A Pest

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

• Sighs Trapped by Liars
  • Elisa Randazzo - vocals

Interpretations

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

In 2012, Pestorius identified himself as the target of "A Pest" and described the song as "troubling" — "not just threatening and aggressive, it's hysterical". He summarized his grievance with Art & Language as follows:

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? 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.

Art & Language's official reply to Pestorius's "Defective Mirror" essay was a letter to the editor in Art Monthly Australia published in May 2006: "In Response: David Pestorius and the Paul Maenz Archive".