The daughter of Philip M. Hatfield (a radiologist) and The Boston Globe fashion critic Julie Hatfield, Hatfield was born in Maine and grew up in the Boston suburb of Duxbury. She acquired a love of rock music during the 1970s, having been introduced by a babysitter to the music of the seminal Los Angeles punk rock band X, which proved a life-changing experience. She was also attracted to the music of more mainstream artists like Olivia Newton-John and The Police, perhaps explaining the dialectic in her later music between sweet, melodic "pop" songs and more hard rock oriented material. Visualizing herself as a singer since her high school years, Hatfield sang in school choirs and briefly played in a cover band called The Squids, which played Queen and Rush songs.
Hatfield began her solo career following the Blake Babies' breakup in 1991, releasing her first solo album Hey Babe in 1992. The album was one of the highest selling independent albums of 1992. Hatfield recruited a rhythm section comprised of former Moving Targets and Bullet LaVolta drummer Todd Phillips, and Thudpucker bassist Dean Fisher, and thus becoming The Juliana Hatfield Three.
Hatfield achieved alterna-rock stardom with the release of 1993's Become What You Are (recorded under the group name The Juliana Hatfield Three). Several songs from the album received regular airplay on major North American rock stations, with Hatfield's song "My Sister" becoming the biggest hit of her career with the video becoming an MTV staple. Another one of her songs ("Spin the Bottle") was used in the soundtrack of the Hollywood film Reality Bites (1994). Hatfield also made the cover of Spin magazine. Hatfield's popularity coincided with the success, in the mid-1990s, of many other female musicians (such as Liz Phair, PJ Harvey, Belly, Letters to Cleo, Velocity Girl, The Breeders, Hole, Veruca Salt, Poe, Throwing Muses, Magnapop, Bettie Serveert). Although she has always maintained that her gender is of only incidental importance to her music, Hatfield was pleased to have been invited, in 1997, to tour with the first Lilith Fair, a prominent all-female rock festival founded by singer Sarah McLachlan. Hatfield was profiled in a number of girls' magazines at this time and was embraced by many pre-teen and teenage girls as a role model due to the positive way she addressed serious issues faced by young women in her songs and interviews. About this period she says: "I was never comfortable with the attention. I thought it had come too soon. I hadn’t earned it yet." She gained notoriety in 1992 for saying that she was still a virgin in her mid-twenties in Interview magazine. In a 1994 interview for the magazine Vox she said she was surprised by the effect 'outing' herself had: "I think there are a lot of people out there who don't care about sex, but who you never hear from, so I thought I should say it. The magazine I did the interview for is full of beef-cake hunky guys and scantily-clad models, so I thought it would be really funny to say that I didn't care about sex in a magazine that's full of sex and beauty - but no one really got the joke."
In 1995, following the success of Become What You Are she released her followup album, Only Everything, in which she "turned up the volume and the distortion and had a lot of fun". One reviewer describes it as "a fun, engaging pop album". The album spawned another alternative radio hit for Hatfield in Universal Heart-Beat. The video featured Hatfield as an overly demanding aerobics instructor. Prior to the tour for 'Only Everything', Hatfield released Phillips and brought on Jason Sutter (American Hi-Fi, Chris Cornell, Jack Drag), as well as Ed Slanker (Thudpucker, Tinsel) on 2nd guitar, and Lisa Mednick on keyboards. Two weeks into the tour, Hatfield canceled the tour citing exhaustion, and took a month long break. Sutter was replaced by once again drummer Phillips, and touring resumed with Jeff Buckley as the opening act.
In 1996 she traveled to Woodstock, New York where she recorded tracks for God's Foot, which was to be her fourth solo album (third if not counting Become What You Are, which was recorded with the Juliana Hatfield Three), intended for 1997 release. Containing some of Hatfield's finest work to date, the album was unfortunately put on indefinite hold by her record company due to a disagreement with Hatfield. Only substandard bootleg versions of these songs (which do not meet Hatfield's approval) have surfaced and she has rarely featured them in her subsequent live performances.
