Why "Mesmerizing" is the best ever love song

[harkrider]

Most of all, it avoids the word "love" altogether.  There's lots of I like it, and I'm very happy, but no LOVE.  Why?  Because it's about the process of falling into love, not love itself.  To describe the state of love is simple.  Hundreds of songs do it, spewing adjectives and happy melodies.  But to demonstrate love's trajectory or shape is a neater trick by far.  Here's my favorite line from the song, and one that shows the shape of her idea.

"You tossed the egg up, and I found my hands in place, boy." 

Two separate actors -- apart, devoid of logic, but perfectly sensible together.  These mutually "mesmerizing two" make one thing, love, each partly controlling one another, each out of control.  It's a strange loop.  The guitar work reflects this same shape, I think, sounding at once alien, far away -- yet with the allure of a dawning idea.

[wooden and alone]

is it really about love? i kind of get the impression that it's about a scenario wherein the girl is just so turned off by this guy who thinks she's a floozy and dumb, carefree, empty and she's like saying "nah, you're thinking about yourself".

at least, that's how it struck me at first. but your interpretation makes sense. i need to stop watching girly tv dramas.

[harkrider]

I never said it was positive.  It goes out of its way to foreshadow otherwise, in fact, as you point out.  But then, in the real world,  I've seen exactly ZERO love affairs pan out over the long haul.  Love doesn't work.  It's fundamentally broken, unsustainable -- literally a FALL, which is followed, logically, by a SPLAT.  I'm speaking mostly as an observer, but people get sick of each other once the obsession fades.  Show me the story a lifelong love affair and I'll show you at least one liar in any given scene.

(Speaking of fading affection -- another great love song is Mazzy Star's Fade Into You.  It's got similar characteristics.)

So yes, I agree that trouble lies ahead for our mesmerizing duet.  I would also suggest that Divorce Song tells the latter half of their story.  Perhaps that's why I've always pictured the video for Mesmerizing as being set in a car -- maybe one of those student driving films -- the fun part of the joyride, where these two crazy lovers swerve all over the road, oblivious to outside affairs, selves absorbed,  impervious by virtue of being so.   It's fun being unwisely wild.  But then things get ugly in Divorce Song (shot concurrently, saving shitloads of money) with the onset of the flat tires, the losing of the map, the rolling of the eyes, and the sniping at each other's insecurities, and then, invariably, the congruent (yet secretive) prayers for those oncoming headlights to veer their into their lane.   

But none of that diminishes the greatness of Mesmerizing as a love song.  Quite the opposite, in fact. 

As a side note, I recall that Divorce Song was what awoke my wife to Liz Phair's greatness, although she now prefers Jealousy.  She said, and I paraphrase: "that's really fucking good.  Who IS that?  That's so fucking TRUE!!!  Wow, where's the CD case?  I wanna see what she looks like.  (pause) Hmm...  It's hard to see her.  (pause) Why would she use such a shitty picture?  It's all grainy.  She must not be very good looking, huh?  (long pause)  HEY... I asked you a QUESTION."

"Huh?" I replied, eyeing the oncoming headlights.  "Who?  Oh her?  Not good looking?  Yeah.  But at least she sounds great, huh?"

(I'm joking, of course.  We're in no danger of getting divorced.  We have a flawless love affair, actually.)
 

[Denneval]

What an appropriate choice for analysis, Mr. Harkrider; I'm sure more people will appreciate this song once December arrives. JEEPERS!.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

I always thought that a song with a similar theme to Divorce Song would be cool, but with a different ending.  Instead of the lovers heading to oblivion, they realize that they really do love each other and you get sex after a fight.

I think that was the song that I was looking for when I stumbled across the fair Ms. Phair, but I don't think that anyone's written a song like that.

I really am a stupid old romantic.

[LightYears]

I always thought that a song with a similar theme to Divorce Song would be cool, but with a different ending.  Instead of the lovers heading to oblivion, they realize that they really do love each other and you get sex after a fight.

