“I’m worried about people that are trying to eliminate or delete or get rid of the mistakes… It’s like, no, no, no wait, that’s where brilliance lives. That’s where instinct lives. That’s where God lives. That’s the spark. You know, when the book was printed, I looked at it, and I got halfway through and I was like: ‘This is such a weird book. It’s so weird.’ I’d thought, as I used to do with my lyric writing, I thought I was being so clear and so obvious and actually overstating my points. Overdoing it, really. But actually, the book is weird. It might take a bit of work, but I feel like if you go from beginning to end and you close the book, you might look up and see something a little bit differently than you had before.”
Oh, 1990s alternative music. What did you do to me?
I really liked this song, when it was released (which was… 1992, apparently); I can remember listening to it over and over again, alternating it with the R.E.M. that I was getting into at the time, and wondering whether I had a crush on Natalie Merchant* or not, and feeling guilty about the possibility that I did. Listening to it again now, for the first time in many, many years, I am struck by the way the production reminds me of Paul Simon’s Graceland album from six years prior, with the weirdly suffocating jangly guitars and soulless horn section (Especially surprising, considering it’s James Brown’s backing horns providing them, with Maceo Parker involved as well). There’s an unappealing sanctimoniousness about the lyrics, too: “If lust and hate are the candy/If blood and love tastes so sweet/Then we give ’em what they want” is, in some strange way, entirely offputting an opening to the song, some kind of superior judgment that makes Merchant and friends seem alien and uncaring.
Amusingly, listening to this again today, I realized that the version that lived in my head was the live version with Michael Stipe doing co-vocals:
There’s something loose and joyful in his performance that the song just feels entirely different. There’s a lesson in there, somewhere.
(* Watching the video today, for the first time ever, Merchant reminds me of Parker Posey; if they ever do a Natalie Merchant biopic, clearly they need to cast Posey in the lead.)
