Kelly Buchanan lived nine lives before she ever left her teens. She nursed an ailing father at 11, was at a boarding school at 13, and at 15 lived alone in a motel and worked at IHOP. She celebrated her sweet 16 with her bandmates at her public high school in France, and at 17 she was living and volunteering in a squatter town in Guayaquil, Ecuador. There she starred in TV commercials, radio ads and joined the national soccer team's cheerleading squad before reuniting with her family in the States at 18, just in time to watch her grade school peers graduate from high school. At 19 she was off again, this time to Buenos Aires doing research on rape and machismo through a UNESCO program.
These risks and adventures gave Kelly Buchanan a plethora of stories to tell - a release she found in the albums she created along the way: A Bipolar World (1999), Match (2002) and Bastard Daughter (2005). While there were some truly soft and vulnerable love songs peppered in, Buchanan also covered a lot of dark territory in songs about abuse ("Here with a Bruise"), death ("Breathe You In"), sexual violence ("Hell-Taker") and survival (“Body Bag”) – the latter a painful recounting of how she survived being trapped in a predator’s basement.
But where do you go when you're ready to move on? That was the question Kelly Buchanan faced as she began writing songs for her fourth album. Bastard Daughter earned her positive reviews, a spot on CMJ's college radio charts, a dozen TV placements (including A&E, MTV and The CW), national distribution through Redeye, and endorsements from Daisy Rock Guitars, Elixir Strings, and Fender Guitars. She toured nationally and opened for artists including Mike Doughty, Martha Wainwright and The Whigs. But as her career was gaining momentum, the fierce songwriting that got her there was becoming an emotional burden. She concluded that reliving nightmares with every performance was simply not how she wanted to spend her life.
"I got into therapy at the same time as I started writing this record," says Buchanan. "I was trying to write something really positive, that I'd want to sing every night, that would make me feel better." She collaborated with good friend and producer Josh Kaler, a member of the band Slow Runner, at his studio in South Carolina. The first song they wrote was called "I'm Okay," a gentle and introspective ballad whose layered exploration belies its uncomplicated title. It became the mission statement for an album about healing -- as Buchanan says, "It's about the simple acts of reaching out and starting over, and the things you need to do to recover."
Through the eighteen months spent writing and recording the self-titled album, Buchanan wrote songs with a cast of talented artists, including Kaler (who is credited on three tracks), Tracy Bonham, Adam Schlesinger (of Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy) and Jeff Cohen (who has written hit songs for artists including Sugarland, Big & Rich, Josh Groban and Mandy Moore). The result is an album that veers from dreamy to jagged and back again, exploring a wide range of emotional turf in between. Buchanan sings about relishing imperfections on "Slow Watches," digging out of the mire on "Plastic Spoon," and of holding yourself up to the standard of childhood idealism on "Kid Self." She pays homage to rock 'n' roll party culture on "Easy Pickins" and "Mr. Romantik." And she sings about love, but her eccentric slant on songs like "Favorite Zero" and "You Are The Fix" makes her voice unique.
Of the choice to leave her fourth album self-titled, Buchanan says it represents a new beginning in her life and career. "I know I'll be somewhere else in a few years, hopefully more enlightened and evolved and more comfortable with myself and happier with where I am," she says. "This is the beginning leg of that next journey."
www.kellybuchanan.com
Cocaine
Kelly Buchanan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Princess dirty-lovin' man-fodder
Tainted fruit to draw you in
It's a beautiful beautiful world when I'm under your skin
Six days later you come to
Breathing razors, bleeding blue
Used up, tossed out, left to die
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
I seep in your veins and you will never
Ever ever get control again
Physically exhausted, emotionally fried
Did you come down hard from a whirlwind ride
Join the support group let it all out
It meets three times a week at your father's house
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
I seep in your veins and you will never
Ever ever get control again.
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
I seep in your veins and you will never
Ever ever get control again
Kelly Buchanan’s song “Cocaine” is a powerful and haunting narrative that explores the destructive nature of drug addiction. Through the perspective of the “devil's bastard daughter” who represents cocaine, the lyrics describe the seductive power of substance abuse that draws people in and makes them feel like they are in a “beautiful beautiful world” while under its influence. However, the consequences of addiction are dire as the lyrics reveal that people become physically and emotionally depleted, breathing razors and bleeding blue after the high begins to wear off. Despite this, individuals become addicted and find themselves willing to do anything to get another fix, even if it means “gouging” their throat.
The song suggests that addiction is a cycle that is hard to break, as people keep coming back to the drug even when it has no value left to offer them. The final lines of the song emphasize this point as the persona taunts the listener, telling them that they will “never ever get control again” once they have allowed themselves to become addicted to cocaine. Overall, Kelly Buchanan's “Cocaine” is a raw and emotionally charged ballad that invites listeners to question their perceptions of addiction and to consider the damage that substances can cause.
Line by Line Meaning
I am the devil's bastard daughter
I am the result of Satan's lustful desires
Princess dirty-lovin' man-fodder
I am royally seductive and irresistible to men
Tainted fruit to draw you in
I am the corrupted temptation that pulls you closer
It's a beautiful beautiful world when I'm under your skin
It's a beautiful world for me when I'm able to control you
Six days later you come to
After six days, you awaken from my euphoric grasp
Breathing razors, bleeding blue
You feel the pain and destruction I have left within your body and soul
Used up, tossed out, left to die
I have taken all that I can from you, and discarded you like garbage
Still you'd gouge your throat for one more try
Despite the suffering and desperation, you would still harm yourself to experience my seduction again
Call me cocaine, Call me cocaine, honey
I am known as cocaine, and you call out to me like a lover
I seep in your veins and you will never
Ever ever get control again
Once I am in your bloodstream, I will control you forever, and never let you go
Physically exhausted, emotionally fried
You are left drained and broken, both physically and emotionally
Did you come down hard from a whirlwind ride
Did the intensity of my seduction leave you in a state of withdrawal?
Join the support group let it all out
It meets three times a week at your father's house
Seek help and talk about your struggles with others who are dealing with addiction, it meets regularly at a certain location
I seep in your veins and you will never
Ever ever get control again.
Once I am in your bloodstream, I will control you forever, and never let you go
Contributed by Ava S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.