Maybe You’re Just Like My Mother

Background: After I finished writing about this song for my last blog on superlatives, I realized the song “Better Than This” was a comparative, not a superlative, and as a grammar teacher, I just couldn’t sit around and pretend like the difference didn’t bug me. So I decided to kick it to another blog with a different theme–people who aren’t satisfied.  In honor of Prince, I’m therefore calling this blog Maybe You’re Just Like My Mother (because she too is never satisfied, at least for the sake of making this reference work).  I do, however, hope you are satisfied with the contents of this blog!

1. “Better Than This” by Brad Paisley

Lyrically: “Better Than This” starts out with a bunch of friends sitting around a campfire and one of them says, “It doesn’t get better than this,” and they’re all of one accord for awhile, “‘Til Junior stood up, spit in the fire, and said ‘boys, I hate to disagree.’”  He then dives into all the things that could make the night better.  The constant is “If busloads of women, really good lookin’ women just suddenly pulled in here,” as well as if "Haggard dropped by and brought Willie with him and they started taking requests.” But with each chorus, he adds a little something else: “And ol Joe T. Garcia showed up with fajitas and a hundred gallon keg of beer,” in the second, “And Emeril Lagasse showed up with Kielbasse and a hundred gallon keg of beer.” Before closing by saying, “Don’t get me wrong, boys, this is pretty good, but it could get better than this” each time.  In the third chorus, he adds my personal favorite, and what inspired the song of mine, “And Little Jimmy Dickens showed up with fried chicken and a hundred-gallon keg of beer.”  The second verse also adds that it’d get better if “Bill Dance and Hank Parker floated by in a boat and volunteered to be our fishing guides, and Richard Petty showed up in the old 43 car and asked us if we wanted a ride.  We’d all sit around singin’ Pancho and Lefty, playing Poker, smoking big cigars.”  It’s just such a fun song.

Melodically/Structurally: The song uses C, G, C, F, G, and C.  With the song written in C major, this is a I, V, I, IV, V, I pattern.  The chorus uses F, C, Gm, C, F, C, Am, G, F, and C, which is a IV, I, v, I, IV, I, vi, V, IV, I pattern.  The function of a IV chord is to lift the melody for the chorus and provide a contrast from the verses, which start on the tonic chord.  This is a straight up example song (with a similar setup to “I’ve Been Everywhere” at the beginning and the rest being examples).  However, there’s a feeling with both sections ending on the IV chord that Junior could go all night talking about how things could get better, we just got to hear three examples.  Even though the structure is a simple verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus format, each chorus has to be different and the second verse needs to add some sort of information.  We already know it could get better, but we need more examples to back it up, so even though we know the payoff like we do in another Paisley song, “I’m Gonna Miss Her”, we do need another verse and as many examples as possible within the time allowed.  Not having it be a 6 minute epic, though, leaves us wanting more and that’s ironically what leaves us satisfied with just the handful of examples we did get. 

You can listen to “Better Than This” below.

2. “Enough For You” by Olivia Rodrigo

Lyrically: It has been a hot minute since I talked about Olivia Rodrigo in one of my blogs, but this one fits the theme perfectly.  In it, the narrator describes all the things she did for her ex to try to make him happy.  The first verse discusses how she wore makeup when they dated, thinking he’d like her more, only for him to inform her he’s “Not the compliment type.”  In the second verse, she says she knew how he took his coffee (maybe I need to start drinking coffee to stop being single), read all his self-help books so he’d see her as smart, only to realize it made her look stupid (in her words).  The chorus, another one worth quoting in its entirety, says, 

“You found someone more exciting, the next second you were gone, 

and you left me there crying, wondering what I did wrong.  

You say I’m never satisfied, but I don’t think that’s true.  

‘Cause all I ever wanted was to be enough for you.”  

We can get this out of the way now that I love every single line in this song, but one of my favorites comes in the third verse when she says, 

“Maybe I’m just not as interesting as the girls you loved before.  

But God, you could not have cared less about someone who loved you more.”  

In addition to the gut punch that is this line, it’s also tremendously clever to pair “Could not have cared less” with “Someone who loved you more.”  The bridge ends with her saying, 

“But don’t tell me you're sorry, boy, feel sorry for yourself.  

