After years playing violin as a session musician with the likes of John Mellencamp, Indigo Girls and Bob Dylan, Germano embarked on a solo career in 1991 with the understated but occasionally brilliant On The Way Down From The Moon Palace on her own label, which led to a deal with Capitol, who released her second album. Although Happiness was a massive step up in terms of confidence and songwriting, troubles at the label led to her buying back the rights. In 1994 4AD released a re-sequenced and remixed version of Happiness with a new sleeve and a few different tracks (including a gloomy version of the formerly scintillating ‘... Dresses’).
She turned out to be not just a great musician (she plays most of the instruments: piano, guitar, percussion and tape effects, as well as her trademark violin) and a wittily melancholy if kooky songwriter (‘I Love A Snot’, indeed), but a phenomenal arranger whose innovation and breadth of expression is comparable to PJ Harvey at her tape-mangling best.
As her style developed, so the music’s potential commercial appeal increased without compromising its uniqueness. Bright kaleidoscopes during an otherwise dark time in 4AD’s history, the following three albums, Geek The Girl, Excerpts From A Love Circus and Slide all won critical acclaim, but sadly failed to reach the wide audience they deserved; Germano was dropped in 1998, and announced her retirement from the music business.
(In 1997, she also released a collaboration with Giant Sand and future members of Calexico under the name OP8 Featuring The Ilk Of Lisa Germano).
Retirement didn’t suit her, and she was soon out on tour again, sessioning for David Bowie and Neil Finn, before, in 2003, releasing the self-funded Lullaby For Liquid Pig on ArtistDIRECT imprint Ineffable. A return to the woozy, after-the-carnival soundworld of ...Love Circus, the album was made with help from collaborators Finn, Johnny Marr and Wendy Melvoin.
Label-less again after Ineffable dissolved, Swans mainstay and longtime Germano fan Michael Gira snapped her up for his Young God label, which in 2007 released In The Maybe World, a stripped-down but ultimately hopeful reflection on mortality inspired by the death of, well, a cat, but also the imagined death of her Father. Young God subsequently reissued Liquid Pig with an extra CD of live recordings and demos, whose between-song banter highlighted Germano’s unique and cat-slanted take on life and death.
In September 2009 the album Magic Neighbor was released, again on Young God Records.
She also works with Maynard James Keenan's Puscifer
Official site: www.lisagermano.com
Paper Doll
Lisa Germano Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In my mind
It was oh so fine
Happy now
Happy gone
I am often wrong
Scissor me
Then you leave me be
Cut me out
Knead me too
You can paint me blue
You can always play with
You can always play with
You can always play with
Always one
Once again
I'll be your best friend
Paper doll
Paper doll
Paper doll
You can always play with
You can always play with
You can always play with
Me
The song "Paper Doll" by Lisa Germano explores the themes of loneliness, vulnerability, and being used as a plaything. In the first few lines, she sings "In my mind, it was oh so fine." This suggests that there was a fantasy or idealized version of some sort of relationship or interaction, but in reality, things are not as perfect as imagined. The lyrics "Happy now, happy gone, I am often wrong" further emphasize this idea of fleeting happiness and feelings of inadequacy.
The chorus of the song, "You can always play with me," speaks to the vulnerability and desperation for attention that the singer feels. She compares herself to a paper doll, something that can be easily manipulated and discarded. The line "Put me on, scissor me, then you leave me be" highlights the idea that the person she is addressing can cut her out of their life at any moment, leaving her alone once again.
Overall, "Paper Doll" is a poignant exploration of the dangers of allowing oneself to be used and of relying on others for validation and happiness.
Line by Line Meaning
In my mind
Within my imagination
In my mind
Within my imagination
It was oh so fine
It was ideal and wonderful
Happy now
Feeling joyous presently
Happy gone
The joyous feeling has passed
I am often wrong
I frequently make mistakes
Put me on
Put me onto a surface
Scissor me
Cut me out using scissors
Then you leave me be
Afterwards, you ignore me
Cut me out
Remove me from the original context
Knead me too
Mold me and shape me
You can paint me blue
You can alter my appearance
You can always play with
You can manipulate me indefinitely
You can always play with
You can manipulate me indefinitely
You can always play with
You can manipulate me indefinitely
Always one
I am always available
Once again
As before; again
I'll be your best friend
I will be close and supportive
Paper doll
I am like a paper cutout
Paper doll
I am like a paper cutout
Paper doll
I am like a paper cutout
You can always play with
You can manipulate me indefinitely
You can always play with
You can manipulate me indefinitely
You can always play with
You can manipulate me indefinitely
Me
Referring to oneself
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Erin
"You can always play with..." has been haunting me for weeks. It's been a while since I listened to Lisa and I couldn't remember what song it was from. Haunting indeed. No one harmonizes quite like she does. So lovely.
ramblinrose
so lovely, haunting, tender, injured, and sadness...magic!
Andrew Turner
It is lovely - not unlike a less frantic Kristen Hirsh. There's a great version of this with Johnny Marr playing acoustic guitar.. Excellent!
killdina
I love this song! I don't understand how lady gaga has 13 million views and this has 80 :|| More people should be listening to this music.
Paul Weber
I am so thankful to the KALX (Cal Berkeley) DJ who played this song and introduced me to the music of Lisa Germano
John Porter
Just found Lisa from Neil Finn and friends . . . gifted
Gregg Numme
John Porter - Me too big daddy and now I'm just digging into all of her music and she is such an amazing out-of-the-box talent! and beautiful absolutely utterly stunning to me...! Cheers Mate!
ol
Love
malina70
@killdina I agree with you... I've posted this to try and spread the word (and music) of Lisa, hoping people will like it and step away from Lady Gaga and such; but you can't do more than this because you can't change people, can you? :)
organs
@killdina Pop extremism, pretty much. It's not worth getting bent up about, though. If it wasn't Lady Gaga, it'd be someone else gracing the cover of Rolling Stone and Spin getting 13 million views. This disparity of popularity has been going on since the Romantic era, possibly even earlier. Case in point, Beethoven is a superior composer, but he couldn't pull crowds like Rossini, and his music is really simplistic.