He did release it as "Fink" after all

December 20, 2008 1:26 PM

Is there some sort of an explanation for Fink's seemingly super creepy lyrics that seem to cross into stalking/rape territory?

I first heard Fink's "Pretty Little Thing" being played in a department store. Fink's music has also been used for Mastercard ads. Since I first heard it I've listened to his two most recent albums. While the sounds and music are pleasing, it's starting to really creep me out because some of the lyrics seem sinister and disgusting.

There are questionable bits and pieces in different places, but as far as whole songs the lyrics to Pretty Little Thing and the lyrics to Trouble's what you're in are the main culprits. Stuff like "when she leaves, she's just asking to be followed. When she walks out, all she wants is, to be led. All my boys say she's just asking for it."

And in the other song, which seems worse, "Trouble's what you're in - In that dress that's as black as my heart on this train. With those lips that's as red as the blood in my veins. Trouble, You know it, Trouble, Soft Target. Cause it's a long way to London Bridge in them heels babe."

I'm wondering if there is some sort of biographical explanation behind it that someone is aware of, like he's telling the story of someone. Or perhaps there is an interview where he explains the lyrics.

Am I being oversensitive here? I've heard a lot of raw stuff, but there's just something disconcerting about these complete songs that seem to venture into stalking or rape territory. Of course a (female) friend isn't so sure, and thinks I might be overanalyzing things. I need the help of the hivemind.

posted by cashman to media & arts (9 comments total)

I'm not familiar with this particular artist or the song in question, but as a possible explanation, consider that not every song an artist sings is biographical. For example, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder sings in 'Glorified G';

Got a gun
Fact I got two
That's OK man, cos I love God
Glorified version of a pellet gun
Feels so manly, when armed.

Eddie is not only, as far as I'm aware, an atheist (at the very least, he rejected the existence of God in every interview I've ever read) but he hates guns. The song was inspired when one of the band members brought a gun to the recording studio, which pissed him off.

So maybe in the case of this song by Fink, perhaps someone he knows has said stuff like "she's asking for it" and so forth, which has pissed him off enough to sing about it. I'm not saying that this IS the case (again, don't know of the guy, nor have I ever heard any of his work) but I offer it up only as one possible explanation.

Gotta go listen to Glorified G now. Man, do I love that song.
posted by Effigy2000 at 1:51 PM on December 20, 2008

Also see The Police's "Every Breath You Take", the inner monologue of a serial killer / heartstring-jerking favorite wedding song.
posted by Aquaman at 2:20 PM on December 20, 2008

Stuff like "when she leaves, she's just asking to be followed. When she walks out, all she wants is, to be led. All my boys say she's just asking for it."

I kind of see what you mean, but my immediate interpretation of those lyrics doesn't find them as "super creepy" as you.

What I mean is "She was asking for it" may be a rape cliche, but it could just as easily refer to someone who wanted something - something like consensual heterosexual sex in the missionary position.
posted by Mike1024 at 2:23 PM on December 20, 2008

The last verse of Pretty Little Thing seems to make it clear that it's not about stalking or rape:

We could go out
we could go anywhere that you want.
We could stay in
we could do anything that you want.
We could do lunch
in Soho
or something.

'Cause when you walked in
all i want is
a reason
to talk to that girl
whose grace is so rare.

All my boys say
you won't get her
numbers.
I ain't saying nothing.
628-4081.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:30 PM on December 20, 2008

The ambiguously creepy/stalkery vs. adoring love song is a recurring theme in popular music. Notwithstanding The Beatles' Run for Your Life, which is just a straight out psycho ex death threat.
posted by abcde at 4:25 PM on December 20, 2008

I listened to as much of it as I could stand, and I think he's just a kind of poor lyricist trying to write a love song.

A lot of artists do write songs in the voice of an unlikeable character though. The general rule in popular music is that white people are always given the benefit of the doubt - "oh it's just a character, of course he's really against the horrible things he just talked about doing" - while black people are assumed to have literally done every bad thing they sing or rap about.

As with the Eddie Vedder quote above, there was a trend of lazy writing among 90s grunge musicians. They would write a song that sounded horrifically negative, and just assume everyone would take it "the right way," because they and their labels spent so much time building up their public images as saintly, humorless PC sourpusses. (Nirvana's "Rape Me" is another example of this genre, and perhaps the laziest song ever written: "He's saying 'rape me,' so it mean rape is bad? Get it, man?")
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:00 PM on December 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

See also "Keep on Runnin" by Spencer Davis Group. That shit is pretty fucked up right there.
posted by genghis at 8:45 PM on December 20, 2008

I guess I agree with everybody else that the lyrics could be interpreted as non-creepy, and that creepy songs aren't that out of the ordinary. However, I really do get a creepy vibe from some of his songs, especially "Pretty Little Thing". Perhaps it's something about the way his voice sounds, or the way the music sounds, but the song feels creepier to me than I would expect just from reading the lyrics. I've used up my quota of "creepy"s for the next 20 years.
posted by vytae at 10:03 PM on December 20, 2008

To me, music is about feelings, not thoughts. It's creepy? Trust your gut.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:57 AM on December 21, 2008