Song of the Fortnight - Aug 13, 2007 - Urban Girlfriend

[KarenZ]

Folks,

Here's the next Song of the Fortnight. I sure hope we have more participation with this one.

Urban Girlfriend

My urban girlfriend lives down the hall from me.
She's got pictures on her wall of Dylan and Presley.
She wears them black slacks, tennis shoes, and shirts without the sleeves.
Though she smokes them long cigarettes, I've seen her do it frequently.

Lie lie, ya da dye, etc.

My suburban parents drink coffee and ice tea,
Depending on the season and the convenience of the locality.
My father's Sundays are spent with football on TV,
Though my mother's Mondays seem to happen constantly.

Lie lie, ya da dye, etc.

Sometimes I find myself thinking about her security
Sitting on a porch somewhere smoking a cigarette in a cloud of humility.
Oh how I wish I could come to the end of this living trilogy,
But those urban chains keep right on pulling me, pulling me, pulling me.

Lie lie, ya da dye, etc.

KarenZ

[paddyinthepub]

Karen...

"sorry so slow...sorry so few"

I'll begin this saying it's another of the songs that took me years to get to and then blew me away just how good Ellis was so early on.

The lyrical connection I just made for the first time is between the end of Ellis singing aboout his mother's mondays and the start of the next verse where he's worried about her security and she's smoking a cigarette in a cloud of humility.

Is that line about his urban girlfriend or his mother???

Is it possible Ellis is singing that his mother is embarrassed by his choice of girlfriends, or career choice, or both....or neither???

Hmmn.....

[KarenZ]

Paddy, thanks for kicking off the discussion. I'll try to chime in when I return from Ogunquit on Monday. I've got a really early plane to catch....

KarenZ

[paddyinthepub]

You bet Karen...hope this gathers momentum in your abscence.

Ogunquit, where's that??? Just kidding, have a great trip and safe travels.

Looking at the lyrics earlier today I was puzzled by something in the first verse. Now, It's both true and sad that I haven't heard this in awhile, but it caught my eye earlier and again just now.

It's her shoes.....the lyrics posted above say she's wearing tennis shoes. For some reason, I recall she wore some kind of combat boots.

Or am I rewriting Ellis Paul songs???

[wendy]

Another early gem...
I imagine this Urban Girlfriend looking a bit like Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (wrong era, I know, but that's the picture I get) So the tennis shoes do fit, Paddy

The battle between Urban and Suburban seems to be the real theme here (to me), and I love the images EP uses to identify them! (think "Pleasant Vally Sunday"perhaps? Another incorrect era, but it still seems to fit, at least in my mind.) Isn't that part of the fun of these songs? Your mind can create whatever images seem appropriate at the time!

[JennyLevE]

Sorry I have been away from the board for a while. I hope that along with the new school year my participation will once again improve. I remember being mesmerized by this song when I first heard it. I don’t know if it was Ellis voice (more raw and cut throat than his later stuff, which I was first exposed to) or the lyrics that worked together on so many different levels or the intersection of the two, but I loved it instantly. I think that it is really interesting that he chooses to discuss three different people in the song, that these three people represent two entirely different worlds for him (I’m not exactly sure who the “him” is – but none the less--), and yet he has similar feelings and concerns for the girlfriend and the mother. It is also worth noting that the mother and the girlfriend have similar habits. This is absolutely an early gem.
--Jen

PS -- Does anyone know why it is called "Urban Girl" on the CD?

[Richard + Jela]

What strikes me particularly about this song is its sparseness (if that's the right word) - it feels raw and true, like the singer is baring all to the listener and by doing so is pehaps looking for an answer, from an outsider - should he stick with the Urban Girlfriend or should he follow his parents' wishes???

I wonder if it is a metaphor for wanting to be a musician - so often parents worry when a son or daughter say that they want to make a living from music because it can be such a precarious career path for someone to follow.

I guess the song asks more questions than it gives answers but that is the beauty of it...........

Jela

[KarenZ]

Folks,

Yikes, you folks are making me think too much. I don't think I ever gave this song too much thought. So....is the last verse about the mother or the girlfriend then? I always thought it was the girlfriend whose security he was worried about, but Jenny's comments about mother and girlfriend having similar habits is making me wonder. And Jela's comments about following his parents' wishes is something I had also never considered.

Jenny, I think "Urban Girl" was simply a typo on the CD....as is the misspelling of pretension.

KarenZ

[Sue Ellen]

I always thought it was the girlfriend whose security he was worried about, but Jenny's comments about mother and girlfriend having similar habits is making me wonder

Ahh, I thought the narrator was wondering about the mother's security, and superimposing it onto the future of the girlfriend; questioning what appears to be the mother's security, and wondering about what type of security could be offered to the girlfriend in the future.

What strikes me particularly about this song is its sparseness

It's amazing how much can be said with so few words. The angst about choices is definitely there, and, subtley, the questioning of "security" as "chains."

[Patti]

I've yet to get out the cassette and play it ( I no longer have a cassette player in the car) so again I can't put a tune to it.

Obvioulsly the narrator has conflicting feelings, but I am confused by thinking the girlfriend is a city (urban) girl but wearing tennis shoes and sleeveless shirts maks me think country club?? The urban chains are pulling him so he wants the city life but that might not be what the suburban mom wanted???

and whats with the spelling of dye????

I will listen to this tape before the next fortnight (which is how long exactly ?) !!

[mm]

I'm thinking that Jela's idea about the possibility of this being a metaphor for the pull of a musical career makes a lot of sense to me. It seems to fit quite well.

[Sue Ellen]

Ahh, you all are so clever in your insights. Thank you. After rereading the lyrics, and the comments, I am put in mind of this poem:

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

[paddyinthepub]

Whe I read back over the lyrics the other day I wondered if Ellis' use of the word lie in the chorus was a reflection of the character's need to lie to both the women in "this living trilogy." As though he had lied to his mom and said "she's just a friend...or I don't see it (his relationship with her) going anywhere." He might also have had to lie to his urban girlfriend with words like..."oh yeah, my mom thinks the world of you."

Then, an old Van Morrison tune popped into my head with a chorus that might have played a small part in this song.

Gypsy ~ by Van Morrison

You can make out pretty good
When you're on your own
And you know just where you are
When you wanna roam

Got the moon above your head
And the road beneath your feet
Pull into a wooded glen
Make your own retreat

La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di daaa
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di daaa
Gypsy!

Laying underneath the stars
Can be so much fun
Especially when you're feeling good
When you're with the one you love

Sway to sounds of two guitars
Around the campfire bright
Then mellow out like violins
In the morning light

La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di daaa
La da di id di di di
La da di di di di di daaa
Gypsy!

No matter where you wander
And no matter where you roam
Any place you hang your hat
You know that that is home, check it out first

Sway to sounds of two guitars
Around the campfire bright
Then mellow out like old violins
In the morning light

La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di daaa, hep
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di daaa
Gypsy!

La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di daaaa, hep
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di
La da di di di di di daaa


Come to think of it, Van's song GYPSY reflects what it might be like to be a traveling troubador, and it had to have resonated with folk singers that followed like our own EP and those like him. I can't help think of John Gorka and his song Gypsy Life, too!!! Not to mention the Kerrville Folk Festival all night campfires....