Lily Allen – Not Fair
New to FOX this fall: WHEN SEX IS NOT ON FIRE…
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[5.20]
M. H. Lo: Dear Lily, remember how everyone crawled up my ass for misusing the word “ironic”? Yeah. You might want to be careful, because you have an odd understanding of “fairness.” Apparently, your boyfriend is smart, mature, loves you, does not beat you, “treats you with respect” – but sucks in bed, and, how you say, pulls his trigger a bit too quickly. But you realize that the universe does not owe you a perfect man, right? That, if it dealt you a man with one flaw, it’s not exactly an injustice worthy of a Nuremberg trial, or even a petulant lyric, yes? That you could try, oh, telling him what works for you, or maybe learn the squeeze technique? I’m just sayin’. Love, Alanis.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Not fair? Not funny either. Suppose a man, say, Mike Skinner, put out a song that went “My bird is rubbish at sucking dick and halfway through us doing it pretends to have a headache, man, that’s a load of pants”, what score would you give it? Okay, swap the genders, keep that score intact. Lily Allen’s misandrous moaning shoots for witty but sinks under obvious rhymes, labored lines and a delivery that alternates between bored, boring and “can you believe I just said that?”. Yes, we can, we were trying to avoid listening to the atrociously dinky country pastiche you were inflicting on the world.
[0]
Iain Forrester: At least when staying clear of politics, Lily has kept the easy humour of most of her debut, losing a bit of cheeky instancy but gaining some more lasting musical depth. She also seems to have acquired a habit of switching between ‘you’ and ‘he’ at random in lyrics, for instance throwing you out of the story at an inopportune time in this otherwise gently pleasing space-country number.
[6]
Martin Kavka: Some people might think that the two-step rhythm here is more evidence that Lily Allen has no sense of what kind of artist she is, but country music has always been the backing for the most moving of women’s complaints. So what’s more suitable than a banjo and harmonica to accompany her moaning about her lover’s premature ejaculation? I really want Miranda Lambert to cover this.
[8]
Hillary Brown: Say what you will about Allen’s focus on lyrics and vocal melody over the underlying structure of a song, this one has both done super-nicely, with a jaunty C&W bounce that pairs hilariously with her comical tale of bad sex.
[8]
Martin Skidmore: This could very easily become a clumsy whine or stridently irritating, but it’s sweetly and nimbly done, with an infectious skipalong tune and the odd burst of twanging guitar (which reminded me of “Ghost Riders in the Sky”). Another huge hit, undoubtedly, and rightly so – it’s lovely, and she’s found an obvious major relationship issue for millions of people that no one, as far as I know, has sung about before. I may be wrong there, but that’s still an achievement.
[9]
Jonathan Bradley: One of Lily Allen’s favorite, and, let’s be blunt, cheapest production tricks is to take supposedly naff genres and recontextualize them as part of the contemporary pop sphere she occupies. Importantly, she never does so by fully engaging with these genres; like her dilettante tourist in “LDN,” her genre-exploration is undertaken with as minimal an engagement on her behalf as possible. So she transformed ska, as on her first couple singles, into a brain-dead exercise in syncopation and sunshine, and she turned polka rhythms into a nauseating just-say-no lecture on “Alfie.” Her new single has her appropriating country, showing even more disdain for the musical traditions of the genre than she has with her previous influences. Over a rinky-dink “Rawhide” rhythm — deployed for no purpose greater than irony for the sake of irony, or, as the rest of the world knows it, abject stupidity —she complains about a sexually unsatisfying boyfriend, ever-mindful of the supposed daring of her subject matter, like a one-woman Family Guy episode. The entire point of the instrumental here is to demonstrate that Allen can adopt a genre as unfashionable as country and remain removed from its supposed cultural uncouthness; she clearly has no interest in developing a compelling tune out of these ideas, so let’s forget her indefensible musical choices and focus on the lyrics. Allen’s lyric is an exercise in merciless solipsism, and one so determined that she even makes her self-obsession an object of her self-obsession. Immediately after complaining that she has to sleep in the post-coital wet-spot after unsatisfying sex, she acknowledges “all the nice things” that her boyfriend has done for her. This is no exercise in humility, however. As with her entire career, Allen’s selfishness is mentioned only as a device to focus further attention on her own person. I don’t know whether Lily the woman is lovely or revolting, but Lily the recorded personality is a deeply unpleasant character. Worst of all, she is so unsympathetic that it is impossible to derive any joy from her own self-regard whatsoever.
[0]
Dave Moore: I initially disliked the way she automatically assumes the guy is somehow intentionally bad in bed, but then I figured out how to read the chorus more charitably – “it’s not fair and I think you’re really mean” is a childish thing to say to a person, but it’s an interesting thing to say to God: “why do you send me nice guys who can’t get me off?” Lily’s God is a strange fellow, after all – listens to Creedence, drives a car (sorry Joan Osborne, no public transit), possibly without insurance. Kind of a jerk, really.
