Early Work:
The pre-2002 Charming Hostess (also known as Charming Hostes… Read Full Bio ↴Early Work:
The pre-2002 Charming Hostess (also known as Charming Hostess Big Band) was a rock band that embraced a genderfuck sensibility (the women often wore mustaches while the men wore dresses). Early Charming Hostess music drew on women's vocal traditions (primarily from Eastern Europe and North Africa), and integrated them with American folk forms both white and black. Charming Hostess was founded in the fertile anarchy of Barrington Co-op (aka Barrington Hall), and nurtured by the West Oakland arts community, along with other coeval bands such as Fibulator and Eskimo. Half of Charming Hostess was also in Idiot Flesh/Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. The final effect was of a hoedown where bodacious babes belted the blues in Bulgarian while a Punk-Klezmer band rocked out in accompaniment.

The genre of this incarnation of ChoHo is described by the band as "Klezmer-Punk/Balkan-Funk". Recordings of Charming Hostess Big Band include "Eat" (Vaccination, 1998) and the more recent "Punch" (ReR, 2005) Charming Hostess Big Band was: Jewlia Eisenberg (voice, direction), Carla Kihlstedt (voice, fiddle), Nina Rolle (voice, accordion), Wes Anderson (drums), Nils Frykdahl (guitar, flute, saxophone, percussion), and Dan Rathbun (bass)."

Jewlia Eisenberg, Marika Hughes, Cynthia Taylor,
Jason Ditzian, Shahzad Ismaily, Ches Smith.

- plus, often Ganda Suthivarakom and/or Pameliya Kursten (all vocals).

Honored guests on 2010 The Bowls Project album include:
Marc Ribot, Jenny Scheinman, Megan Gould, Jessica Troy, Nils Frykdahl, Dawn McCarthy, Ganda Suthivarakom, Boris Martzinovsky, Aaron Kierbel, and Nir Waxman.

Current Work:
The Bowls Project, an album and installation from Charming Hostess released Summer 2010.

The Bowls Project Album:
Based on inscriptions from ancient Babylonian Jewish amulets, The Bowls Project, Tzadik sings of mysticism and magic, angels and demons, and the trials and joys of love and sex. Especially audible are the voices of Talmudic-era women: their work, hopes and dreams. Weaving together Babylonian devotional songs, apocalyptic American folk music and a radical take on ritual power, The Bowls Project marks the deepest and most creative work by Charming Hostess yet.

The Bowls Project Installation & Sound Sculpture:
As a performance installation and interactive sound sculpture that takes place in a 40’ vaulted dome. Featuring new music composed and performed by Jewlia Eisenberg and Charming Hostess, The Bowls Project is based on texts from ancient Babylonian amulets. The culmination of five years of research, The Bowls Project will
run June through August 2010 at Yerba Buena Center for the
Arts. An estimated 15,000 people will visit and interact with
the installation.

The Bowls Project Background:
Bowl amulets were common 1500 years ago in the area
that is now Iraq. Simple bowls were inscribed with a
householder’s secrets and desires and then buried under
the doorway to protect the home. The bowl texts are
about “secrets of the home”: love and intimacy, angels and
demons, and the trials and joys of daily life. Audible in these
texts are the individual voices of women from this period
-their work, hopes, and dreams. These spiraled inscriptions
are among the few existing records of female voices during
the time and place of the Babylonian Talmud.

All Work:
The music primarily springs from three women with an emphasis in the body--voices and vocal percussion, hand claps and heartbeats, sex-breath and silence. The work grows from diaspora consciousness: both Jewish and African. Stylistically, Charming Hostess incorporates doo-wop, Pygmy counterpoint, Balkan harmony and Andalusian melody. Contemporary influences on the band include Meredith Monk and Reinette l'Oranaise. The music often explores existing text and overlays the composer's (Jewlia Eisenberg) own questions of authenticity, montage, and the effect of music on non-verbal languages.

The 2002 CD (Trilectic, Tzadik Records) explored the political/erotic nexus of Walter Benjamin and his Marxist muse, Asja Lacis. The 2004 CD (Sarajevo Blues, Tzadik) sets Bosnian poetry by Semezdin Mehmedinović as a form of love and resistance to the brutalization of war.

Ferret Said
Charming Hostess Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Ferret said sorry. Ferret said "I've had enough of your shit-eating grin."
She walked out.
She was back the next day, saying
"I'm sorry, honey.
I'm sorry, so sorry. Please accept my apology."
Wynn said "Yeah I sleep with other girls,
If you can't handle that too bad,
'cause we had such a good thing."

He smiled bright. White bread white.
Wynn said "It's too bad that you can't handle that I sleep with other girls,
If you can't handle that, I'm sorry.
It's too bad. I sleep with other girls,
And I'm sorry honey."
Smile, smile, smile, don't smile.
Don't smile Ferret, don't smile Ferret, smile.
I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry.
You can say you're sorry 'til the wind eats up our homes
Until the worms destroy our bones

And still I'd rather be alone.
Ferret said sorry.

Overall Meaning

The song "Ferret Said" by Charming Hostess is a powerful commentary on the dynamics of a broken relationship, where one partner (Wynn) chooses to cheat on the other, and the other (Ferret) attempts to reconcile despite feeling hurt and betrayed. The song begins with Ferret saying sorry to Wynn, with a hint of anger and resentment in her tone. She then walks out, only to return the next day and apologize even more profusely. Wynn responds dismissively, acknowledging that he sleeps with other girls and implying that Ferret should simply accept it. He smiles brightly while delivering this message, further emphasizing his lack of remorse. Meanwhile, Ferret is urged to smile, despite the pain she is feeling, creating a stark contrast between her emotional turmoil and the pressure to appear happy.

The lyrics in the song reveal an underlying irony, as Ferret continuously apologizes despite being the victim of infidelity, while Wynn shows no remorse for his actions. The chorus "I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry" sung by Ferret, suggests that she is finally taking ownership of her emotions, refusing to apologize any further. The reference to "the wind eat(ing) up our homes" and "worms destroy(ing) our bones" is symbolic of the permanence of the split between two people who were once in love, and the futility of trying to fix what cannot be fixed.

Line by Line Meaning

Ferret said sorry.
Ferret apologized.

Ferret said "I've had enough of your shit-eating grin."
Ferret expressed her frustration with the recipient's insincere smile.

She walked out.
Ferret left the situation.

She was back the next day, saying "I'm sorry, honey. I'm sorry, so sorry. Please accept my apology."
Ferret returned and attempted to reconcile with the apology and pleas.

Wynn said "Yeah I sleep with other girls, If you can't handle that too bad, 'cause we had such a good thing."
Wynn revealed his infidelity to the recipient and dismissed her feelings.

He smiled bright. White bread white.
Wynn's smile appeared insincere and artificial.

Wynn said "It's too bad that you can't handle that I sleep with other girls, If you can't handle that, I'm sorry. It's too bad. I sleep with other girls, And I'm sorry honey."
Wynn reiterated his lack of concern for the recipient's feelings about his unfaithfulness but made a half-hearted apology.

Smile, smile, smile, don't smile. Don't smile Ferret, don't smile Ferret, smile.
The recipient vacillated between asking Ferret to smile or not, highlighting the confusion of the situation.

I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry. You can say you're sorry 'til the wind eats up our homes Until the worms destroy our bones And still I'd rather be alone.
The recipient expressed her unwillingness to continue the relationship regardless of apologies and the amount of time passed.

Ferret said sorry.
Ferret apologized again, implying that she was willing to take responsibility for the difficulties in their relationship.

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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