Girlfriend
by Matthew Sweet
1991
Buy the Legacy Edition on Amazon
Chris and I have been talking about doing full album reviews ever since we started MNP a few months ago. We recently set a goal of one album per month from each of us, which seemed manageable at the time, particularly since we had no other rules regarding what to pick or how to go about covering it. You’d think it would be awesome having the ability to choose any album ever made, throughout all time and space but fuck if it’s not totally stressful – particularly on the first go-around. You want to pick something great to initiate your catalog but at the same time you don’t to completely blow your load and have nowhere to go. While my wheels were turning I became aware of the dates quickly advancing towards the end of the month, I have to get the entry done by the 31st. The 31st, that date means a lot to me, which I’ll get into later… but it did make this album pop into mind and when I started doing a bit of research, I came across another interesting fact:
Twenty-three years ago today, Matthew Sweet released his masterpiece of an album, Girlfriend.
That sealed the deal. My first album of the month will be Girlfriend.
I’ve written about Girlfriend before, specifically my love of performing the title track at karaoke given any opportunity. And not to retread the same material too heavily but where previously I said that the track “Girlfriend” was unskippable, I would go on to say that the album Girlfriend is one of those rare albums where none of the tracks are skip-inducing. It stands both as wholly-realized album but also as collection of exquisite individual pop songs that could have all found homes in the singles bin. That’s not to say each one is a favorite, some definitely stand out more than others, so those are ones I’ll focus on.
Track 1: “Divine Intervention” – ♥♥♥♥♥
What a great album starter. From the very first guitar buzz leading into a barley audible countdown from the drummer, it just feels like home. We’ve been invited into Matthew Sweet’s world. Let’s hang out in the barn and commiserate together. The very first lyric,
I don’t know where I’m gonna live
I don’t know if I’ll find a place
That lyric didn’t mean much to me in high school. I wasn’t looking to relocate to anywhere but my car for the evening, but fast forward to my late 20s and every few years since, it hits home. Just last night, I woke up in a cold sweat wondering where we’d be living. If we could ever own anything. I’m not going to pretend to understand anyone’s lyrics or words as they intended them, but in my own interpretation Sweet is questioning his faith or lack thereof which was something I was definitely going through in my teens when this album came into my life.
Track 2: “I’ve Been Waiting” – ♥♥♥♥♥
This might be my favorite song on the album. I tend to go back and forth with a few of the others, but this one… gah. A song of longing for sure. I find that as I get older I tend to surround myself with younger women friends. The younger aspect comes from that fact that I just won’t grow up. The female aspect because I find friendships easier with women for a variety of reasons. To me, the lyric below sums up the feelings of wanting to be wanted. Now that I’m off the market, but getting older the odds of being desired are dwindling. But this is a song of hope…
When you said to me
You are not so old
Did I know it then?
‘Cause I had just been told
I didn’t think I’d find you
Perfect in so many ways
But I’ve been waiting [waiting]
And I want to [have you]
I’ve been waiting [waiting]
Track 3: “Girlfriend” – ♥♥♥♥♥
One of the best songs ever written. Some of the best guitar parts ever put to tape. I love this song. I will never skip it. For more blathering, read this post.
Track 4: “Looking at the Sun” – ♥♥♥♥♥
I really like this song and particularly the sequencing of it after “Girlfriend” – slowing down the tempo a bit to a kind of slow gallop. But I’ve never completely decided if he’s going blind because of her beauty or because literally she never showed so he spent the whole time staring at the sun. I like to think it’s the former, and that in a way it’s serves as a nice bookend to “Girlfriend.”
Do you really want to run away with me?
Would you really like to run away with me?
I can feel very clearly but no longer see
‘Cause I’m looking at the sun waiting for you to appear
Watched you getting nearer like I knew it in my heart
‘Til the damage was already done, looking at the sun
Burned my eyes out and I’m blind now, yeah I’m blind now
Track 5: “Winona”- ♥♥♥
For me, this is the weakest song on the album, but it’s still a keeper. Back in the day it was a little too country for me, with the slide guitar. But now it’s not enough honky tonk – more slide guitar. But I also dislike it because I’ve never been much of a Winona Ryder fan (queue outrage in 3-2-1…).
Track 6: “Evangeline” – ♥♥♥♥♥
Shit… did I say that “I’ve Been Waiting” was my favorite track. Um… well… how about a tie? What a great track. Matthew Sweet – eternally pining for women who he can never have. We’ve all been there bro. Although this one is either some kind of space angel, or a virgin…
She’s on another planet, she’s in my dream
She’s some kind of angel, if you know what I mean
Try her on and she fits like a glove
Too bad she only thinks about the Lord above
or a nun?!
Track 7: “Day for Night” – ♥♥♥♥
“Day For Night” is another song that I came around to much later in life. Similarly to “Winona” I think the fact that it wasn’t in the straight-up alternative rock genre threw me. It’s almost got a slow-burn blues vibe. I always dug this lyric:
How much can I tell you
My brain is terminally light
So bright That I traded the day for night
Track 8: “Thought I Knew You” – ♥♥♥♥♥
To me, this song is the most personal of the album. In my mind it’s about someone in an affair realizing the other person is never going to leave their significant other. I was going through something similar once, totally in love with someone who would never be able to leave the person who had gotten to them first and it did take years to get sorted out. Brilliantly depressing song about coming to terms with a relationship you never actually had.
Track 9: “You Don’t Love Me” – ♥♥♥♥♥
Christ. This song. Maybe one of the most depressing songs ever to come out of the 90s. Letting the lyrics tell the tale…
‘Cause you don’t love me, you don’t love me
You can’t see how I matter in this world
Even though I loved you
You can’t believe that
If you find something
You think might make you happy
Then I guess it’s okay, I think it’s okay
If you go awayBlown right out of my senses
I did not know what to do
Lost and badly wanting someone
To see me through that’s why I needed you
Do not play this song if you’re on the verge of making a drastic decision.
By the time we hit track ten we’re at the two-thirds mark, and while the album is still entirely listenable, and songs themselves are great, they just don’t mean as much to me or touch me deep down. But then we get to track 13…
Track 13: “Does She Talk” – ♥♥♥♥♥
You know this track is going to rock because right before counting in someone whispers, “We’re gonna do a sick one” and it is sick. Slinky vocals, on top of a screaming, guitar and with lyrics like:
She’s just your size
She’s sexy, she’s beautiful
Does she talk?
‘Cos, she’s just your size
She’s sexy, she’s beautiful
Does she talk?
‘Cause man you can’t teach
A slitherin’ snake How to walk?
Ole’ Matty S. has turned a corner, leaving the mean girls behind and opting for the sexy ladies… yeah Matt, yeah.
That last two songs on the album, “Holy War” and “Nothing Lasts” again, are totally great album cuts, but in the grand scheme don’t do much for me.
So back to October 31st. On that day in 2011 I saw Matthew Sweet perform Girlfriend in its entirety with my best friend and my fiancee by my side at City Winery in NYC. It was an amazing show, played flawlessly by Sweet and his band. I was surprised how many songs I was able to sing from memory. I’ve never considered myself a lyrics man, more of a rhythm and groove-oriented fella, but here it was twenty years later and I could’ve gone up on stage that night and probably have nailed 90% of the songs, maybe not sonically accurate, but lyrically at the very least. For an album to have that effect on my brain is magical. And the effect on the soul even more so.
The next day I got married.