Friday, October 17, 2008

Anthems for Seventeen Year Old Girls - Broken Social Scene - You Forget It In People - 2002

It was probably this song that really cemented the idea that Broken Social Scene was more than a weird Canadian hippy collective. It shouldn't work on any level, all of the elements should be terrible. Emily Haines effects an appropriately girly voice to chant the sing-songy lyrics with their hypnotic rhythm, while the backing track consists almost entirely of a banjo and violin until the end when the drum and guitar kick in. Girly voice! Strings! BANJO! This sounds terrible, right?

But it's absolutely hypnotic and nearly perfect. And beyond that, without being salacious or judgemental, it actually paints a fairly realistic portrait of whatever the hell goes on in the minds of teenage girls, by simply chanting a few phrases over and over. By the time she reaches "Park that car/Drop that phone/Sleep on the floor/Dream about me" you totally get it.

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