Not to be nosey, but i've been listening to Enemy a lot lately; and there just seemed to be reason to believe so. For example, 'Incubator' is obviously anti-maternity, and there is that line is 'Nothing' which bluntly states "We had a fetus once. I squished it like a bug."
I could obviously be wrong, so I thought I'd ask.
sorry if this is an inappropriate question, I was just wondering
Is Baby Jeff a daddy?
"Well, the songs are written from the perspective of someone who's had an abortion, and feels relief and a sense of power at ending a biological process which she sees as a use of resources she can't give. We don't know if it's autobiographical. Etc etc."
That would be the pedantic answer, and it's as helpful as tits on a lamppost. In practice, I've never liked the whole "separate the art from the artist" way of being a fan. The songs are intense and sound true. I'm under the impression (based on her personal style and a bit of biographical knowledge) that Kristeen doesn't write a lot of out-and-out fiction. Though she does write in praise of lying, so I guess there's that.
But even so, I think that there's a razor-fine but always-present distinction between seeing a work of art as the story of a personality which you must try to understand, and seeing it as a biography you must try to flesh out. And the former is the way I think fans should try to go. Am I making sense? We can speculate and assume all we want, but to me there's a line between saying "Kristeen wrote some songs with abortions in 'em; they seem autobiographical" and asking "was Kristeen ever pregnant and did she terminate the pregnancy?" We all listen to "Incubator" and go "that's great, that's painful, that sounds like it comes from life" and we're generally pretty sure who was sickened by her crude emotion, and that's part of our enjoyment, but would trying to find out be kind to her (or even that fun or interesting for us)?
So in answer to your primary question: that's how I read it, yeah. In answer to the implied question about whether it's appropriate/offensive, I think she'd be the only one with the right to make that call, and it's really complicated by the fact that the question involves a woman's body - questions about what women fuck, and what the results are, always come a little bit loaded. I think it's within the pale, though. It's just that I don't think an answer would help.
Anonymous: hi! That's quite a thing to say.
As usual (this is why I wish we could edit these things after the first few minutes, though I like the no-edit system in other ways) I've come up with a much shorter way to say what I just said: when it comes to thinking about artists, "knowing" and KNOWING are almost the same, they sort of look the same, and under many circumstances the information's identical, but they're not the same. "Knowing" is for us. KNOWING is reserved for the artist and their friends, unless we befriend them, which in some fandoms is obviously impossible, and others much easier.
Gawd, you never asked for any of this. I'm sorry.
Did y'all notice how I said "tits?" That's EXACTLY the kind of failed folksiness that sent Stephen King to his grave.
BabyJef is daddy to all, but technically to no one.
You are sadly correct......
Rachel, I totally understand you, and even though a bit lengthy (haha...), you answer was great. I was simply speculating as to if anyone who'd maybe have talked to her or something might know. Thanks!
It's sad about "tits"; and there again I understand hahahahaha. Oh goodness...
This edit thing is stating to annoy me
I was thinking, and Rachel, you're totally right. It seems so simple, but is the only real answer... aside from yes or no. But especially with Kristeen, there's room for much speculation. Such as: was 'Take Me' autobiographical? Who did, in fact "ruin everything? And, of corse... What exactly IS 'The Sweetest Freedom'?
The Sweetest Freedom was written for a douche commercial. Sadly, it was turned down......
or it could be about death.
You know, The Sweetest Freedom does have a vaguely jingly flavor. << >>
OR death. Now I'm running scared because I always read it totally literally.
It's totally going to come out someday that the person who ruined everything is Kristeen's booking agent, or a barback from the Side Door or someone else we've never heard of.
Yeah, I have that problem. You were speculating, and it reminded me of this thing I was thinking last month, and then I was typing and later, I found I could stop.
Well, seeing as how all her e-mail contacts were lost back in about 2004 (?) when her computer crashed, which the contacts were mentioned in the song, it could be about said computer. Which also could lead to a discussion on the meaning of Hi-Tek... but I won't get into that now.
Of corse it could be about anyone in her life that didn't do their darndest to get her famous; such as the people who would work with her in their spare time because it could do them no harm.
Wow, I'm getting deep! That or I'm completely out to lunch.
...Rachel's probably right. Darn it.
Wait (three months later)... who did we think was sickened by her crude emotion?
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