Doncha Go 'Way Mad, & Ella & lyrics

[fflo]

There was an instrumental version of (Baby Baby) Doncha Go 'Way Mad on EMU this morning, behind the talk at the end of Morning Edition. I've had the song in my head ever since.

It's an odd lyric, from the POV of a person who's been caught in an extramarital (or extrarelationshippal) affair & is basically saying "c'mon, don't make a big deal out of this" to the partner.

The version I know best is sung by Ella, who does change the pronouns, making it feel a bit different from the feel of the cheating man who's saying "she means nothing to me" to the (omigod) woman who fooled around & expects forgiveness to come easily, with the lilting melody & lite feel of the whole business:

I must confess what you say is true
I had a rendezvous with somebody new
That's the only one I ever had
Baby, baby, don'cha go away mad

Cheatin' shows and it never goes
You got a reason to be mad, I suppose
But he only was just a passin' fad
Baby, baby, don'cha go 'way mad

His kind's a dime a dozen
That's not the kind I want
Who'd ever think your cousin
Would visit there in that restaurant?

I understand that you feel upset
Whaddya you say that we forgive and forget?
Come on and kiss me just to prove you're glad
Baby, baby don'cha go 'way mad

The bridge, with the cheesy cousin and restaurant part, is my favorite part to sing.

But anyway, about Ella & lyrics. One of my favorite songs of hers is her version of "Brown Skin Gal in the Calico Gown." I've dug that song since way back when, discovering it on one of my folks' l.p.s. There are other occasions on which she doesn't bother to change pronouns so she'd be singing about a man instead of a woman, but that's a song you couldn't do that to if you wanted. Did it stop her from singing it? No indeed.

Comments

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

Do you listen to the Magnetic Fields at all, Lisa? I'd been meaning to ask you for some time, and this just reminded me. I think you'd like 69 Love Songs (a three-disc set of, well, 69 songs about the good, bad, funny, treacherous, utopic, and worst aspects of love). This post reminded me of them because Stephin Merritt does a lot of interesting things with gender in all his songs. He's a gay man who writes from the point of view of each gender and all sexual orientations, and then sometimes brings in other people (men and women) to sing the songs for him, so you'll get every male/female/homo/hetero point of view imaginable in a single song. And in my opinion, that is the true brilliance of the album, because he scrambles up gender roles and sexual roles and political roles and all that into one big, uniform musical omelette that basically says "LOVE IS LOVE," regardless of who is saying "I love you" to whom. It's terrifically subversive in the end, and most of the songs are just great, witty, emotional little pop songs to boot.

And I'd never been able to articulate exactly why it is that I think 69 Love Songs is such a masterpiece until you brought up Ella playing with gender (which, I agree, is also very smart), so thanks! :)

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Right on, right on. Willie W., you are so with me sometimes I can hardly believe it. And I don't know the Magnetic Fields at all! Something to look forward to checking out.

As I just said to E below, part of what I love is that the gender fuck is a standout, wow-how-different kind of thing that's making a point of how not different at all it is, too. There's something complicated and simple there.

Speaking of 69, remind me to tell you squirrelkat's math joke about the number. (It's a verbal [aloud] joke... wouldn't work in print.)

I hadn't heard Ella's

[atleastdefiant.livejournal.com]

But one of my fave gender transgressions is Me'Shell Ndegeocello's rendition of Clarence Carter's Who is He and What is He to You? She doesn't change any of the words either, and that rhythm guitar is so strong in there.

A man we passed just tried to stare me down
and when I looked at you
You looked at the ground
I don't know who he is, but I think that you do
Dad-gummit, who is he, and what is he to you?

Re: I hadn't heard Ella's

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've gotta hear it. I love it---a whole different ballgame, but also not a whole different ballgame at all, which is the point.

[vjsmom.livejournal.com]

No, I did not think this was directed at me. I do like the sentiment, though.