Song of the Day #484: ‘Wise Up’ – Aimee Mann

magnoliaAimee Mann’s record studio problems went from bad to worse as she worked on her third solo album. She turned her material in to Geffen and heard the classic line: “We don’t hear a single.” In fact, the studio shelved the album until she could produce something more commercial. She wound up writing a track called ‘Nothing is Good Enough’ about, you guessed it, evil record studio heads.

But then a funny thing happened. Mann’s close friend, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, was inspired by a line in one of her songs (‘Deathly’) to write and shoot the film Magnolia. And he intertwined Mann’s music into the film as well, using several existing cuts and asking her to pen a new one for the film.

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