[7]
Hazel Robinson : So he’s the nicest bloke you’ve ever gone out with but you haven’t alerted him to the fact you’re not enjoying the bedroom encounters all that much so he must be really mean? Maybe I’m just not a very modern woman, but personally I might just say something to him, rather than making a cutesy-cutesy little song with ‘royalties cheque due from GIRLS NIGHT IN VOL. 45′ written all over it.
[3]
Ian Mathers: Well, Lily, if he doesn’t care in bed and is thus shit (and the song does present him as actively bad, not just fumbling or suffering from bad chemistry), then he doesn’t respect you, does he? It’s sad, you’d think someone in Allen’s position could afford to be more choosy rather than settling for someone who’s a nice guy out of bed and a selfish prick in it. Interesting enough topic for a song, but Allen’s delivery is a little pallid and the random country flourishes are just distracting – like its subject matter, “Not Fair” seems nice enough but is a bit crap.
[5]
Martin, I wouldn’t say that these two tracks by Gillette necessarily address the exact relationship issue that Lily does here, but they do – like practically everything else Gillette recorded – partake of the general theme of being unimpressed (not to mention being unsatisfied) by her male acquaintances.
An extra belly-button!
Did your neck throw up something?
Hmm. I never tracked down the actual lyrics, but it’s interesting to see I apparently got a totally different feeling from the lyrics than most people did.
I have the Gilette album – it’s great! Actually, no it’s not very good at all but those two singles are awesome and much funnier than Lily Allen.
I don’t think I like the Lily song – more for TMI reasons than “she’s being nasty reasons” – but the people who hate it for the lyrics, what makes Lily’s nastiness harder to take than, say, Lil’ Kim or TLC or Ce’cile mocking inadequate men?
(Am guessing that there’s a CLASS DIMENSION can of worms to be opened here.)
Lil Kim is funny.
“No Scrubs” is amazing to dance to.
No opinion on Ce’cile, mind.
Lex- it’s mostly the fact Lily does it whilst pretending to be really cutesy and lovely and fun and sweet and in such a sexless manner. If Missy Elliot says she doesn’t want a one-minute man, she does it in a sexy, come-on way. When Trina wants to bitch a man out for being shit in bed, she does it by bitching him the fuck out and stating her own superiority. When flipping Emilie Autumn complains about dubious bedroom action, she sounds poisonous and powerful. Complain about it, fine but know that you’re being a bitch; Lily makes herself sound like she probably just lies there and looks bored. Singing about this kind of stuff, whether you’re male or female or black or white or a stripper or the fucking queen carries an element of tactlessness that you can’t try and carry off as cute because it’s, err, not.
The ‘it’s not fair and I think you’re really mean, I think you’re really mean, I think you’re really mean’ line is just so… well, creepy, to be honest. It’s so childish, all I get the impression of from her is “god, I bet she’s a total nightmare” rather than “bitch deserves better, men are rubbish,” which is obviously what she’s gunning for. You can’t do a song like this and make yourself seem nice; nice girls, to be honest, wouldn’t do it; personally, this is one of the many reasons I don’t particularly like nice girls but you can’t pretend you’re Taylor Swift whilst you’re talking about premature ejaculation, it’s just weird and not in a good way.
It just makes me think of women’s magazines. Urgh. Maybe I’m just failing to relate to it somehow because I am a bit of a nasty bitch but oh well.
The other thing is, despite what a few reviewers have said here, it’s a really dull song. The gold standard for funny country pastiches in pop stars is “Hangover” by Betty Boo, and this is about 1/60th as good at that. And the tune? Well it’s hardly got one, she just warbles uncommitedly and unconvincingly. At least “Smile” and “Knock ‘em Out” had those. It’s a half-baked construction noteworthy only for its lyrics, and she doesn’t pull those of in the voice she’s aiming for.
Most parts of the world have one of THOSE radio stations.. you know the kind, that play “indie” music and stuff that’s cool.. and the fastest way to get on their playlist is to put some swear words in or talk about something salacious and get an alt-novelty-hit. “Not Fair” is fodder for such stations and their easily-titillated but fundamentally moronic listeners, no more.
Hazel OTM.
I don’t think Greg Kurstin, who’s the co-writer here, really is any good at writing pop for/with others.
“The entire point of the instrumental here is to demonstrate that Allen can adopt a genre as unfashionable as country and remain removed from its supposed cultural uncouthness”
to borrow from a great, ‘please pay attention to the following over-the-top eyeroll’
Ok. So aside from demonstrating that you watch 30 Rock, you are stating your disagreement with Jonathan’s point that Lily is mocking country music, rather than utilizing it in a sincere way. Fair enough, but do you want to say why?
