics catalogued and available in the book help elevate them to their proper poetic place.

[Hugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit perplexing in areas, though I do love that Blue Boy sequence.

[Charlotte Edmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

It made me cringe. It made me cry. It is sitting on my favorites shelf.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth it for the lyrics alone! The autobiography has some rough edges, raw language, and trails to nowhere and everywhere. I don't think Jeffrey Lee Pierce would have wanted it any other way, even though he sadly passed before it was finished. A slice of insight into a mercurial figure, this is a gem for Gun Club obsessives such as myself. Watch the "Hard-Time Killin' Floor Blues" documentary (I found it on YouTube)-- it makes a perfect, yet heart-wrenching companion to this book.