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Rating: If originality and continuous, unlimited experimentation are what immortalize an artist in history, then very little will be remembered of Aimee Mann's efforts in a few generations. A solitary, reclusive singer-songwriter, rooted in a style brimming with citations and references to other eras, this blonde forty-something from Virginia may never be able to create an immortal masterpiece, but she has certainly been capable of stringing together, one after another, small gems of elegant pop songwriting. The Forgotten Arm is no exception, although it is inferior to anything she has produced to date.
I don't intend to curb my verbosity when addressing the description of the work in question. It's first important to note that this is a concept album, a format our artist seemed to have been courting for some time (see the beautiful and thematically nearly uniform Lost In Space), and it tells the love story between the boxer John and Caroline, a Southern girl victim of boredom and routine. The two meet in the early 1970s at the Richmond fair ("Dear John") and embark on a journey across America to escape the dullness of the provinces. However, since this is an Aimee Mann album, it's fair to assume that something might not go right, that the magical mechanism of love stumbles, and the two heroes are forced to part ways once more: indeed, this happens by the third song, when John leaves Caroline ("Goodbye Caroline") to detox from alcohol and drugs. After all, the prospects weren't the best: as the storyteller says in the tear-jerker ballad "King Of The Jailhouse", the two relied on each other because they thought that "sharing the load could lighten its weight." They are also two drifters, two losers, clinging to each other like castaways to the remains of a boat to avoid sinking, driven into each other's arms by infinite love but equally infinite fear of not making it alone. From this point on, the narrative becomes more fragmented and uncertain; Aimee seems to lose sight of the plot, forgets the intertwining, and indulges in the careful description of the two characters, which she carves with unprecedented involvement and attention. This is the main asset of the album, thanks to the tender and compelling realism that Aimee pours into her lyrics. The lyrics alone would justify purchasing the album: a few brushstrokes and you can understand John's discomfort, resigned to the horror of his addiction
"I'll pour the drink like a true believer
Whose God never blinks..."
("I Can't Get My Head Around It")
And Caroline's pain is real and palpable as she realizes she can no longer react to the relentlessness of events and has no way of helping her partner ("Was I the bullet or the gun?" from "I Can't Help You Anymore"), reconstructing the stages of their story (in the other piano ballad, perhaps the best on the album, "That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart"). Equally solid are the two final compositions, where the ultimate triumph of love takes shape. It's not a happy ending without uncertainties, however: "Why does it hurt me to feel so much tenderness?" Caroline asks in the final song. And it couldn't end differently, considering the signature the album carries.
Musically, the protagonists' stories are narrated through a style that faithfully cites the clichés of a certain rock from the era in which the story is set: the almost omnipresent boogie of the piano, Hammond organs, rough and pulsing bass, a wealth of guitar solos. Joe Henry's clean production, however, tends to excessively flatten the album's insights: Mann's songwriting (in a strictly musical sense) needs lively and baroque settings to enchant, here it reveals itself to be elegant but substantially monotonous and somewhat convoluted. Tracks like "Video", "She Really Wants You", and "I Can't Get My Head Around It" are too similar to one another, and the fact that in the track list they are one after the other certainly doesn't help avoid the album's center being swallowed by a black hole. Perhaps the masterpiece of the album is the folk lullaby "Little Bombs", and it's significant that it is also the least "Aimee-Mann-esque" track of the work. While it was almost obvious that the bittersweet lyricism of the previous Lost In Space would evolve into a concept album, one is nonetheless forced to contend with a work undoubtedly refined and worthy of respect, but monochromatic and repetitive, intriguing and engaging, but not staying in memory, nor perhaps surviving the passage of time.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Dear John (03:07)
Cotton candy was king
On the midway that spring
When I saw you in the ring on the lawn
Dear John
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunates can go on
Oh, the lectures I gave
So the girls would behave
While the band played all your favorite songs
Dear John
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunates can go on
But numbers come up and you're left to the fates
Though I always thought you were one of the greats
Once somebody stationed in Kuala Lumpur
Said he thought you went out, but he couldn't be sure
And the midway I knew
Where the sky was so blue
With the memory of you is gone
Dear John
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunates can go on
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunates can go on
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunates can go on
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunates can go on
Throwing kisses so Richmond's unfortunates can go on
02 King of the Jailhouse (05:19)
The king of the jailhouse
And the queen of the road
Think sharing the burden will lighten the load
So they pack up their troubles
In an old Cadillac
That's her in the mirror, asleep in the back
Baby, there's something wrong with me
Baby, there's something wrong with me
Baby, there's something wrong with me
That I can't see
That I can't see
And they don't give the answers
At the end of the test
So you can't simply stand there and hope for the best
So wake me up at the border
When we reach Mexico
I'll tell you a secret I don't even know
Baby, there's something wrong with me
Baby, there's something wrong with me
Baby, there's something wrong with me
That I can't see
That I can't see
Honey, I don't wanna turn around
And go back there – do you?
I think you know something I don't know
That I need to
Baby, there's something wrong with me
Baby, there's something wrong with me
Baby, there's something wrong with me
That I can't see
That I can't see
That I can't see
03 Goodbye Caroline (03:53)
[Aimee Mann]
Put on your shoes, girl
I'm goin' to the coast
Where every loser
Gives up what hurts the most
And all those haunted
Unlucky guys get told
Who's really wanted
And who just can't stay sold
Goodbye, Caroline
You're my favorite faith healer
Goodbye, everything
Say I gave to the house dealer
Who could only really let you down
Put on your coat, babe
My luck is winding down
I'll get your suitcase
And pull the car around
Goodbye, Caroline
You're my favorite faith healer
Goodbye, everything
Say I gave to the house dealer
Who could only really let you down
Where it's lit day for night
And the clocks wear their faces bowed
Where the hands and cuffs gleam white
As they hang on a nicotine cloud
Goodbye, Caroline
Goodbye, everything
Goodbye, Caroline
You're my favorite faith healer
Goodbye, everything
Say I gave to the house dealer
Who could only really let you down
Who could only really let you down
Who could only
Let you down
Let you down
Let you down
Let you down
06 She Really Wants You (03:26)
Sitting in your father's basement
Waiting for the phone to ring
Still in your pajamas, baby
She made up some excuse to see you
You said you didn't feel a thing
Tired of all the dramas, maybe
But still
The moment you hear
The moment you know
I'm sure you'd come running, baby
Sure
The moment you hear
That she really wants you
Packing up your old apartment
Sealing up another box
Wondering what made you choose her
And moving house when you're a stoner
Everything you come across
Makes you feel like such a loser
But still
The moment you hear
The moment you know
I'm sure you'd come running, baby
Sure
The moment you hear
That she really wants you
'Cause the stray that you found
That looked so cute at the pound
Now has you putting her down as rabid
If it was badder than bad
Well, then – you oughta be glad
You can break it like another habit
But still
The moment you hear
The moment you know
I'm sure you'd come running, baby
Sure
The moment you hear
That she really wants you
Oh, sure
The moment you hear
The moment you know
I'm sure you'd come running, baby
Sure
The moment you hear
That she really wants you
10 I Can't Help You Anymore (04:52)
That summer was just crazy hot
We walked the fairground parking lot
And with our secret handshakes
Sealed the deal completely
But I'm too close to know just what
Will keep Pandora's boxes shut
And so I'll fail you badly
When you really need me
'Cause I don't know
What I should know –
That I can't help you anymore
No, I can't help you anymore
No, I can't help you anymore
I'll get a pen and make a list
And give you my analysis
But I can't write this story
With a happy ending
Was I the bullet or the gun
Or just a target drawn upon
A wall that you decided
Wasn't worth defending?
And I should know
But I don't know
That I can't help you anymore
No, I can't help you anymore
No, I can't help you anymore
Anymore
No, I can't help you
'Cause baby, look what I have done
The ruins just go on and on
I've got to let it go now, or it will drag me under
So I can't help you anymore
No, I can't help you anymore
No, I can't help you anymore
Anymore
No, I can't help you anymore
12 Beautiful (03:48)
You pulled up and parked your El Dorado
We said "hi" and kissed with some bravado
I got out my camera and was laughing
Happy it was you I'm photographing
And we drove to the ferry
Like the cat and canary
I said, "Baby, it's scary
When it's so beautiful
Why does it hurt me
To feel so much tenderness?
Beautiful
You little wonder, you"
Maybe then I held your hand and kissed you
I know once I just hauled off and hit you
'Cause I can't even stand it
'Cause I don't want to end it
To be perfectly candid –
Baby, you're beautiful
Sometimes it hurts me
To feel so much tenderness
Beautiful
Wish you could see it, too
And all I have to do today
Is make you happy
The only thing you have to say
Is, "It's all lovely, baby"
Late that night, we checked into the Bellevue
Held you close, but, baby – couldn't tell you
And we stayed in our Calvins
And we swore we'd be best friends
And I looked through the zoom lens
And thought you were beautiful
Sometimes it hurts me
To feel so much tenderness
Beautiful
Baby, I'm dazzled
By the view
Beautiful
You don't need to tell me
I'm completely powerless
Beautiful
I wish you could see it, too
I wish you could see it, too
I wish you could see it, too
Baby, how I see you
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