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Chris Robley Week: The Love I Fake


01/23/2008
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(antiMusic) With a CD called The Drunken Dance of Modern Man In Love, and a nickname of the Stephen King of Indie Pop, Chris Robley caught our attention. He kept our attention with his moody yet intriguing music. We asked Chris to pick some of his favorite songs from the CD and tell us about each. Here is Chris with today's song "The Love I Fake".

This song inspired a music journalist in San Francisco to start a whole iTunes mix for songs about prostitutes. I think The Love I Fake and Roxanne are the only ones in there so far. Feel free to leave your suggestions in the box. So why a song about a prostitute? Sometimes I'll just come up with these little mental problems in my head that need solving, and it could be anything that sets it off. It might have been a movie or a discussion or an undigested bit of mustard that made me go pondering. Start with the question, develop the answer.

Everyone at some low point in their life needs to feel empowered amidst the chaos, and how could a prostitute feel empowered given the daily horrors? And the answer I came up with was by possessing or cultivating a kind of superior air about her and by making fun of the dude in her head while it's all going down. Quiet condescension. So hopefully the listener starts off feeling sorry for the girl, but ends up feeling sorry for the pathetic guys she emasculates with her barbed tongue.

Recording-wise, I brought in the usual cast of characters for this tune: Mike Danner on accordion and honkey-tonk piano, Benny Morrison on clarinet and Barritone sax. Steve Keeley on fiddle. Arthur Parker on upright and fuzz bass. John Stewart on
Drums.

I like how the feel keeps morphing in this song, too. The barroom vamp section is a nod to klezmer. The verses are some kind of slow western swing. The pre-chorus ramps into a 50's rock-motif and then launches into a chorus that always reminded me of Weezer. Then at the end I did my best Nilsson vocal-outro. After all, one can never have enough Nilsson. Learn more about the CD, listen to the songs and more right here!

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