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Filler: Son Volt, KSCA, Los Angeles, CA 12/4/95:
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David Byrne: Sometimes something that's made up, imaginary or imagined, has more truth in it than something that actually happened. Somehow I think this applies to you. Liz Phair: Very much so. I think there was a lot of misunderstanding about the way I write songs with my earlier records, and I know that so well, 'cause that's my craft. To take something that isn't necessarily factually correct, and weave it with my own experiences into something new. And I do that because to do what I'm trying to do with my songs gives the same impact to someone else--this kind of shared experience. And that's an emotionally-based thing. And to elicit the right emotions so that they can know what it felt like to me to live it, I have to create a new zone for them. A new depiction of the facts, if you will. So that it's like taking them on a ride. For them to feel what it felt like for me to live it, I have to sometimes create a fantastical zone, and then they'll experience that feeling. David Byrne: Do people confuse you with the person or the character in the song? Liz Phair: Mm hm, all the time. And that's perfectly fine, because we're very close. (chuckles) Just a step aside from myself. But that's the trouble, I have a very confessional style, and a very everyday language use in my songs. And I like to glorify the mundane a lot of ways. And that's something that comes off as if I just didn't have a wit about me, just spat out what first came to mind. Like, well, this happened, and this happened, and this happened -- but, really, it was very crafted. And I really work, and tweak it, and change it Îtil it really feels right. David Byrne: What's happening in Chicago now? Liz Phair:(chuckles) Well, fall is coming. The leaves are turning... (laughs) What's going on in Chicago? When I'm at home I'm so much a mom that I'm out of touch with any cultural... I got a healthy dose of young musicians at Lilith Fair, but that was the closest I've come to being in touch in a long time. [CHUCKLES] David Byrne: And how was Lilith Fair? Did you feel like a little bit of an outsider, or not? Liz Phair: I wanted so much to be an insider with that. And when I first got there I had to struggle because the women that I was performing with were so much stronger than I was onstage. They were just presences. And they had honed their craft, and they had this huge, gorgeous voice to give. And my lyrics, for the first time in my life, I suddenly saw how aggressive they are and how they can be in your face. And up until then, I just assumed that people who were making all this talk about how "in your face" my lyrics were, were disconcerting. They were just, obviously, not used to hearing their girlfriends talk, or their wives talk, or whatever it was. But I thought I was gonna be fired for about a week. I didn't tell anyone -- I was just kind of like, "God, they're gonna fire me, because I'm yelling at these audiences." Like in "Six Foot One," [SINGING] "And I hated you! " You know? David Byrne: Uh-huh. Liz Phair: And they're just nice people sitting there... David Byrne: (laughs) Liz Phair: And I'm hating them, and I'm putting myself into it. And I thought, "God, you know, is this Lilith?" But after a while I really felt so much of a part of it that it changed my whole view of my career, and it gave me something to shoot for. It gave me peers that I admired and would like to learn from, and I learned a lot about what it takes to be them and how I can improve myself. It sounds really silly, the way I'm saying it right now, but it was really a heartfelt, inspirational thing. David Byrne: (overlapping) Cliches are often very true. Liz Phair: Cliches are often true. David Byrne: In "Polyester Bride," you talk about a real bartender in a real bar. And the song seems to be about the conflict between having a family and the security and tranquility of a family, versus -- Liz Phair: The road less traveled. David Byrne: Yes, yes. Versus how one imagines a creative life should be. Liz Phair: Right on. This guy nailed it, he nailed it right on the head. It's all about that and that is couched in all these little details. "Do you want to buy alligator cowboy boots they just put on sale" --that's just evocative of a type of person that consumes their energy. Or to consume themselves with that placebo endeavor. Like, "Okay, okay, I'll buy the new thing, I'll get married 'cause all my friends are, I'll work really hard so my house is fantastic," and not think about all the choices that they're making as they go along. And all the things that they could've done with their life that they're not doing, 'cause they're just following that path, and the struggle. David Byrne: Is it something that worries you? Liz Phair: Oh, yeah. David Byrne: Having a family and a kid. Do you ever worry, "Well, am I gonna get too settled, am I gonna turn into all those people that I don't wanna be?" Liz Phair: I worry the other way. I worry about taking my messy and tangled inner life and stomping it down enough, and making it pretty enough, so that I'll be liked and part of a crowd. I try really hard. I spend so much needless energy just trying to make myself as normal as possible and fit in as hard as I can. Because I know my imagination will just send me down head over heels any path. And so I'm always kind of trying to like keep up with the Joneses.
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*** CD 2/Set II ***
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Filler: Little Feat, Denver, 7/19/73
