The Oncoming Hope

If you don't listen to the lyrics, you'd think this was one of the happiest tunes ever written. But behind the B-52's style pop melodies, there lies total darkness.

I love Suzanne Vega's anecdote in the New York Times about her early performances of the song:

“Luka” was not a popular song when I would perform it back then. I would watch people from the stage. You could see their faces change as they thought about the lyrics; a frown would appear, then a general look of unhappiness, followed by a scowl directed at the floor and, at the conclusion, a smattering of reluctant applause. Then a request for something else, usually “Gypsy” or something in a major key with a chorus.

That's what Great Fakeout Songs is all about!

More interesting trivia about Suzanne Vega: "Tom's Diner" was used to optimize the newly invented mp3 format, as it were widely considered the most perfect recordings from a sonic perspective. Many artists used "Luka" to test their speakers for the same reason, including Philip Glass, oddly enough.

But if you think you're sick of "Tom's Diner":

“He wound up listening to the song thousands of times,” the article, written by Hilmar Schmundt, continued, “and the result was a code that was heard around the world. When an MP3 player compresses music by anyone from Courtney Love to Kenny G, it is replicating the way that Brandenburg heard Suzanne Vega.”

How lovely is that! Suzanne Vega may not have had a hit in over two decades, but we hear her sound in every mp3. Go read the article.

Anyway, here's the song!

This sounds like such a charming and upbeat song on first listen, which makes it perfect fodder for a Fakeout Song! Allow me to enlighten you with one simple fact: the narrator is being raped. This girl is being violently attacked and the only thing she can do to cope is to retreat in her mind to her "man of steel," Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II.

I love the way the lyrics move in the song: she fixates on Robert De Niro but images of her reality flash through her mind, piercing through her imagined comfort, and each image becomes more specific, more focussed, until we know exactly what's happening. And once the narrator acknowledges it, she promptly dissociates back to Robert De Niro.

There's an interesting bit of trivia about the chorus: apparently the three girls fought tooth and nail against producer Steve Jolley's addition of "talking Italian," as it removes some of the menace of the song. I'm of two minds about this: on the one hand, I really like the specificity that "talking Italian" adds to the lyrics. This isn't just fantasy Robert De Niro, this is sexy Vito Corleone, who takes care of his own no matter what it takes. But I think leaving that space between "Robert De Niro's waiting..." really would make the song darker. It allows space for the listener to think about what's being said, space for the horrible circumstances to breathe out a little more.

Out of respect to you all, I have NOT posted the official music video here, as it ruins the entire song (Bananarama have successfully ruined their own legacy in recent years, but that's a whole other story). If you want to see it, you can find it that magical youtube site. But for now, here's the song, complete with a static image that might yet cause your eyes to bleed:

Welcome to the premiere of "Great Fakeout Songs," a new series on those songs that have jaunty melodies but dark, dark lyrics, and vice versa. The art of the fakeout works well for humor in music (see Weird Al, Rilo Kiley) but can also add a sense of poignancy.

I'm kicking things off with "American Girl," by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. "American Girl" has had a bit of a resurgence lately; it was used in a key scene in Parks and Recreation, and Tom Petty has prominently issued a cease-and-desist order to Michele Bachmann, who's been using the song in campaign rallies.

Now, the flip-side of the fakeout is the tone-deaf politician (don't worry, we'll get to "Born in the USA" eventually). Michele Bachmann, or whoever her campaign organizers are, have failed to listen to the lyrics or think about them in any meaningful way.

While it's not explicit in the lyrics, the song is about a girl's last memory before jumping off the balcony, committing suicide.

Well it was kinda cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441 like waves crashin' on the beach
And for one desperate moment
There he crept back in her memory
God it's so painful when something that's so close
Is still so far out of reach

Even if you don't cotton on to the suicidal theme from the lyrics, this American Girl is in awful despair. Even more damning for the Bachmann handlers, this American Girl has GIVEN UP ON THE PROMISE OF AMERICA. She wants to get away from her broken heart and broken dreams.

Well she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin'
That there was a little more to life somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to

Anyway, it's a great song, and you can listen to it below. The greatest hits is on sale at Amazon for $6, which ain't bad.