This is where I collect fragments, bits, and pieces of ideas that don’t have a home anywhere else. Maybe I’ll spin some of these into something bigger, maybe not. These pages may or may not self-destruct.
The assignment: Every few days, I will write one sentence (or maybe more!) about a song or a playlist. Maybe that way I won’t forget how to write.
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Playlist: Are you kidding me
My favorite musical genre is not really a genre, in the strict sense. It’s an attitude and a point of view that I can hear across songs by punks and soul divas and songwriters and pop stars alike; it’s the sound of women who are just completely over it. Not in an angry way, more…
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Bettye Swann, Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
This song is about heartbreak: it’s the song of someone pleading with you to stay, to never leave, to come back. Please don’t break my heart just yet or ever: first tell me you love me for a million years. This song is sly and funny: it’s the joking ultimatum of someone who doesn’t think…
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Bat for Lashes, I’m on Fire
Another one for the Creepsteen playlist. This one flips the gender, pulls back on the tempo, adds a dose of glittering atmosphere, and sounds like a witchy incantation. It upends the power dynamics of the original: if Bruce is issuing a macho proposition, Bat for Lashes is a siren’s lure. Both play with a stereotype,…
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Electrelane, I’m on Fire
First let me confess that I am weirdly fond of Springsteen; before he became rock and roll’s dad, young Bruce was weirdly hot as hell. And anyone whose songwriting shows that they know their girl groups gets a thumbs up from me. Lately I’ve been really into women covering Springsteen, and Electrelane’s aggressive and almost…
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Amyl and the Sniffers, Guided by Angels
I would follow Amy Taylor’s voice off a cliff. I think what I love the most about this song is the way she sings like she’s summoning us, like she’s our fearless leader or maybe our cult leader, calling on us to rise up and follow her into the thick of a fire. She shouts…
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Ramones, I Wanna Be Sedated
When you sing along with I Wanna Be Sedated, it becomes so instantly clear that it’s a girl group song, and that girl groups were punker than punk!