Since we are on the subject, Jonathan’s “Allen’s lyric is an exercise in merciless solipsism, and one so determined that she even makes her self-obsession an object of her self-obsession…Allen’s selfishness is mentioned only as a device to focus further attention on her own person” is, for my money, one of the most astute observations about Allen’s work.
Allen’s lyrics only appear as merciless solipsism when one assumes that she’s fickle. I would prefer to read this as a snapshot of a woman coming to a final decision about whether she likes a guy or not. By the end of the song, we have some kind of “proof” that he’s not a nice guy, and that he doesn’t respect her. What his performance in bed shows — because he insists on being the center of attention, receiving (purportedly mind-blowing) head — is that “all he does is take.” Calling her 15 times a day isn’t attentive, it’s stalkerrific. He says he loves her, but he doesn’t prove it. By the end of the song, she’s decided that she’s not overreacting after all.
I’m not quite sure what’s inappropriate about talking about sex in a sexless manner. Sex as the sphere of life in which people are, well, naked, revealing their true selves. Why not be serious about it?
And if people want to complain about the juxtaposition of the serious lyric with the cutesy tone, on what ground can we criticize that while lionizing the depressing-lyric-to-a-disco-beat of synthpop?
That’s not to say “Not Fair” is perfect. The more I listen to it, the more I get annoyed by an incoherence in the lyric: while the first verse makes it seem as if the couple has been together for some time, the pre-chorus (“I want to get to know you”) makes it seem like a one-night stand.
In the end deconstrucing Allen’s persona and the motivation behind her lyrics too thoroughly can fool you. She’s obviously quite aware of what she does, how she comes off, etc. Yes, she talks about herself, about all her minute problems and issues, not getting everything she points at. But what makes a song like, say, ‘The Fear’ good is that at first it comes off as an obvious and ham-handed retread of platitudes about consumerism, but after a while you realize that among the people she’s deriding is herself, always herself. Everytime she writes a song about a shitty lover she’s also saying “fuck me I make life a hell for myself getting caught up in my own egocentrism.” It’s like Seinfeld.
M. H. Lo – Thanks!
Kevin – Listen to the song. It is country at its most pro forma. It doesn’t take country musical ideas and fashion a song from them, the way a greater genre-hopper might (see, say, Ween), or for that matter, the way real country artists actually do. It deploys perfunctory country signifiers for absolutely no musical end. So Allen clearly didn’t want to make an actual country song. This suggests her actual purpose was to sound “country”, and she fulfils that aim in the most facile way possible. She evidently has little familiarity with the genre. I can only assume she threw this pastiche together for yuks, and poor ones at that.
It’s actually eerie thus far in the rejuvenated Jukebox how sympatico Martin Kavka and I are in our thinking about various singles, even when we disagree about how much we like them.
Sorry for trolling, I was short on time and in an odd mood – I had a big interview coming up. Anyway, I think you’re right w/r/t her “trying to sound country”, but I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on whether that even matters and the repugnance of her song’s overall point. What you see as pouty self-obsession reveals itself to me as self-aware and completely obvious OTT-ness; Lily knows that her complaints are kinda ridiculous considering all the great things her guy has done for her (which she doesn’t neglect to list), and the ennui with which she delivers the chorus makes it clear to me that the song is meant as self-commentary rather than some faux-righteous I-need-better-dick-right-away demand. In the end, it’s clear we’re on her guy’s side, and I think that was her point all along.
That said, I don’t think the sentiment a lot of people are getting from this – complaining that yr lover sucks in the sack – is a particularly ugly one or unfit subject matter for a pop song. That’s just not what I get out of this.
’sides, I think we can all agree “Chinese” should have been the single, anyway :)
kevin k, thanks for elaborating. In general, I find Lily hard to get a handle on, in part because she maintains a number of persona — though I’m beginning to see this as strategy. On some songs she is undeniably self-aware or even self-depreciating (“Back to the Start,” say), or she might pretend to sing about others when it is in fact transparently about herself (“The Fear,” as Mattias points out). But then there are songs that are so unbelievable in their pettiness that I feel like I have to think she is not “being serious”: I mean, in “22” is she seriously complaining about how horribly society treats 30 YEAR-OLDS? OH RLY? But often these songs themselves contain very few cues that they are ironic. You could read “Not Fair” as addressed to God, as Dave does, but that’s can only be done by being extra-textual and turning to a different song, “Him.” More importantly, what I am beginning to understand, with the help of these blurbs, is that Lily in fact adopts a couple of tactics to make her pettiness seem less petty. One is to generally shroud her songs in a musical aura of “jokiness” — either by out and out making the backing sound “cutesy” (Hazel’s insight), or by only employing a genre ironically (Jonathan’s point; though Martin K is right to point out that country has always soundtracked women’s complaints, but surely it’s not this kind of jaunty, rinky-dinky country sound, right?). One effect of this is that Lily comes across as supposedly only ever joking, and I agree that her disses of men never have the kind of courage of conviction of, say, Missy Elliot’s. (Even after titling an early version of the song “Guess Who Batman,” she refuses to admit that “Fuck You” is about George Bush, and has indeed passed off the whole number as “just a harmless joke.” Okaaay.) The other tactic is, as Jonathan also says, that Lily turns her own selfishness into a way of…drawing attention to herself. “Everybody’s taking drugs! I’m not saying that I don’t, but have you noticed that this song implies that I am? I will be making further statements in the press on this matter; stay tuned!” It’s almost brilliant.
