Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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Its also a warning.
I dont really do favorites, she explains.
Were asking my brain to do something it doesnt naturally do.
It would make my job a lot easier, she deadpans.
Meanwhile, in hindsight, her much-panned 2003 self-titled LP now soundsequally influential on todays younger musiciansas her classics.
I was so sure about who was right and who was wrong when I was young, Phair explains.
Its so much more complex than that to me now.
A lot of times, Im using a bridge for a second verse.
Im going to use Ba Ba Ba, because that song still makes me cry when I hear it.
By the end of the song, its over.
In the first part, the Ba Ba Bas are actually speeding up.
I had Brad do that.
Because thats how it feels!
Thats the excitement of,Oh my God, there they are.
Were gonna be together.
Ba ba ba ba ba ba!And I love that it has a weird name.
I love that I got away with it.
You cant always do that.
You need searchable names on certain songs.
But that was one of the ones where I got to call it whatever I wanted.
Most unexpected Brad Wood moment onSoberish
Theres a guitar in Bad Kitty thats weird-ass.
That nasty, scary guitar.
Thats me, but thats Brad taking my guitar part and running it through six filters.
When it came back like that, I was like, Oh my God!
I was running around the house screaming with excitement because he just gets the most brilliant sounds.
He takes my stuff that is very regular, and he makes it sound extraordinary.
I dont think of Brad as an unexpected person.
I think of him as someone that is more powerful than you would think.
That can be unexpected.
and hes like, Because!
Then youre sitting down for the TED Talk.
Now youve done it.
Thats how we work.
We go, Trust me on this.
The other person is like, I dont see it.
And then were going, Oh my God!
And we just know each other well enough to be like, Okay.
Im not feeling this.
I dont know where youre going with this.
And then its like, [screams with joy] Its fucking awesome!
The good thing about working with Brad is that we both agree when its awesome.
When it hits, we both have the exact same reaction: Thats it!
you might work with people who have really great production taste, and it might not be yours.
I made that up.
Its really emblematic of a relationship.
Its a love song to Chicago and a love song to my life and loves in that town.
The definitive Liz Phair chord ortheLiz Phair progression
If anything, Im chordless.
Im just moving my fingers until I like the sound.
Everyone thinks they know what Im playing, and theyre always wrong.
Its very visual to me, the fretboard and the neck.
If Im down toward the tuning keys, then Im like, Ive been there for a while.
Or, you know, Im getting a little bit bored.
So, okay, lets go somewhere else, and lets find a good rhythm to hook into.
There is no chord progression.
There are made-up chords, every song, in every way.
I saved part of that forFairy Tales,my next book.
That feels incomplete to me because the other side of that is what Im writing right now.
There are certain things aboutHorror Storiesthat need their companion pieces inFairy Talesto feel complete to me.
As my editor says, any story could be a horror story or a fairy tale.
My friend just drove to pick up a new puppy after her dog had died.
Thats like a fairy tale for her, all that happened on the course of that journey.
I would take real songs and mash them with my own songs, like Wild-Thing.
I like pop-cultural elements in my songs.
I think I would have liked darker, edgier stuff.
This sounds really weird, but I bet that In There [offSoberish] would have impressed me.
That sounds like a sophisticated, slow, not overreaching, almost dance track to me.
I think I wouldve really liked that and thought I wasnt capable of it.
I think I wouldve appreciated the unusual structure, too.
I dont like that.
I dont feel like I spawned people.
I feel like I was a person who had a big role in a larger wave of people.
I dont feel like I did something that everyone copied.
I feel like I waspart of something at the time, even.
But I just bristle that itsmylanguage.
I dont feel like I invented anything.
It just happened to be that mine did.
But I dont like when people are like, Did you hear so-and-so?
She sounds exactly like you.
And theres a compliment in there, which I can accept and be excited about.
Journalists kind of gave me that.
Its not that Im not taking credit; I just feel Im part of a continuum.
I have a lot of influence on that continuum.
But Im part of a continuum.
Im not being artificially humble, either.
I definitely will take credit where Ive felt its due.
Best-written Liz Phair song
Probably Jeremy Engle, which never even came out on an album.
Its a weird tune that I wrote the lyrics for before I put them to music.
Walt Vincent produced it, and he added some cool-ass guitar sounds.
Sometimes thats exactly what you need.
You need a napkin.
Thats my most favorite well-written song.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