During this time Hatfield left Atlantic Records and ventured back into indie-world. She recorded a six song EP titled Please Do Not Disturb, along with Todd Phillips and Ed Slanker, and with new bass player Mikey Welsh (Weezer). The EP produced by Hatfield features a tender song "Trying Not To Think About It" which is a tribute to the deceased musician Jeff Buckley who was a friend of Hatfield's. The EP was released on Bar/None Records in 1997.
Following the traumatic experiences surrounding God's Foot and her departure from Atlantic Records, Hatfield recorded the album Bed in 1998 in six days, about which she says on her website: "It sounds as raw as I felt. It has no pretty sheen. The mistakes and unattractive parts were left in, not erased. Just like my career. Just like life."
In 2000, she released Beautiful Creature, an album which was among the most critically well-received of her career. This album left the rockier side of Hatfield's musical personality unexpressed, however, so at the same time she also recorded Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure with Zephan Courtney and Mikey Welsh, which she describes as "a loud release of tension", with "lots of long sloppy guitar solos. And no love songs...a not-at-all attractive reaction to the ugly side of humanity, specifically American culture" The two albums were initially released in a set as a pair. Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure was however received very badly by the critics, who much preferred the acoustic songwriting on Beautiful Creature. On Beautiful Creature Hatfield worked with Austin-based musician Davíd Garza who co-produced much of the album. Wally Gagel a producer for Sebadoh and Tanya Donelly helped Hatfield record her most electronica influenced songs "Cool Rock Boy" and "Don't Rush Me" which added texture to the otherwise acoustic album.
2002 saw the release of Hatfield's first "best-of" album. The album, titled Gold Stars 1992-2002: The Juliana Hatfield Collection, featured the singles from her solo albums. It also contained two of the songs from the previously unreleased God's Foot, a cover of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart, as well as four new recordings.
In 2004 Hatfield released In Exile Deo, which was arguably an attempt at a more commercial sound, with input from producers and engineers who'd worked with Pink and Avril Lavigne. Hatfield did however produce the album herself with David Leanord receiving co-production credits on "Jamie's In Town" and the bright rocker "Sunshine'. The critics loved it, with a couple calling it her best work since the start of her solo career.
By contrast, the 2005 album Made in China was released on her own new record label, Ye Olde Records, and has a much rawer feel. John Doe of the band X described the disc as "A frighteningly dark & beautiful record filled w/ stark, angular, truly brutal songs & guitars. This is surely a 'Woman Under the Influence', though I'm not sure of what". Reviews were very mixed, with some liking the lo-fi sound, but others seeing it as slackness.
In December 2005 Hatfield toured the United States with the band X, whom she idolized during her teenage years.
In 2006, Hatfield released her first live album. Titled The White Broken Line: Live Recordings, the album featured performances from her tour with X. This was Hatfield's third release for her record label.
Hatfield's 9th studio album, How To Walk Away was released on August 19, 2008 on Ye Olde Records. The album's heartfelt subject on the break-up of a relationship resonated with critics, who gave the album largely positive reviews, with some hailing it as her best album since In Exile Deo.
On September 29, 2008 it was followed by her memoir, When I Grow Up.
Hatfield returned 2 years later as her 10th studio album Peace & Love was released on Ye Olde Records, February 16, 2010. The album's composition, arrangement, performance, production, engineering and mixing was solely credited to Hatfield.
There's Always Another Girl was released on August 30, 2011 again independently on her Ye Olde Records label.
In 2013, she joined with Matthew Caws (of Nada Surf) to form the duo Minor Alps.
In 2014, The Juliana Hatfield Three reunited two decades after it disbanded. Hatfield, drummer Todd Philips, and bassist Dean Fisher began practicing new material for an album, which would be their first together since Become What You Are in 1993.
In 2015, Hatfield and American musician Paul Westerberg formed the duo The I Don't Cares.
http://www.julianahatfield.com/
Live It Up
Juliana Hatfield Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tars of joy and pride
But someone's waiting in the wings to steal your fire
And I don't want to ruin the surprise
That your house on the beach
Will fall into the sea.