‘Cause one day I’ll be everything to somebody else.”  

She then dives into the last chorus, where she says that somebody else “Will think (she’s) so exciting,” a direct contrast to the person she’s addressing.  When I talked about Olivia’s song “Teenage Dream,” which closes out her second album, Guts, I said it makes me want to give her a big hug and tell her everything is going to be alright, but this is one of those songs where she’s telling herself it’s gonna be alright, at least at the end of it.  

Melodically: The song’s intro uses G, Em, and C, which get repeated throughout the whole song.  With the song written in G major, this is a I, vi, IV pattern, which causes a sense of anticipation.  This works both in the parts where she’s waiting to be appreciated and when she is discussing the person who’s going to find her more exciting.  Even though she knows one day she’ll find him, she doesn’t know who or where he is, so the uncertainty of the IV chord works well in all phases of the song.  Of course the vi chord in the middle does the same.  Instrumentally, the song contains acoustic guitar and keyboard.  The sparse melodic arrangement allows for the vocals and the message they’re conveying to shine, so we can get the full effect of the heartache behind her delivery.

Structurally: The song contains two verses, followed by a chorus, a third verse, another chorus, a bridge, and a final chorus (which is a slight variation on the first chorus).  In a co-write with a friend of mine, she told me in the middle of the co-write, “I feel like there needs to be something more to this song, rather than just ‘Oh, I’m sad’” and the addition of the bridge second chorus in this song, where she’s convinced she’s not the problem, given all the effort she put in, that elevates it from what it would be if it were just the same lamentation throughout (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but it’s what takes the song from good to great.

You can listen to “Enough For You” below.

3. “Unsatisfied” by The Replacements

Lyrically: One of the reasons I love the Replacements’ later work is because it took the angst of their earlier records and put it into digestible melodic arrangements, paired with easier to understand lyrics from Paul Westerberg.  This matters because many of the band’s early songs were focused on how angry they were at establishment musicians (with “Kids Don’t Follow” being an answer song to U2’s “I Will Follow,” for example).  “Unsatisfied” was Paul’s way of talking about the discontents of fame.  Although they weren’t at the height of their success yet, they were definitely attracting more of a following, more attention, and you would think that would’ve been all they wanted, even if it’s just “Hey, we get to tour and live out this crazy dream a little bit longer.

But the Replacements members famously were terrified of success.  So the chorus, saying, “Look me in the eye and tell me that I’m satisfied,” is based on conversations he had with various people, them reminding him this is what he wanted, and him reminding them that it’s not enough for him.  For some funny context, the band members never officially signed a contract with their original label, Twin/Tone, and when they inked a deal with Sire, they signed each other’s names, so they would have deniability in court later on.  Needless to say, “Unsatisfied” came from a genuine place, rather than the “tortured poets” that Paul felt didn’t have any soul to their music.

Melodically: The song’s intro uses Fsus2, C/E, G, and Fsus2, followed by Fsus2, C/E, and D7.  With the song in C major, this is a IV, I, V, IV, IV, I, II pattern.  The chorus then uses Fsus2, C/E, G, and Fsus2, a IV, I, V, IV pattern, followed by C/E, D7, Fsus2, and C/E, a I, II, IV, I pattern, before ending on G, Fsus2, C/E, and D7, a V, IV, I, II pattern.  The verses use Dm, G7, Dm, G7, Dm, Em, F, G, and A, a ii, V, ii, V, ii, iii, IV, V, VI pattern.  There’s something cool about the first part of the chorus ending on the tonic with the second part ending on the morose, tense II chord, so you think you’re getting something resembling closure, and then the II chord hits you.  The verses ending on the VI chord after starting on the ii chord isn’t as big a rollercoaster, but still provides that sense of uneasiness.  Instrumentally, the song uses electric guitar, lap steel guitar, bass, and drums.

