After the demise of Imago, Aimee Mann jumped to Geffen for her next release, 1995’s I’m With Stupid. Again, the album met with critical success but didn’t sell very well, eventually leading to problems with the new label (yes, a pattern is developing here).
Mann has always struck me as a great example of an evolving artist. Looking at her material through the years, the talent is always there and so is her melancholy tone and thematic focus on life’s losers, but her style is very fluid. After exploring new wave pop in her ‘Til Tuesday material, she moved to a more acoustic, organic sound on Whatever. On I’m With Stupid, Mann went electric, but with a minimalist production style that sharpens every song to a deadly edge.
‘Par for the Course’ is a 6-minute heartbreak epic bathed in grungy guitar under Mann’s repeated cries that “I don’t even know you anymore” — and I know that makes it sound awful, but it’s actually a beautiful ballad of a song. ‘Amateur,’ which found a home on a few 90s soundtracks, is a gentle waltz that showcases Mann’s aching soprano beautifully. ‘Choice in the Matter’ is a great breakup song containing this verse, a favorite of mine, that puts you right into the room:
Don’t you know we’re sick of it?
As much as I would like to stay
The message light just blinks away
And while I’m here you won’t push play
Today’s song, ‘That’s Just What You Are,’ is the only one from the album that received some radio airplay and it briefly crept onto the modern rock chart. This was the first Aimee Mann solo song I ever heard, on a mix tape given to me by the same friend who introduced me to Dar Williams.
I fell for it right away, both the sound and the lyrics. I especially liked the use of metaphor in the bridge, an indication of what a clever wordsmith Mann is: “Now I could talk to you till I’m blue in the face but we still would arrive at the very same place, with you running around and me out of the race.”
It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
We are never seeing eye to eye
No guts to surface
So forever may we wave goodbye
And you’re always telling me
That it’s my turn to move
When I wonder what could make the needle jump the groove
I won’t fall for the oldest trick in the book
So don’t sit there and think
You’re off of the hook
By saying there is no use changing
Cause that’s just what you are
That’s just what you are
Acting steady
Always ready to defend your fears
What’s the matter with the truth?
Did I offend your ears?
By suggesting that a change might be a thing to try
Would it kill you just to try and be a nicer guy?
It’s not like you would lose
Some critical piece
If somehow you moved point A to point B
Maintaining there is no point changing
Cause that’s just what you are
That’s just what you are
Now I could talk to you till I’m blue in the face
But we still would arrive at the very same place
With you running around
And me out of the race
So maybe you’re right
Nobody can take
Something older than time
And hope you could make it better
That would be a mistake
So take it just so far
Cause that’s just what you are
That’s just what you are
Acting steady
Always ready to defend your fears
(That’s just what you are)
What’s the matter with the truth?
Did I offend your ears?
When you’re sleepwalking it is a danger to wake you
Even when it is apparent where your actions will take you
That’s just what you are
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’m a bit reluctant to write this week, as I don’t want to disparage one of your all-time favorite artists, yet I just don’t get what you admire about her, at least as a lyricist (based on the songs you’ve featured thus far; maybe tomorrow will convert me?).
Now once the music started for today’s song, and I remembered it(which I did not AT ALL from the lyrics), I can appreciate what a catchy song it is. Same with “Voices Carry.” The woman is able to write a song that is likely to stay with you for the next few hours (whether that makes you happy or crazy 😉
It’s just that when her lyrics are placed next to those other favorites you feature – Elvis Costello, Lyle Lovett, Dar Williams – or those you don’t like so much but perhaps should 😉 (such as, say, Joni Mitchell!), I find them to be the glaring weakness in her songwriting. I keep hoping she’s intentionally using one cliche after another in an effort to play off of them (in the way Lovett sometimes does), yet the play never comes, and the trite language just sits there until another bit of it is added (“oldest trick in the book,” “you’re off the hook,” “I’m blue in the face”)
Maybe she just needs her very own Bernie Taupin? Or maybe I’m being too hard on her. I find her music perfectly enjoyable, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t understand why you hold in such high regard.