In Love With Yourself kind of does that (Only they're still denying any love between the two of them by the end), since the narration threads through the arguement and perspectives until it errupts into sex.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

I always thought that a song with a similar theme to Divorce Song would be cool, but with a different ending.  Instead of the lovers heading to oblivion, they realize that they really do love each other and you get sex after a fight.

In Love With Yourself kind of does that (Only they're still denying any love between the two of them by the end), since the narration threads through the arguement and perspectives until it errupts into sex.

Yeah, that's a pretty cool song, but the overall tone tends towards depressing.  It erupts into sex, but you just don't get the feeling  that it's what the person speaking really wants.

This was also a relationship that was allegedly over.

Definitely not the kind of material that you'd play for your signficant other to get them in the mood.

Thanks for pointing this out--I needed to give that song another listen.

[JeremyEngle]

So it's almost mid-December... That third Girly Sound tape should be hatching any day now, right?

"JEEPERS!."

[harkrider]

Regarding the tapes in general, didn't you once post a nice breakdown of the recording methods used on each?  It was part of the few thousand posts that disappeared when the LPF went *poof* back in October.  Anyhow, I would like to ask two things:

1) That you would re-post that information here, or there, or someplace.
2) That we apply the same analysis to the "tape  three" material that is known to exist.

Here's my rationale on the second point...  The tape three stuff we've got seems to run the gamut from adeptly recorded and transferred (South Dakota and Easy) to poorly recorded and / or poorly transferred (Stratford on Guy).  This would seem to indicate that the tape three material is not single sourced, but is perhaps a collection thrown together after the fact.  If so, then there might be lots of sources out there, of which this would be only one.

THAT said, if Mesmerizing is indeed among the new material, it will mark the biggest Liz Phair event since... well...  a very long time.  It's her best song by many accounts.  It's one of the best songs ever written, in my opinion.  Anyhow, while we are waiting for this momentous event to potentially NOT occur, let's talk about the recording techniques used on mysterious tape three.

[shmoopy]

Here's my rationale on the second point...  The tape three stuff we've got seems to run the gamut from adeptly recorded and transferred (South Dakota and Easy) to poorly recorded and / or poorly transferred (Stratford on Guy).  This would seem to indicate that the tape three material is not single sourced, but is perhaps a collection thrown together after the fact.  If so, then there might be lots of sources out there, of which this would be only one.

Those tape 3 songs that you mentioned-south dakota and easy-were ripped from the Juvenalia ep so of course they are going to sound better than the 20th generation copies of  other songs like stratford-on-guy.
Tape 1 was electric guitar with double tracked vocals, a narrow width mix. Tape 2 was acoustic guitar and featured  less use of the double tracked vocals with plenty of reverb on the guitar and vocals. Tape 3 is electric with lots of multitracking on the vocals-eg  flower, stratford on guy,  whip smart- and wider panning.

[harkrider]

The Juvenalia thing makes sense.  That said, Stratford on Guy still sounds vastly inferior to Slave and Gigalo, in my opinion, neither of which made the cut for the EP.  But then maybe they are more sonically resilient than SOG, which rattles the windows of my car, despite its music-box characteristics.  But I hope you're right, and that there is a clean tape three someplace, from which select tracks were lifted for Juvenalia.

I would like to host better tape three material in general.  The stuff out here:

http://girlysound.com/tape3.html

was lifted from an ebay bootleg.  If anyone has cleaner sources, then please pipe up.

[shmoopy]

There are also songs on the first 2 tapes that do not have the same sound quality as other tracks. The sound on  "Miss Lucy" is pretty muffled, the guitar on "Clean" is too quiet...

Hopefully the tape 3 tracks will be shared and we aren't all being had. Maybe someone could beg Mr. Brokaw for a copy.

[MeSmErIzInG_ToO]

So it's almost mid-December... That third Girly Sound tape should be hatching any day now, right?

"JEEPERS!."

HAHAHAHAHAHA
Brilliant, Mr. Engle! 

[harkrider]

Yes, I guess the sound quality varies enough to explain pretty much any trajectory, tape to tape, generation to generation.  Who can say?  Here's to hoping we find out sooner than later...

...drum roll...

[MeSmErIzInG_ToO]

...December is almost over...
"JEEPERS!."