Structurally: The song uses a chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus format.  One of the coolest parts about doing this blog is discovering new things about songs I love, and just music-related things in general.  There are a handful of upbeat pop songs that start with the chorus and then dive into a verse before singing the chorus again (“Payphone” by Maroon 5 and “Curbside Prophet” by Jason Mraz stick out to me), but I’ve discovered three songs within the last few blogs that don’t fit that pop mold, but start with the chorus to convey the message.  I think it’s very effective here, because if I hear a musician tell me they’re not satisfied, I’m going to want to know why.  If they just start complaining, I might tell them to stop.  Interestingly, “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones does the same thing, and as I said about the U2 song, Paul was notorious for writing answer songs to people who he thought didn’t mean it–the name of the parent album is Let it Be–so nothing was sacred!  Anyway, getting those details after he presents his thesis is a great format to use, albeit a little bit of an unconventional one within the genre.

You can listen to “Unsatisfied” below.

4. “Bed” by Semisonic

Lyrically: “Bed” is one of the songs on its parent album, All About Chemistry, that has a little bit of a harder edge than what fans might have been expecting after the wildly successful “Closing Time” and its parent album, Feeling Strangely Fine, but it’s one of my favorite songs on the record.  In it, the narrator tells his love interest that he has no interest in the friend zone (before that became the popular term), saying he wants more out of the relationship.  

He does this by telling her, 

“Show me a body that gets no love

And I’ll show you a body that’s way messed up

Well the time has come for me to find another way to get my soul fed.” 

Then he adds, 

“If it feels like I’m asking you for too much

We can keep in touch 

And I’ll find someone else to bed.”  

In the second chorus, he says, 

“Well show me a friendship that’s pure and chaste 

And I’ll show you an engine who’s dying to race

Well the time has come for me to find another way to get my soul fed,” before adding, 

“Well I know we could be the sweetest friends

But if that’s where it ends

I’m gonna find someone else to bed.”  

After a solo, he ends by saying, “Well the time has come for me to take care of myself instead,” then adds, 

“If you and I remain on a spiritual plane

I will go insane

Don’t make me find someone else to bed.”

I think “bed” could be taken literally, but also serves as a larger metaphor for the relationship, much like in “Never Gonna Leave This Bed” by Maroon 5.  The idea is wanting something more than what the narrator has been given, and being willing to move on if that desire isn’t met (which distinguishes it from the Maroon 5 song).

Melodically: “Bed” is written in C minor using a i, iv, VIIb, V pattern of Cm, Fm, Ab, and G for the intro and verses (with it getting played twice in the verses), while the hook/refrain (it’s hard for me to call it a chorus, given its short length), uses Fm, Bb, Fm, G (a iv, VIIb, IV, V pattern), followed by Ab, Bb, Fm, and G (which is a VIb, VIIb, iv, V pattern).  The lyrical ending after the solo uses Fm, Bb, Fm, G, Ab, Bb, Fm, and G (a iv, VIIb, IV, V, VIb, VIIb, iv, V pattern), while the solo uses the same chords as the verses and intro. 

Instrumentally, the song uses programming, electric guitar, drums, and bass guitar.  The tension created by ending each part on the V chord is important, as we don’t know the fate of the two people in the song.  The whole song is an ultimatum, and even though the last time through, he says “The time has come for me to find another way to get my soul fed,” you don’t know if he actually gets around to doing that or if he’s just threatening, like a parent counting to three.  It’s at this point in the blog where I reiterate that although this is somewhat basic music theory, it’s further proof that Dan Wilson and Semisonic as a whole know exactly what they’re doing as writers and composers, and with its distinct sound, it still baffles me that this song and its parent album, All About Chemistry, didn’t chart better than it did.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus structure.  Each verse is short and to the point, with the first one recognizing it’s too bad that the love interest teases the narrator like she does, because he truly wants to please her and wishes she wanted to do the same.  He also recognizes his blame in this whole thing because, as he states in the second verse, “I always just played along.”  The quick nature of each address (each verse), into the chorus (or arguably a pre-chorus and quick chorus, as Dan Wilson is so good at blurring the lines with), gives a sense of urgency to the other person he’s talking to.  The push and pull of their relationship is well-established after two verses, so the best way to create more tension is through a solo and then one more ultimatum in the last chorus.  

You can listen to “Bed” below.  And if not you, I’m gonna find someone else to embed.