In Silver Rain With A Paper Key
By: Thurston Moore

Written by: Thurston Moore

Versions:
  1. In Silver Rain With A Paper Key (5:44)
    Available on Demolished Thoughts.
    Credits
    Recorded at: The Library
    Beck Hansen: Bass, Producer, Synthesizer
    Thurston Moore: Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
    Mary Lattimore: Harp
    Darrell Thorp: Mix
    Samara Lubelski: Violin
 
Lyrics:
In Silver Rain With A Paper Key [Version (a)]:

There was a time when you could find him just by staring at the sky
A perfect stranger out of nowhere, nothing to do, nothing to hide
And he disappears today - where he goes, he cannot say
The silver rain is all you can see, you lost your lover

It used to be so easy, baby, just to find you in the clear
But the streets have ghosts that call you back before you get too near
The days that dared to never end, you'd whisper 'baby please do it again'
Now it's an echo without refrain, you lost your lover

I seem to recall sometime last fall, brown leaves crowned around your head
Now I'm back in town and I'm looking around, will I ever see your eyes again?
Where did you disappear today? I turn the corner and I see you fade
In silver rain with a paper key, you lost your lover
 
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 arrangements," 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. (Not on this song though.)

"In Silver Rain With A Paper Key" is the sixth track on Demolished Thoughts. Thurston Moore wrote a less-than-serious track-by-track guide, and this is what he wrote about "Silver Rain":

On day six, I woke up in the back of a Volkswagen I kept on the rooftop of my old apartment on Lafayette St., knowing that I had to catch a flight back to the west coast before Beck started putting up new posters in his studio, as that was something I really wanted to have a hand in decision-wise. I dressed in a ratty old blue sailor outfit I had stashed in the front end boot and walked through the first light snow wondering, wondering, wondering if it were just a dream that I was kidnapped and set free only to wander in search of my heart-thief. I sat down on a park bench and wrote the song “In Silver Rain with a Paper Key”. I recorded it with my cigarette-mic, which by its distinct proximity to my mouth and the inflection caused by the lip-grip on the mic’s “filter” I was able to capture the essence of strangers falling in love. I stuck the smoked mic behind my ear and hailed a cab to JFK.


Beck adds some cool production on here, a few parts of the song sound quite unique. It builds out of a quiet yet noisy intro, and later in the song there's a bit of a drop-out, where it sounds like it's underwater. All this is done with a minimum of instruments--acoustic guitar, violin, harp, and Beck's tiny bits of bass and synths.