23-11-09 Lydia
Dean Friedman’s mop-afro and tired moustache make him a cartoon of the 70’s singer-songwriter but this is really a beautiful, cinematic song
It’s a rare lyric in a guy-song; the singer is a self-confessed self-obsessed ineffectual loser with a fear of commitment; Lydia’s angelic qualities include her ability to overlook this.
More commonly the singer lists the beloved’s deficiencies in looks, grace and intelligence and declares that despite the catalogue of shortcomings they have, as Brook Benton noted ‘got what it takes’.
The singer asks his Funny Valentine ‘Is your figure less than Greek?/ Is your mouth a little weak?/ When you open it to speak are you smart?’ and if there were any room for doubt about these rhetorical questions, he drops the subject ‘…But if you care for me, don’t change one hair for me’. Shapeless, unphotogenic, tight-lipped and dull as she is, she’s the girl for him. Or he for her; the song is an equal opportunity critique, depending on who’s singing. Kiss me, you dullard!
‘Just My Bill’ weaves rapture around profoundly dull Bill, who ‘doesn’t give her anything to brag about’ although if ‘you’d meet him on the street and never notice him’ this strikes me as a pretty impressive ninja skill.