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Live it up 'cause you're going down
This reign can't last
It'll all dry up so fast
The planets are flying past you
You think it's only natural
That the world will stop
And wait for you
And wait for you if you fall off.
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Live it up 'cause you're going down
We fantasize of your demise
We lie in wait, we salivate
Visualizing your head on a plate.
You're sinking in the mud
They put the pedestal on
Hold on to your jewels
You can hawk them later
A variation on a theme :
You're not missing anything.
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Live it up 'cause you're going down.
The song "Live It Up" by Juliana Hatfield is a commentary on the transience and fleeting nature of life. The opening lines "The Guest of honor cries, Tars of joy and pride" seem to describe a celebration, possibly a party or ceremony, but the following lines suggest that this celebration is temporary and that someone is waiting to take your place. The line "And I don't want to ruin the surprise, that your house on the beach, will fall into the sea" suggests that everything, even the most stable things in life, are subject to change and impermanence. The song seems to be warning against becoming too attached or complacent in one's position in life as everything is temporary.
The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "Live it up 'cause you're going down" which can be interpreted as a call to enjoy life to the fullest because we are all headed towards our eventual downfall, whether it be in the form of death or some other type of loss. The verses further expand on this theme, suggesting that our egos and self-importance are illusory and that everything we hold dear will ultimately slip away from us.
The song ends on the lines "You're sinking in the mud, they put the pedestal on, hold on to your jewels, you can hawk them later, a variation on a theme: you're not missing anything" which seem to suggest that all of our efforts to hold on to material possessions, fame, or status are ultimately futile as they will fall away from us with time. It is a reminder to focus on the present moment and to enjoy life while it lasts.
Line by Line Meaning
The Guest of honor cries
The main person being celebrated is shedding tears of happiness and pride.
Tars of joy and pride
The tears shed are a result of a mixture of joy and pride.
But someone's waiting in the wings to steal your fire
Despite the celebratory mood, there are individuals secretly planning to undermine their success.
And I don't want to ruin the surprise
The artist doesn't want to be the one to reveal the secret plot or ruin the mood for the Guest of honor.
That your house on the beach
This line introduces the idea of the impending danger and loss.
Will fall into the sea.
The singer is suggesting that the luxurious life the Guest of honor leads will soon come to an end.
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Despite the impending loss, enjoy the moment and make the most of it.
This reign can't last
The artist believes that the Guest's reign of success will come to a close soon.
It'll all dry up so fast
The artist predicts that once their success runs out, they will lose all they have gained quickly.
The planets are flying past you
Time is moving too quickly, and things are happening too fast for the Guest of honor to keep up.
You think it's only natural
Despite what the singer thinks, the Guest of honor feels like they deserve all the success they are getting.
That the world will stop
The Guest of honor expects the world to pause and notice their achievements and setbacks.
And wait for you, if you fall off.
The Guest of honor expects the world to standstill should they lose or fail.
We fantasize of your demise
Other people, like the singer or those trying to undermine them, are thinking of ways for the Guest of honor to fail spectacularly.
We lie in wait, we salivate
The people waiting to undermine their success are eager and anticipating their downfall.
Visualizing your head on a plate.
The people scheming against the Guest of honor are thinking about destroying them entirely.
You're sinking in the mud
The Guest of honor is struggling and possibly already starting to experience failure.
They put the pedestal on
The people who made the Guest of honor a superstar by putting them on a pedestal will quickly discard them if they fail.
Hold on to your jewels
The Guest of honor should preserve everything they can now because they might not have anything in the future.
You can hawk them later
They may have to sell off their possessions to maintain their lifestyle later.
A variation on a theme: You're not missing anything.
The idea that material things are not important in the grand scheme of things and that they will not be around for long.
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Enjoy the life you have now because it might not last for much longer.
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Repeat of the above sentiment to drive home the message.
Live it up 'cause you're going down
Repeat of the above phrase for emphasis.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JULIANA HATFIELD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind