Our Exquisite Replica of "Eternity"

Cologne dispenser at a truck stop, 2003

Cologne dispenser at a gas station, 2003

Lyrics

(instrumental)

Chronology

• Upgrade & Afterlife
  • David Grubbs - writer
  • Jim O'Rourke - writer
  • Tony Burr - clarient
  • Kevin Drumm - guitar
  • Steve Braack - horns

Interpretations

• "Eternity" is a perfume created by Calvin Klein in 1988. "Our Exquisite Replica of 'Eternity'" is a knockoff fragrance that appeared in perfume dispensers in gas station bathrooms in the 1990s. David Grubbs states that he peeled the sticker off a perfume dispenser and "gave it to Drag City for a Gastr t-shirt"
• The track contains a sample from the score of the science fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• The track appears in Hal Hartley's film The Book of Life (1998)

Retrospectives

David Grubbs, 2015

There was also "Our Exquisite Replica of Opium," "Our Exquisite Replica of Obsession," etc.

But who will be the first to present photographic evidence for "Our Exquisite Replica of Eternity"?

David Grubbs, 2023

24 years after Jim O'Rourke and I gave permission for "Our Exquisite Replica of Eternity" to be used in Hal Hartley's "The Book of Life," I finally saw the film -- fittingly, on P.J. Harvey's birthday [...]

Around this time, friends who saw P.J. Harvey live said that "Our Exquisite Replica" was played over the PA before she took the stage. (She was present for Gastr del Sol's first UK show -- opening for Shellac.)

[...] They didn’t send us a copy — so I didn’t know until tonight that part of the Gastr track was overlaid with a piece of drum and bass. It’s used pretty prominently — maybe two or more minutes of the track?