T.S.G.F.M.

I've often used this to open sets. I preface it by saying I have three kinds of songs: love songs, political songs, and funny songs, but this is the only one that's all three. It's kind of the sampler platter of my work. I wrote it the summer of 2001 while living with my dad in Eagle River, AK and working as a checker at Carrs (owned by Safeway). I met Christine at Truman Scholar Leadership Week earlier that summer. The song never would have happened had I not studied feminist criticisms of love poems in my Latin American Literature class with Patricia Varas that spring. Christine stopped returning my calls and emails for no apparent reason. Whatever, it's still one of my best songs.

Well here's a little ditty
about a girl smart, strong and pretty
she got a perfect score on the ACT
but the thing that most impresses me
is the way she's so damn feisty
yeah, so full of energy

Chorus:
Oh, Christine That sexy girl from Mississippi
Oh, Christine That sexy girl from Mississippi

Oh I love your deep brown eyes
wait, that last line exemplifies
how the chauvinist poet objectifies
the woman he writes about
leaving her without
any sense of agency
he sucks away her humanity
she's reduced to body parts fragmented
oh, my that's so demented

This song just did a feminist criticism of itself

Oh my that's so absurd
a stranger thing I've never heard
but on this you have my word
you know I would never sing
a song that treats a woman like a thing
but can't I say I like your eyes so brown
without putting anybody down?

Chorus