(no subject)
Jul. 20th, 2020 06:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42I was listening to Joanna Newsom’s Ys for the hundredth time today (I still find it so funny that not only was my biggest musical discovery of the year made all the way back in January, but I actually disliked it on first listen- plus side note, I still don’t know how to pronounce the name), and I have two thoughts. One, people who call Joanna Newsom (and also Punch Brothers) “folk” are simply afraid to admit that prog can be acoustic, too. (On the other hand, fuck genres.) And two, there’s so much love and devotion in some of her lyrics that it actually breaks my heart to think that she eventually split up with the person she wrote those romantic lines for. I mean, I know she’s married now (to Andy Samberg, no less! What a power couple), but it’s still sad to hear the conclusion of a song be “all I can do is do, my darling, right by you,” especially since that very song features her eventual ex on vocals. And then her follow-up album was mainly full of breakup songs... oof.
Newsom once said that each of the five songs on Ys deals with a different personal upheaval from the year when she wrote the songs. I’ve narrowed down several of the stories- “Emily” is about her sister and how she learned from and supported her, “Cosmia” is about a dear friend dying, “Only Skin” is about a turbulent relationship (presumably with the aforementioned eventual ex, which makes the part where he sings hit that much harder), and “Monkey and Bear” is about dealing with the media’s interpretation of her and possibly poor management (mind, that one and the interpretation of “Only Skin” are the ones I’m guessing at- I actually have a complex interpretation of both songs but I’ll have to write them out later). Actually, I think “Only Skin” is exempt from this, but I still see a story in it. That leaves “Sawdust and Diamonds” as the only one I haven’t nailed down, but let me tell you, it is one of the FINEST and would be the finest if “Only Skin” didn’t exist. The part where she says “I believe it tolls for me!” gives me utter chills.
Newsom once said that each of the five songs on Ys deals with a different personal upheaval from the year when she wrote the songs. I’ve narrowed down several of the stories- “Emily” is about her sister and how she learned from and supported her, “Cosmia” is about a dear friend dying, “Only Skin” is about a turbulent relationship (presumably with the aforementioned eventual ex, which makes the part where he sings hit that much harder), and “Monkey and Bear” is about dealing with the media’s interpretation of her and possibly poor management (mind, that one and the interpretation of “Only Skin” are the ones I’m guessing at- I actually have a complex interpretation of both songs but I’ll have to write them out later). Actually, I think “Only Skin” is exempt from this, but I still see a story in it. That leaves “Sawdust and Diamonds” as the only one I haven’t nailed down, but let me tell you, it is one of the FINEST and would be the finest if “Only Skin” didn’t exist. The part where she says “I believe it tolls for me!” gives me utter chills.
