Spoon's kiss-off/love letter to Ron Laffitte, A&R representative at Elektra. Spoon, an angular post-punk trio from Austin, Texas, were signed to Elektra in 1997 on the strength of their album "Telephono" and a couple of singles on Matador Records, and were widely touted for instant success. A year later, they released "A Series Of Sneaks", a jittery, terse record that managed to dissect and transcend the sounds of Wire, the Pixies, Gang Of Four, Elvis Costello, and the Buzzcocks, topped by the unmistakeable, nasally-voiced lyrics of Britt Daniel.
Elektra promptly fired Laffitte and shortly thereafter dropped the band, and they were left in limbo, with a brilliant record under their belts and no way to promote it. Regrouping, Spoon released the one-off single "The Agony Of Laffitte"/"Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now" on Saddle Creek Records in 2000.
"The Agony Of Laffitte" is at once bitter, confused, and cathartic; recorded on a four-track as if in homage to the supposed unmarketability of the "A Series Of Sneaks", it spells out the story of the acrimonious decline of the relationship in unflinching detail, naming names (Elektra president Sylvia Rhone's, specifically) and leaving the narrator with a host of unresolved emotions.
In 2002, "The Agony Of Laffitte" and "Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now" were reissued as bonus tracks on the American re-release of "A Series Of Sneaks", on Spoon's current label, Merge Records.
All I ever asked of you is a copy of Garage Days and to tell me the truth
Ain't no one watching you exit Ventura Highway
It's like I knew two of you man
The one before and after we shook hands
Taking the calls but in all forgetting what's been said
And after dark in a cab in L.A.
Forget about the meter man these are salad days
Comes on the radio comes on and what's being said
Is you're no better than Sylvia
No better than Sylvia
No better than Sylvia
No better than Sylvia
Where you are and where you've been and where you've gone oh no
Here's a mark he's a mark on the page
Dishing out the wisdom of this reflexive age
Dotting the eyes with an eye for defining what you were
So when you do that line tonight
Remember that it came at a steep price
And keep telling yourself there's more to you than her
But you're no better than Sylvia
No better than Sylvia
No better than Sylvia
No better than Sylvia
Where you gone where you been and where you gone oh no