View source for A Pest

== Lyrics ==
{{Lyrics|
I look at the mirror
And what do I see?
A man who knows his history
And he's coming after me.

A crime scene from down-under
By a pest chasing a dollar
With fake research delusions
And he's coming after me.

He has a funny style of speech
Like a little lawyer
He's got the information
And he's coming after me.

Small time operator
(It's as plain as it can be)
Masquerades as a truth-teller
And he's coming after me.

Such creatures are
Familiar things,
Bugs that stink, not sting
And they're coming after me.

Do I laugh and hope
That he goes away?
Is that the best way to be
When he's coming after me?

Or take him to a lonely place,
Explain why he annoys;
Offer quiet extinction
And bury him under a tree?
}}

== Chronology ==
* {{RLink|Sighs}}

== Interpretations ==
"A Pest" is directed towards Australian art historian David Pestorius and his 2005 essay "A Defective Mirror in Paris."

In 2012, Pestorius wrote again of his grievance with Art & Language and identified himself as the target of "A Pest." He described the song as "troubling" — "not just threatening and aggressive, it's hysterical" and summarized his dispute as follows:<ref>https://aaanz.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/conference_2012.pdf</ref><blockquote>In the 1970s, the Australian artist Ian Burn (1939–1993) was a key member of the Art & Language collective. However, since Burn’s untimely death his name and important contribution have been slipping away in official accounts of Art & Language history. What might be at stake in such deceit, to say nothing of the hypocrisy involved? [http://www.davidpestorius.com/pubs/Art-and-Language.pdf This paper] will chart the writer’s investigation of this art historical distortion, an investigation that prompted an extraordinary threat (in the guise of a song) from Burn’s former Art & Language collaborator, [[Mel Ramsden]], who rather than admit and express remorse for obscuring and minimising the place of friend’s work has continued to act like a common thug. This is a sobering account, to be sure, but it is also a salutary lesson for those who might question the actions of ruthless artists determined to succeed in show business at any cost.</blockquote>Art & Language's official reply to Pestorius's "Defective Mirror" essay was a letter to the editor of Art Monthly Australia, "In Response: David Pestorius and the Paul Maenz Archive," published in May 2006.

== References ==
{{Sighs Trapped by Liars}}

[[Category:Songs|Pest, A]]
[[Category:Lyrics by Art & Language|Pest, A]]
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