Exile in Guyville LIVE

I listened to Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville live recording through NPR's All Songs Considered recording podcasts yesterday, and I was blown away. I love this album ("Fuck and Run" is at about 30 minutes into the podcast, in case you just want to listen to one song). This is a truly amazing recording. This is not to say that Liz Phair is an exceptional musician: she isn't. The music isn't amazing, the recordings are rough and raw, and what is really amazing is how visceral all of the music sounds live. The lyrics are hard-hitting on the original record, and in the context of fifteen years of lived experience they are even more potent.



Exile in Guyville Live on NPR

Reading through the lyrics to "Fuck and Run," I have realized that there is a strong feminist quality to these lyrics that is alarmingly understated in reviews. Yes, people always point out the sexually explicit and empowering lyrics, but there are layers to this song-crafting that must be explored further. In "Fuck and Run" you find regret, remorse, doubt, vulnerability, anger, cynicism, irony, sarcasm, and real, sweet longing. A precursor to Jagged Little Pill, Exile in Guyville succeeds in channeling multifaceted characteristics of womanhood and the female experience. Phair's strength lies in her ability to acknowledge her weaknesses, and this is fully present on Exile in Guyville.



I woke up alarmed
I didn't know where I was at first
Just that I woke up in your arms
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And whatever happened to a boyfriend
The kind of guy that tries to win you over?
And whatever happened to a boyfriend
The kind of guy who makes love cause he's in it?

And I want a boyfriend
I want a boyfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas

You got up out of bed
You said you had a lot of work to do
But I heard the rest in my head
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions

And I want a boyfriend
I want a boyfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas

And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend another year alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve

You almost felt bad
You said that I should call you up
But I knew much better than that
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions

And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend my whole life alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve