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There could not have been a more eloquent mockery than the title of this album. Yes, because its protagonist cannot really be said to be a happy girl. Perhaps the opposite cannot be said either. I will attempt to explain myself better.
Lisa is an artist capable of giving ever new meanings to the word pain: her attitude in facing the ugliness life proposes seems to be that of someone who, instead of wallowing in her own melancholy, thus ending up feeling sorry for herself, observes herself from the outside, almost with detachment, with a mix of resignation and self-derision. She is not exactly, or perhaps not “simply,” unhappy: rather, she is a commentator, sometimes cynical, sometimes self-ironic, of her own unhappiness. This is immediately clear when listening to the beginning of “Bad Attitude”, where each verse is at once a resigned acknowledgment and the derision of those who agonize over finding meaning in suffering (“You wish it was sunny but it’s not…ah ah ah”). When the din of violins and guitars dies away after the last chorus (“You could start over, it’s never too late”), a moving melody weaves through the guitar arpeggios as Lisa seems to find the only possible way out in the memory of childhood (“You would give anything to change back to when you laughed easy and all your moves were childlike”). Similar in mood is the next song, “Destroy The Flower”, an even more eloquent snapshot of her fragility (“it’ll never come out now, and that’s all your fault”).
These spine-chilling confessions, unlike what happens in her subsequent albums, are immersed in a jumble of distorted sounds resulting from an evidently more elaborate production and a more rock attitude. The mocking and very simple chorus of “Puppet” is immersed in a jubilation of guitars and studio effects of all kinds, “Everyone’s Victim” (“I am everyone’s victim”), a sort of female version of Beck's “Loser”, is dazed by the continuous dissonances of string instruments. “Cowboy”, a solemn and loving country ballad entrusted solely to her whisper and the acoustic guitar, seems almost like a sudden moment of silence, of truce, before the album's trilogy of masterpieces begins, “Happiness”, “The Earth”, and “Around the World”, which fade into each other like a single stream of consciousness. The first is a pungent reflection on life (“Give it up, try again, ain’t life fun…happiness”); the second a slow serenade that grips the heart when a celestial intertwining of mandolin and violin is added to the guitar; the last a nursery rhyme of hers, no less desolate (“what a waste to feel the way I feel”), yet with a chorus that seems like a jovial round dance.
The irresistible cadence of “Sychophant” does not prevent the song from being disturbed by continuous dissonant intrusions of the violin and keyboards with spectral sounds. Another calmer moment is the innocent melody of “The Dresses Song”: Lisa seems to have almost forgotten the pain that keeps her alive, yet even here a slight unease is visible, a painful realization of her own fragility, and consequently, the need for an “other” to hold onto (“Take me to your castle, it feels so good in there, I’m much safer in your castle, mine got lost somewhere”).
The ending of “The Darkest Night Of All” has the sweetness of the lullabies children sing to themselves when they are afraid of the dark, because the darkness of the mind is truly the darkest night of all. From the implacable mockeries I imagined they were, these songs end up being simply heartrending. Ain’t life fun?
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
03 Happiness (03:45)
Happiness yeah
Happiness is like tv
On or off
It's up to me
Happiness yeah
Relationships
Are like a cow
Growing strong
Just for now
Poor little cow
Mom and dad
Are like my head
I won't listen to them
Until they're dead
Or I'm dead
Sad but true
Sad but true
Self indulgence
Inconsiderate bitch
Inconsiderate bitch
You're nothing more than this girl
C'mon everybody, sing
Pain and sadness
Are real to me
They stick around
And let me be
Give it up
Try again
Give it up
Try again
Ain't life fun?
Happiness
Sad but true
Sad but true
Self indulgence
Insonsiderate bitch
Inconsiderate bitch
Ain't nothing more than this
Inconsiderate
Bitch
Yeah
Give it up
Try again
Give it up
Try again
Ain't life fun
Happiness?
Sad but true
Sad but true
Self indulgence
Inconsiderate bitch
Inconsiderate bitch
Ain't nothing more than this
You're inconsiderate
04 Bad Attitude (04:43)
You wish it was sunny,
But it's not...hahaha
The sun will come out
The day after tomorrow..haha
And you can move on
To another bad day
You wish you were pretty,
But you're not...hahaha
But your baby loves you,
He tells you so all the time
Oh that must be why
You're so happy together
You're having another bad day
And that's all you could change
But you don't,
But your attitude, baby
Doesn't have to be so sad
You wish you were happy
But you're not..hahahaha
But if life was easy
You wouldn't learn anything,
Now would you?
But most of the lessons you learn
You would rather forget
You wish you could laugh it away
But its hard
A smoke or a drink makes
The laughing part easier, haha
But now you are stuck
With another addiction
You're having another bad day
And that's all you could change
You could change
But you're attitude, baby
Doesn't have to be so mad
If you were just younger, hahaha
Or, you could start over,
It's never too late,
That's what Betty says
Whatever happened
To your sense of humor?
You've had all your treats
And its only 8:30 am
That's am you would
Give anything to change back
To when
The waves
Were smaller
And you could jump
Over
Change back
To when you laughed
Easy
And all your moves
Were childlike
07 Energy (03:37)
You never wanted this to last
You'd always rather feel bad
Who hurts most? is what you wonder
Who had the hardest day?
I have to ask you "What's your problem?"
I don't believe that you love anyone
? ? when you get hungry
'Cause you don't miss me
Lying by your side
I can feel your energy
And I want it to be mine...mine...mine
'Cause you don't talk like you used to do
You don't act like you used to
You don't laugh you to do
You don't seem to want to
Give me your engery
Give it to me
I want your energy
Give it to me
Me me me
You always thought that you don't like you
Well I do.
I ????
Lying by your side
I can feel energy
And I want it be mine...mine...mine
'Cause you don't talk like you used to do
You don't act like you used
And you don't laugh like you used to do
And you don't seem to want to
Give me your engery
Give it to me
I want your energy
You in me
I want your energy
Give it to me
I want your energy
Give it to me
08 Cowboy (04:07)
I love my little cowboy When he laughs, I'm happy When I'm weak He's macho We ride off together I love my little cowboy When he's rough I'm happy When I am He's macho A woman A man But every now and then he cries But swears there's no tears in his eyes 'Cause he a Little cowboy I tell him and he believes me Then he laughs And I am happy We ride off together A woman A man The power The beauty But every now and then he cries He thinks that I don't know this 'Cause he's a little cowboy I tell him And he believes me When he laughs I am happy We'll ride off together We ride off together A woman A man I know what I'm doing
12 Everyone's Victim (04:47)
Undone, everything's over
High strung, minutes are floating
Breakdown, my thought are cracking
Don't you come a step closer
Hard tounge, silence isn't golden
Unsung, unspoken heroes
Mouths shut, injury is opened
Madness, dangerous problem
Dododododododod (etc.)
No fun, everyone's closing
Mind flown, visions are scattered
Anger, shocking in circles
Guilty, powerless feeling
I am everyone's victim
I am everyone's victim
I am
Everyone's victim
I am everyone's victim
I am everyone's victim
I am everyone's victim
13 The Darkest Night of All (04:41)
Goodnight
How can you sleep?
How can you sleep through this?
What are your thoughts?
As you turn to dream?
I wouldn't know
I never look
These things are hard
These things can hurt
All of the secrets
Nobody needs to know
How does it feel?
Falling asleep so hard
How could ask?
How could I say?
The things I need to
You'd go away
Goodnight
Memory must
Fill you with love
Positive days
Positive years
Older than lonely
Older than old
There's only minutes
Minutes to go
You have to feel this
You have to cry
I can go on
I can deny
This stuff it hurts
Always it will
Now I can ask
Now I can say
The things I need to
You've gone away
Goodnight
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