Edward, “You’re A Dog” is good too. She thinks the guy’s a dog. Here’s the link (think I need to tell people that my links are links – e.g., my name – since, at least in my browser, my links don’t look and different from my nonlinks):
Here boy, go fetch a stick
Gillette did a second album too, which I remember as more of the same.
“look any different”
For what it’s worth, I don’t actually think this song is about God at all, but that my wanting to be charitable to it (and to “Everyone’s At It” and to “Fuck You,” which I just cannot do no matter how hard I try and might just pretend it’s not on the album) leads me to grapple with Lily’s personality on here.
I go back and forth on it, and this song is a nice middle ground between the stuff I absolutely hate (“Fuck You”) and the stuff I absolutely love (“Chinese,” “22″) but two points:
(1) I don’t think Lily really does “condescension” in her musical or genre pasticheyness; whether or not it’s any GOOD is certainly debatable (the “country” she’s going for here is more Saturday Morning Morricone than than CMAs though) but I don’t think she’s being insincere or putting herself “above” whatever can be said to inform the sound on this (I mean, I’d guess Daphne and Celeste or something).
(2) I agree with the comment about the obvious OTT-ness and the sense that there’s supposed to be a problem with Lily here. I hate that she chose to phrase it as “I think you’re really mean,” but the situation is deceptively complicated: this guy seems to be nice, but he sucks in bed. There’s no indication of whether or not they’ve talked about it, or whether or not they’ve read some books or tried some ____ or whatever else — the basic point is just that their sex life sucks and their relationship can’t continue because of it. Lacks nuance, but it’s an interesting subject for a song, even if it’s mishandled here. (My theory is that Lily Allen is basically a nightmare projection of Ashlee Simpson in which what other people say to me about Ashlee is actually *true*; she deals in many of the same obsessions and themes and desires but has less of a brain and countless more thumbs sticking out to poke you in the eye for trying to enjoy it.)
‘The more I listen to it, the more I get annoyed by an incoherence in the lyric: while the first verse makes it seem as if the couple has been together for some time, the pre-chorus (”I want to get to know you”) makes it seem like a one-night stand.’
Actually, thinking about that section, it could read as if the sex is supposed to be how she’s getting to know him.
it could read as if the sex is supposed to be how she’s getting to know him
surely sex *is* one of the ways you get to know someone? Even when you’re dating? It’s as much a part of who they are as what opinion they have about the film you just saw together.
Hearing this song for the first time (or at least the first time with audible lyrics), I started out thinking “ah this is a Lily song about someone who is perfect in every way except in bed”, but the “it’s not fair”, the wet spot, etc etc etc all add up to a person who is actively inconsiderate – it’s not that he’s a nice guy who can’t help being bad in bed, it’s that he’s mastered a bunch of nice-guy skills (ringing, saying i love you) but the guy she’s getting to know in bed is someone who doesn’t give a shit if she gets off or not.
Cee OTM. I’ve had some epic convos about this since the blurbs ran and would do anything to rewrite my blurb having thought about the song more (same score, though). Frankly I just hadn’t paid attention to “Not Fair” on her album because I focus more on other songs; this one seemed slight. But it’s actually an incredibly complicated song that’s demanding a close reading that (for a few reasons articulated here) it may not either deserve or at least get. But I really haven’t heard a song like this before — the Nice Guy type who only puts on a public face but reveals his true identity in bed. Other examples? (Avril’s “Complicated” actually does this sort of in reverse, though no word on if he makes her scream, thank god.)
Cee, the reason I wasn’t sure on the interpretation was to do with how I was parsing the ‘but’ – as ‘I want to get to know you BUT I couldn’t get to know you because it was over too quickly’ which then didn’t quite fit. After your excellent interpretation work I realise it’s ‘I want to get to know you BUT then you’re inconsiderant and I don’t want to any more.’
All makes sense and is more interesting as a song now, although I still get annoyed by the 3rd-2nd person switch (although that’s worse on “He Wasn’t There”)
I hope someone is still reading these!