Last week
had a post about different variations of “Jolene” and how and why the song sustains so many different interpretations.You could say that Parton projects weakness to hide her strength, while Beyoncé projects strength to hide her weakness. I don’t think that’s exactly accurate, though. Both versions of “Jolene” use confessional as a trope, but it’s a trope, not a window into anyone’s soul. Parton and Beyoncé use the imagined love triangle to explore the ways in which women’s relationships with each other are framed around and by relationships with men. Strength and weakness, love and lust, desperation and desire between women all have to be sung about, thought about, and/or experienced as a part of heterosexual love.
I commented that “Sylvie” by Saint Etienne shares some structural similarity with “Jolene” — one woman addressing the titular woman to ask her to stay away from her man — with a dark comic edge. Going back and re-listening to it, I realized that you can some of the tension that Noah identifies in two different versions of the song (also, at the bottom, I’ll share an unrelated song/video that I’ve been excited about and shard on Notes earlier.
“Sylvie” — Saint Etienne
Leave him alone, "cause I know he loves me.
Leave him alone, "cause he tells me he loves me.Over and over and over and over again.
Over and over and over and over again.
The narrator in “Sylvie” is addressing her own younger sister.
Sylvie, girl, although you're my little sister,
Well you're not without your charms,
I'm not sure that he'll resist you.
Give it all up, for we see you crying.
Give it all up, "cause I know you've been trying.
The pathos of the song comes from her realization that, she can probably keep a lid on this situation but, once she’s admitted to herself that, given an opportunity, her boyfriend would cheat with her sibling, the relationship is probably doomed. The repetition of “he tells me he loves me / over and over and over again” feels desperate.
By contrast, in the Top Of The Pops performance Sarah Cracknell is cool, gorgeous, and in control. She’s confident in her ability to handle Sylvie, and rather than desperation, the performance is a show of power (and, one has to assume, an assertion of power over her boyfriend as well as Sylvie; even if he can’t be trusted, she knows that she can do what’s necessary to manage problems as they arise).
The difference partially reflects the nature of a live performance, in which she’s playing to (and off of) the attention of her fans, but it also shows the same flexibility in the trope that Noah identifies.
Separately, I recently discovered a song and impressive live performance from 1976.
“Băneasă’s Green Glade” — Andy Irvine
It tells the the story of Any spending an idyllic two months living with other musicians in a forest outside Bucharest.
They would get up, have a slow morning, walk into town and busk outside the zoo. At the end of the day they would take their money and drink at the local tavern and then walk back out to sleep in the forest.
That reflects a certain commitment to the lifestyle of an itinerant musician (and carefree youth).
But, I also thank whoever uploaded this video of the performance (with Paul Brady and Donal Lunny — all of who played together for years), because you can see a different part of that commitment. The song transitions into an instrumental (“Mominsko Horo”) which is joyful and visibly embodied — there’s a delight in the tactile quality of making music together and the physical interaction with the instruments and each other.
Just look at the expression of pleasure and intense focus.
I’ll check that concert out. I’m a big fan of the Irvine/Brady collaborations. Brady’s ‘Arthur McBride’ is one of my all-time favourite performances.
I really like this Jolene/Sylvie comparison. And that track by Irvine & co is wonderful. I’m fascinated to see him playing a guitarra portuguesa, which I understand he did quite a bit during the Planxty era.