Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1995…
#8 – Tigerlily – Natalie Merchant
The Decades series offer up two distinct pleasures. One is discovering music that passed me by at the time, and the other is rediscovering music I haven’t listened to for years.
Natalie Merchant’s solo debut, Tigerlily, was a lovely, low-key collection from an artist who had released several strong albums with the alternative band 10,000 Maniacs. This record didn’t have the jangly college radio appeal of her work with the band, but it was resonant in a whole different way.
Tigerlily is made up of mid-tempo ballads that layer Merchant’s uniquely beautiful voice over a bed of soft guitars and keyboards. It’s chill-out music. Nothing revolutionary, nothing daring, but warm and relaxing in a way that is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.
The album sold well, going 5X platinum and placing three songs in the top 25 of the Hot 100, including a top ten hit in ‘Carnival.’
Another of those hits was today’s SOTD, ‘Jealousy,’ a clever song that’s as upbeat as this album gets.
Oooh, jealousy
[Verse 1]
Is she fine
So well bred
The perfect girl
A social deb
Is she the sort
You’ve always thought
Could make you
What you’re not?
[Chorus]
Oooh, jealousy
[Verse 2]
Is she bright, so well read
Are there novels by her bed?
Is she the sort
You’ve always said
Could satisfy
Your head?
[Chorus]
Oooh, jealousy
See Natalie Merchant Live
Get tickets as low as $60
[Outro]
Does she talk
The way i do
Is her voice reminding you
Of the promises
The little white lies too
Sometimes, tell me
While she’s touching you
Just by mistake
Accidentally do you say my name?
Meet Me In Montauk 
I had always been a casual fan of 10000 Maniacs, particularly the album Our Time in Eden, which was released a few years before Tigerlily and featured the wonderful “These are Days.” Eden’s sound moved the band in a musical direction that Merchant fortified in Tigerlily.
This album was in heavy rotation with us, particularly with Amy, at a time when we were otherwise fairly checked out of the music scene, consumed and preoccupied with being new parents.
.
I haven’t listened to either of these albums in decades, but “These are Days” is a staple on almost every playlist I have. Natalie’s voice made such an impression on me back then, and I love it just as much today.