![[Fables of the Reconstruction]](fables.jpg)
Life and How to Live It
mr.mekis, of life and how to live
it, had actualyy divided his 1 house into 2 apts, each outfitted
diff. than the other, on meigs str. in tinytown.i made it 2 houses
for hyperbolic clarity. [Stipe,
on AOL] * This is the title of book
written by a Mr. Mekis of rural Georgia, whose schizophrenic
behavior the song narrates. [Ron
Henry] * If I have my story correct,
a man died, and when they went into his house, they found one
half decortated one way and the other half completely differently.
It seems as though the man lived life through two distinctly
different personalities. And the book was discovered (like 200
or so copies) in the back of the house. [Joe Locke] * At the
LA Universal Amphitheatre 9-86 show, Michael told this story:
"A man had a house, he built a wall down the middle of it,
he had an apartment on this side, he had an apartment
on this side. (To a screaming person in the audience:)
Shut up. In this apartment he had furniture, clothes,
food, books... a cat. In this apartment he had different
food, different clothes, different furniture, different books.
And a gerbil. ...No that's not true. He would live over on this
side for a while, until he got tired of it, then he would take
off his clothes and put his books down on the counter, and he'd
move over to this side for a while until he got tired
of it and then move back over to this side and he flip-flopped
back and forth until he died. When he died they went into the
house and they crawled back in the back apartment, back in this
closet, over here... And the whole closet was filled,
floor to ceiling, with (someone in the crowd yells 'Gerbils!')
-- this is my story, c'mon you guys... This is true, by
the way, this is incidentally a true story. Peter can
confirm it for you. (Peter Buck, wryly: 'This is indeed true.')
Must be getting old.... When he died they went back in this part
over here and in the closet they found these books piled
up, from the floor to the ceiling, packed in, and it was this
book that he wrote and every single copy of the book that was
ever printed was in there, he never gave one away or showed it
to anybody so nobody ever knew that he wrote it. He just kept
it there. And the name of the book was Life and How to Live
It." (Furious guitar intro to song.) [Ron Henry]
"Two doors to go between the wall"
Mekis divided his house into two
apartments, each outfitted differently, so that he always had
one that fit his changing mood. [Ron
Henry]
"Keep these books well stocked
away"
At his death, a closet full of
copies of the book were found stashed away. [Ron Henry]
"My carpenter's out and running
about"
The carpenter is presumably doing
the work of dividing the house. [Ron
Henry]
"what I have hidden there"
What's hidden is the stash of books.
[Ron Henry]
"Can't you see you made my ears
go tin?"
Tin ear = deaf. [Ron Henry]