You don’t have to feel bad about trashing the things I love. That’s 75% of what this blog is about. 😉
I don’t rank Aimee Mann on a par with Costello as a lyricist — not on a consistent basis, anyway — but I do think they’ve collaborated frequently because they share a certain sensibility in their songwriting.
And I don’t think she’s aiming to be a poet. She writes in real language, the way people really talk (with more rhymes :-)) and finds the beauty and pain in it. A line like this one from ‘Ghost World’ tells me more about the character than some hyper-clever wordplay: “Finals blew, I barely knew my graduation speech. With college out of reach, if I don’t find a job it’s down to Dad and Myrtle Beach.”
i think Amy is being a bit hard on Mann–her lyrics may not twist, contort and confuse as Costello’s often do, but I hardly see them as trite. I do think, however, that, with Mann, it really is more about the total package of her sound and the mood she creates. In that way, she reminds me of Sting, who could basically sing “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” but if he threw some jazzy arrangement into it with his voice and interpretation, it would somehow elevate to something listenable and interesting. In fact, in some of Sting’s later albums, he seemed to purposely make his lyrics less ethereal, like in the song “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” I suspect that song being sung by almost anybody else would not work on me, but with Stings voice and the arrangements he creates–it just does. Still, one could hardly hold those lyrics out as great poetry or say claim they are profound.
Anyway, other than the Magnolia soundtrack, this is probably the album of Mann’s of which I am most familiar. It contains some really great stuff, including today’s SOTD. Amy may not be digging this theme, but I’m okay with it, and if my wife keeps complaining, I say it’s time for another Fiona Apple theme week!:)
If she keeps it up, I’ll have to use the nuclear option: Rufus Wainwright!
You’re holding Sting out as an example of someone who writes trite lyrics?! Come on. As I said, I appreciate the overall sound of her, much as I appreciate the overall sound of many artists I don’t consider favorites or hold out as first-rate artists. Just because I enjoyed Band Slam doesn’t mean I think it’s as good a film as Where the Wild Things Are or A Serious Man. I might have just as enjoyable a time in the movie theater, or listening to the CD player, but I realize the difference in quality.
Now I readily admit (and have frequently admitted on this blog) that I am no musician, so I don’t begin to critique the music – I simply know whether I like it or not. However, with lyrics, I feel a bit more able to critique. I also agree with Clay that being able to capture the concerns of real people and the way real people think and speak is a worthy – and artistic – goal. Even by those standards, however, Mann is no Springsteen or Mellencamp (or Swift ;))
at least based on the lyrics I’ve been reading these past few days.
I think you’re getting a little carried away. After all, you’ve read four songs now (whether songs should be read is another question altogether) and you described one of them as “powerful” and “chilling” — so I hardly think that warrants comparing Mann negatively to Taylor Swift! (And I consider Swift a good songwriter from what I’ve heard).
I think you’ve inspired me to write a post about song lyrics. Lots of stuff to explore… the importance of lyrics apart from the music, for one. And what exactly makes a good lyric, anyway?
I look forward to that blog 🙂 I may very well being getting carried away, but I started by simply wondering what about her and her music so captures your attention? I also am thinking back to the songs that competed (for lack of a better term) in the contest we had several years back. As I recall, Mann’s music made it pretty far, though you and Dana may have been responsible for that 😉
I think it’s like anything that’s held up as an example of greatness. If you’re standing in MOMA looking at the white canvas with the big black dot inside it, and everyone around you is oooooohing and aaaaaaahing, eventually you want to say, “Really? That?” Mann is not the equivalent of the black spot on the white canvas, but it was the quickest example that came to mind 🙂 For the record, I “read” and listened simultaneously; I wasn’t expecting the lyric to stand up as a poem.