(16) 10,000 Maniacs, "Eat for Two"
“Eat for Two” covers a fairly wide swath of
emotion, most overtly anger,
fear, and regret. But sadness is always
there too,
obvious in the form of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy (“My
folly grows
inside of me”), but, more subtly, in the form of the narrator’s
disappointment
in herself. Bitterly, she tells us “Pride is for men, young girls
should run
and hide instead / Risk the game by taking dares with yes.” She
holds herself
entirely responsible for her predicament and dispenses with the
baby’s father
in a few withering lines, “But she couldn’t stand for the way he
begged and gave
in.” It is this quality that makes the song a more universal song
about sadness—it’s less about an unwanted baby and more about the sadness we
feel when we
disappoint ourselves with our own weakness.
vs
(1) Elliott Smith, "Waltz #2"
Though official selection committee advisers strongly recommended “Needle in the Hay,” the committee made a late switch to “Waltz #2” and stand by this choice. Smith is a one-seed in part on account of his reputation—this is a legacy program we’re looking at here, and it’s hard to argue with a track record of sadness like Elliott Smith’s (or with his presumed—or possible, anyhow—suicide with a knife to the chest). One of the things we admire most about “Waltz #2” is that it's a freaking waltz, for starters, and thus it stands out from everything else here. Secondly, there’s the wonderful way the song ends, turning the minor to the major with the very last chord. It’s almost unbearable listening to that turn, knowing he's gone. The committee admits that it doesn't know enough about Elliott Smith—the committee does not claim expertise in his oeuvre—but his is a pretty god damned sad story, ending sadly, and with a significant question mark, and this is one of the bracket's high-water points of desperation and sad beauty. Of course there's no official video:
Which song's sadder? Vote by 9am 3/8
I'm not quite sure this is the 10,000 Maniacs I would have chosen--and I've always liked them, even at Natalie's most strenuous. Smith for me, but whether this song is deserving of a #1 seed is another question entirely.
ReplyDeleteFor better or worse, suicides got a bump up in the ratings by the committee.
DeleteSince suicide is usually irrefutable evidence of (a particular sort of) overwhelming sadness, the committee thought it an important selection criterion. Admittedly there is a question of whether Smith killed himself or not, but his sadness rep is hard to deny. Hence his #1 seed. Other criteria we used were the rabidity of a musician's fanbase, whether the band was on a major label (in a major conference), their cultural reach (Smith's inclusion of a song in Good Will Hunting, for instance), some aspects of their reputation or life story (or death story), as well as, of course, the perceived sadness of the song (and band). Perhaps, however, 10,000 Maniacs is underseeded (or, as Juan pointed out, represented by the wrong song: he suggested What's the Matter Here; we had a hard time with them finding "sad" songs exactly, which also explains their relatively low seed).
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, and I feel like I'm commenting way too often, I think 10,000 Maniacs are just hurt by the fact that sadness isn't really what they do. Or rather, what they do is keep a straight face in the midst of sadness, like a nineteenth century farm bride looking at a coming storm. They would kick as in a bracket about stoicism.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Smith's death and likely suicide a stabbing? I'm not sure why that's important to me, other than, well, it's sadder than a shotgun. I also think suicide is relevant because affect matters and the artist's death contributes to affect. Sometimes by detracting from it, depending on how one feels about suicide in abstract, potentially unfair ways.
Oh, you're right re stabbing. That's also important: it's sadder because harder and I'd think more painful (and as such way more unusual, and maybe also then more evidence of possible foul play, so thus more mysterious). Post has been updated to reflect that.
ReplyDeleteThe Mark Linkous suicide is interesting to consider in light of this discussion because while it was a shotgun, it was to the chest in an ally in KY at night after he left his friend's house (from what I heard). Pretty brutal and bitter.
ReplyDeleteThink the Linkous story might have been what we mixed up with Smith's. Sparklehorse was on our radar, but we knew his later work best, so he didn't quite make the cut, but I do think the question of the narrative surrounding the songs/bands/musicians in the bracket is clearly important to a lot of us, and how that affects how we read the song.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree, Ander. If you do this again next year I highly suggest studying up on Sparklehorse. The entire catalog could give many of these songs a run for their money and three albums were released 2001 or earlier. Good Morning Spider breaks my heart every time I listen to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to dispute the Kind of Sadness, but I think "Eat for Two" is a pretty inspired selection.
ReplyDelete