Songwriters: Tanya Donelly

So this blog has been going for almost a year and I've kept up with it pretty faithfully. I've decided to take a leap and start adding a monthly 'feature', if you will. Since lyrics and songwriting are a big love of mine, I've decided to make the Singer Songwriter genre the subject of my prosey periodical.

The first songwriter (and flattered she should be...yuk yuk yuk) I've decided to showcase is the great great Tanya Donelly.

I first discovered Tanya Donelly when she was with the band Throwing Muses where she shared the songwriting, singing, and playing w/ childhood friend and stepsister, Kristin Hersh. Hersh is a phenomenal lyricist as well and will eventually find a place in this little mission, I'm sure. However, it's Donelly's songwriting that always sticks with me. The words to her songs are replete w/ great imagery and subtext, sometimes dark and sometimes comically light. Her poetic talents are always shown to their best advantage when coupled w/ the haunting musicianship that accompanies them-smooth and thick atmospheric melodies, most.

After Donelly left Throwing Muses in 1990, she contributed briefly to the This Mortal Coil album, 'Blood', and accompanied Kim Deal in the Breeders release, 'Pod', which was greatly influenced by her particular style. In 1991 she began the critically acclaimed group Belly whose two albums are both phenomenal pieces of work. 'Star' was a haunting and somewhat spooky concoction where 'King' offered a more folk-rock influenced collection . 'King' is my favorite and has easily made its way into by top 20 albums of all time. 'Feed the Tree' from the former album is probably their best known song though I feel it barely touches on the band's true talent or its frontwoman's gift.

Now Donelly is enjoying a successful solo career and all of her albums so far have been great and show no signs of her slowing . The album names are Love Songs for Underdogs, Beautysleep, Whiskey Tango Ghosts, and The Hungry Life-the last of which I am all a-twitter to hear because it's brand spankin new.

It's hard to describe what makes me so thrilled by Donelly's lyrical style. She has a babyish voice that is instantly appealing and somehow when it joins the distorted guitar and simple melodies with her poetry, there is just this magical thing that happens. I'm sure many feel I'm overstating it here but there it is. Listed below are a few examples of her lyrics...enjoy and remember to check her out...for pete's sake, check her out!

Sad Dress

from: 'Star'

Im so tipsy I cant seem to walk/And you take me firmly by the hand in the dark/ And those cheekbones of yours shine in the dark/ I swear they do.

Think about dixie/ she ducked when she ran/ Made up three bad reasons to stand by her man (he goes)./ Missed the vein once/ try, try again/ I swear I just went.

My my, your dress says so sad / You don't care, you just stole it somewhere./ Feel it. Fight it. Sleep inside it./ Your dress says so sad...so sad./ You don't care, you just stole it somewhere/ I'd chew my foot off to get out of this dress.

Judas My Heart

from: 'King'

Where I live, there's a blanket of gauze and it covers the scars/ of the drunks who are hungry as ever. /Where I live, there's a blanket of sighs and it covers the stars./ In my heart, I'm as hungry as ever./ This the room where we met.

Where I live, there's a lady/ who walks everywhere on her hands./ She don't trust where her feet want to take her./ Where I live, there's this lady who walks everywhere on her hands/ She don't trust where her feet want to take her./ This is the room where we met/ This is the dress I had on/ This is not the moment you fear when you wake up and no one is there...

Low hangs the moon/ inside this room/ Low hangs the moon/ inside this room/ so that I'm a witness/ when you Judas my heart.

Where I live there's a blanket of sighs and it covers the stars/ In my heart, I'm as hungry as ever. / Where I live, I'm afraid that I walk everywhere on my hands/ I don't trust where my feet want to take me.

This is the room where we met./ This is the dress I had on./ This is not the moment I fear/ (I say 'I' 'stead of 'she' now you're here)/ Low hangs the moon/ inside this room/ Low hangs the moon inside this room/ So that I'm a witness when you/ Judas my heart.

Can I get a witness when you Judas my heart again?

Goat Girl

from: 'Love Songs for Underdogs'

See my child my past/hoping yours is a blast/ I parked my heart in your driveway/ now I'm healing hell./ I wanted a lion but I ended up with a man/ who wanted a gazelle.

But...

I am a goat girl/ I am a goat girl/ I am a goat girl/ and I do my brutish best.

I am a goat girl/ I am a goat girl/ thinking goatish thoughts/ dreaming goatish dreams/pickin' up tin cans/ chewin' on your sleeve.

And I do my brutish best.

Green Door

from: 'Love Songs for Underdogs'

Look at him looking/ Everybody see how he looks at me/ Like to set me on fire,/ like to burn/ Like to set me on fire/ like to burn.

But, I'll always get out/ I'm not afraid / With these hips, these lips, these getaway sticks/ I've got it made./There's always a green door/ and green gets you out./ Green is sliding and driving and proteins colliding/ and it's your hipness, your fitness, your undying witness.

Leave the lock on my door/ I can find my own way home./ For tomorrow, I'm sure tomorrow, I'll find the green door. / Everyone out now. / It's just you and me/ and I warned you I warned you I warned you I warned you/ You look at me, like to set me on fire/ like to burn. / Like to set me on fire, like to burn./ But I'll always get out/ I'm not afraid./ I'll always get out.

I've got it made.