| LIZ PHAIR ESSAY |
| In the same song she also uses familiar words in unfamiliar ways to deliver her messages. Phair writes, "The odds are getting fatter by the minute/ That I have got a bright and shiny platter/ And I am gonna get your heavy head." Here she uses the word platter to mean a music album, and head to refer to her lover�s penis, therefore making a statement about success and sex. She goes on to write, "I only ask because I�m a cunt in the spring/ You can rent me by the hour," using the word spring to refer to the beginning of a relationship. Also, the use of rent seems not to pertain to payment, like a hooker, but as a raw reference to sex, meaning tear or separate, which connotes a rough sexual act. Phair continues, "I know all about the ugly pilgrim thing/ Entertainers bring mayflowers." Her use of the word pilgrim, which is one who travels, seems to be linked to her previous remark about her coming success. Both suggest Phair is referring to herself as the pilgrim, and is addressing the problems soon to befall her relationship with her lover. More to the point, it is clear that in Exile In Guyville Phair constantly uses language in a number of unique ways that have been marked as characteristics of her music, thus forming a persona not only as the Blowjob Queen (a title that very nearly represents every song on the album), but as an original, confrontational, femme character. We can see why Liz Phair, as a part of her persona, immediately became known for her raw word choice, wordplay, and imagery. I will next try to examine how these qualities carried into her second album, how they diminished, and how they continued to effect her persona. Whip-Smart In Whip-Smart Phair continues to explore sex and relationships with exhilarating frankness and celebration, and applies profanity to a conversational effect. In the first couple phrases of the album it�s clear Phair didn�t completely grow out of her sexual rawness (He said he liked to do it backwards/ I said, "That�s just fine with me,/ That way we can fuck and watch TV."). But although Phair�s vulgarity kicks off the album, it dissipates quickly as the album reaches its midpoint. This seems to have little affect on her ability to convey the songs� messages and emotions. Liz is still able to get her messages through in songs like Whip-Smart (And I�m gonna lock my son up in a tower �til I write my whole life story/ On the back of his big brown eyes) and Jealousy (I know it�s just a drawer of photographs/ They�re ex-girlfriends, I try to remember that/ I don�t wanna look, but I�m already hooked on jealousy). Phair�s imagery is consistent in songs like Supernova, where she writes, "Your eyelashes sparkle like gilded grass/ Your lips are sweet and slippery like a cherub�s bare wet ass." This creates clear images of the "solar superman[�s]" eyelashes, and stimulates our senses of touch with her description of his lips. In Dogs of L.A. she writes, "And the shit brown reservoir/ Is a testament to the dogs of L.A." Here, Phair paints clearly a canyon in one�s mind. Like her vulgarity, Phair�s wordplay is more subdued and less frequent than that of Guyville, but it can still be found. In the song Nashville, Phair writes "I don�t crack the door too far for anyone who�s pushing too hard on me," which is another way of saying she doesn�t open up to anyone who pressures her. A better example may be found in Jealousy where she writes, "Standing/ On the mud flats/ Watching/ The salmon/ Fly." This probably doesn�t mean Phair is standing on a muddy beach, watching aquatic creatures fly overhead. It most likely means she�s standing on the roof of an apartment complex (mud flats), watching all the deceived women (salmon) go in and out of the building to her lover (fly). Whip-Smart didn�t progress Phair�s image, it only verified what was previously seen in Guyville: a young woman who continues to write about her disenchanted love life with unblinking frankness in her language. In the next section I will look at how marriage and motherhood affected Liz Phair�s persona, and whether her use of language stayed consistent. whitechocolatespaceegg Before making her third album, Liz Phair got married and gave birth to her son. This seems to affect her album greatly, in that the content is brighter and cleaner, boasting less vulgarity and more reflection, less turmoil and more happiness. Where Exile In Guyville outlined the disintegration of love, whitechocolatespaceegg explores the dynamics of marital endurance. All of this, of course, greatly affects Phair�s use of language. What started in Whip-Smart continues here: vulgarity is almost nowhere to be found in whitechocolatespaceegg. Instead, one will find other, more creative words to take its place, while still bearing her edgy, raw messages just as strongly. Phair replaces fuck with words like ride, drive, and canter. |