Jump to content

One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 143
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

REALLY a nice-sounding song. Something about the vibe of the music that feels good listening to.

 

I didn't know who Jane Smiley was before seeing the Wilco song title. Now that I know a little about her, I'm surprised the songs isn't about a man figuring out to tell his girlfriend he wants to see someone else.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I didn't know who Jane Smiley was before seeing the Wilco song title. Now that I know a little about her, I'm surprised the songs isn't about a man figuring out to tell his girlfriend he wants to see someone else.

Please elaborate.

Link to post
Share on other sites

From an interview with St. Louis Magazine.

 

There’s a song on the new album called “One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend). Smiley’s from Webster Groves—do you know her?

I don’t know her very well, but I have met her and her boyfriend, and I’m a little nervous about that song now because I’m hoping that it will be taken in good spirits. Having met her only once, though, I will say that I know her better than I know her work even. It’s really more about the meeting of her boyfriend, and I had a really poignant moment over dinner with him one time, so I thought it was cool to reflect that in the song. Even though now I’m really sad that I’m going to have to skirt around this for the next year.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Woulda been easy for Jeff Tweedy to leave off "Smiley" or just reference the guy's first name. I'm curious to why he felt the need to title the song like he did.

 

1. Tweedy admits to not knowing her or her writing much at all, so I doubt his desire was to boost her popularity.

2. She has no relevance to the gorgeous song's lyrics or story.

3. Tweedy must expect that some fans of the band, like myself, would be curious who she was. In just minutes on Google, I found out she's not only a successful (and very good, it seems) novel writer but also someone who writes numerous essays and opinion pieces for left-leaning websites. She seems to despise the political right and has a view on religion that I happen to strongly disagree with.

 

Is this a big deal? No. Will it stop me and other Wilco fans from buying their disc and seeing them live in December? No.

 

But it's odd.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the song's length was inspired by how long it takes to get through one of Jane Smiley's books. Which is to say, about four times longer than the average book.

 

I've met Jane Smiley and I like her personally (and even a few of her works), but I'm not sure I can ever forgive her for the several hours I could have spent in far more enjoyable ways than slogging through The Greenlanders.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought using her name was maybe a comment on the irony of having meaningful conversations with someone that you barely know and can't even remember their name afterwards. Or maybe it's about how a person who has a close relationship with someone who has some amount of fame is often referred to by their relationship to that person and not as an individual themselves. ex. Jane Smiley's boyfriend rather than Bob Jones. (I have no idea what his name is, BTW)

 

Having spent many years in the restaurant business, I know that I've referred to many people by what they ate or drank. One regular customer who we all spent a lot of time with and had many conversations with was only ever referred to by us as Cayenne Pepper Man. I'm sure many of the staff never even knew his real name.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the song's length was inspired by how long it takes to get through one of Jane Smiley's books. Which is to say, about four times longer than the average book.

 

I've met Jane Smiley and I like her personally (and even a few of her works), but I'm not sure I can ever forgive her for the several hours I could have spent in far more enjoyable ways than slogging through The Greenlanders.

 

I've tried about 3 times to read Moo. I get about 1/3rd through and I just give up for some reason. I've enjoyed what I've read though.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Woulda been easy for Jeff Tweedy to leave off "Smiley" or just reference the guy's first name. I'm curious to why he felt the need to title the song like he did.

 

1. Tweedy admits to not knowing her or her writing much at all, so I doubt his desire was to boost her popularity.

2. She has no relevance to the gorgeous song's lyrics or story.

3. Tweedy must expect that some fans of the band, like myself, would be curious who she was. In just minutes on Google, I found out she's not only a successful (and very good, it seems) novel writer but also someone who writes numerous essays and opinion pieces for left-leaning websites. She seems to despise the political right and has a view on religion that I happen to strongly disagree with.

 

Is this a big deal? No. Will it stop me and other Wilco fans from buying their disc and seeing them live in December? No.

 

But it's odd.

Still, what does this mean?:

 

I didn't know who Jane Smiley was before seeing the Wilco song title. Now that I know a little about her, I'm surprised the songs isn't about a man figuring out to tell his girlfriend he wants to see someone else.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I reread and see she's a lefty and you're a righty. Got it.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Speed Racer

Jakob, you do realize that Jeff leans left, correct? So it would come to pass that many of his dinner companions would perhaps share his outlook on life?

 

If you're into a left-leaning band, I do not know why you would ever express dismay/surprise/whateveritisthatthisis that they wrote a song which, after you spent about 10 minutes on Google and Wikipedia, discovered was a complete and total kind of sort of left wing not-name-drop.

 

How dare they?

Link to post
Share on other sites

My intent is not to start a political back-and-forth. I lean right on many issues, but have NEVER let that get in the way of enjoying good music, books or films.

 

Jeff said, " I don’t know her very well, but I have met her and her boyfriend, and I’m a little nervous about that song now because I’m hoping that it will be taken in good spirits. Having met her only once, though, I will say that I know her better than I know her work even. It’s really more about the meeting of her boyfriend, and I had a really poignant moment over dinner with him one time, so I thought it was cool to reflect that in the song. Even though now I’m really sad that I’m going to have to skirt around this for the next year."

 

Jeff could have EASILY avoided any issues by simply not including the parenthesized parts of the title. But maybe there IS a good reason for it.

 

Ghost of Electricity made a good point saying, "maybe it was to pin it to reality, letting the listener know that it is based on a true story, as they say." That makes decent sense.

 

A Girl And A Monkey made 2 excellent points: "I thought using her name was maybe a comment on the irony of having meaningful conversations with someone that you barely know and can't even remember their name afterwards. Or maybe it's about how a person who has a close relationship with someone who has some amount of fame is often referred to by their relationship to that person and not as an individual themselves. ex. Jane Smiley's boyfriend rather than Bob Jones." Nice ideas, both.

 

Reading those responses makes me re-think my feeling about it, especially the idea of having a meaningful conversation with someone you don't know and forget the name of later. I still think it's odd to mention her specifically in a song title, but I can "get" it now....I think.

 

My original comment about how the song could be about Jane's boyfriend dumping Ms. Smiley had nothing to do with her looks, but just the thought of having to listen to her at dinner or in the car. Her opinions seem very strong and quite opposite of mine. I'm sure she's a very caring and nice person. But some of her opinions would irritate me greatly. I wonder if there'd be more comments on this song title if it were titled "(For Michael Savage's Limo Driver")?

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Speed Racer

Why not just change it to Crazy Left Wing Nut Who Mucked Up a Good Song With his ISSUEZ?

 

Frankly, the whole album is pretty offensive to me. The title - the whole love - it's inclusivity? Clear and simple pandering to the homosexuals.

 

At least they make up for it with the best song ever.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...