by Kate Nash and Paul Epworth (2007)
This is odd. One of those surprising hits. There's nothing that really indicates that it could be a hit but it was. Goes to show there are audiences don't always know what they like until they hear it.
Now I am not the audience for this. To be honest, the content of the song barely registers. But the songwriting itself is fascinating.
Let's start with the most apparent aspect of the song, the accent. Kate Nash sings with a heavy London accent (she's originally from Harrow). I don't know if it's authentic. It sounds a bit affected to my ears but that doesn't really matter. The significant thing is that it's not the usual American accent and that, I contend, is not just a performing choice, it's a songwriting one.
This kind of accent is all closed vowels, dropped Ts and glottal stops. So we get a staccato-type melody without any long, held notes. Really the melody in the verses just dances around the tonic note.This limited movement allows it to be closer to normal speech, which makes it easier to sing in an accent other than the usual American-ese that most singers use. The words are dictating the rhythm and phrasing. It also makes it easier to switch between singing and speaking. So we get lines like:
"You said I must eat so many lemons 'cos I am so bitter
I said I'd rather be with your friends, mate, 'cos they are much fitter"
The first line is sung to a jumpy melody; the second line is pretty much spoken. And we get a nice off-beat drawl on bitter/fitter. Which is kind of funny and memorable.
The next line hints at something nastier, abusive even:
"Yes, it was childish and you were aggressive and I must admit
I was a bit scared but it gives me thrills to wind you up"
"My fingertips are holding onto the cracks in our foundations
And I know that I should let go, but I can't
Every time we fight I know it's not right, every time you're upset and I smile
I know I should forget but I can't"
And here's the interesting thing. We shouldn't like this character. The character being presented isn't a very appealing one - nasty, vindictive, bored, rude. Yet we do like her and I think it's the fact that she's self-aware. Those two lines are key: "I know that I should let go...I know that I should forget...but I can't". Without those lines, it's really just a laundry list of complaints. Instead we see that she's trapped and she knows that she's trapped. That's much more interesting dramatically.
In fact, it could be a great theatre song.
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