Phair's 1993 debut studio album, Exile in Guyville, was released to acclaim; it has been ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Phair followed this with her second album, Whip-Smart (1994), which earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998). Ten years after the release of her debut, Phair's fourth album, Liz Phair (2003), released on Capitol Records, moved towards pop rock, earning her a mainstream audience but alienating critics.
After the release of her fifth album, Somebody's Miracle (2005), Phair left Capitol and released her sixth album Funstyle independently in 2010. In 2018, it was announced that Matador Records would be releasing a retrospective set for Phair's debut album Exile in Guyville which includes remastered recordings from her original Girly-Sound demo tapes. Phair released her seventh studio album, Soberish, in 2021.
Stratford-on-Guy
Liz Phair Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Watching the lake turn the sky into blue-green smoke
The sun was setting to the left of the plane
And the cabin was filled with an unearthly glow
In 27-D, I was behind the wing
Watching landscape roll out like credits on a screen
The earth looked like it was lit from within
As we moved out of the farmlands into the grid
The plan of a city was all that you saw
And all of these people sitting totally still
As the ground raced beneath them, thirty-thousand feet down
It took an hour, maybe a day
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
And I was pretending that I was in a Galaxie 500 video
The stewardess came back and checked on my drink
In the last strings of sunlight, a Brigitte Bardot
As I had on my headphones
Along with those eyes that you get
When your circumstance is movie-size
It took an hour, maybe a day
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
It took an hour, maybe a day
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
Liz Phair's song "Stratford-on-Guy" is a reflection on a long flight into Chicago at night, from the perspective of someone sitting in seat 27-D. The opening verse sets the scene with vivid imagery, describing the lake below the airplane turning the sky into a blue-green smoke. As the sun sets to the left of the plane, the cabin fills with an "unearthly glow." From her seat behind the wing, Liz watches the landscape unfold like credits on a screen.
The second verse continues this introspective reflection as the airplane moves from farmlands into the grid of the city. The contrast between the seemingly lit-up earth and the stillness of the people sitting in their seats is striking. The noise of the airplane engine fades away as Liz becomes lost in her headphones, pretending she's in a Galaxie 500 video. The stewardess comes back to check on her drink, and in the last strings of sunlight, Liz pictures Brigitte Bardot. The song concludes with the repetition of the line, "It took an hour, maybe a day, but once I really listened the noise just fell away."
Overall, "Stratford-on-Guy" is a nostalgic reflection on the power of music and imagination to transport us out of our everyday lives. It captures the feeling of being suspended in time and space, watching the world go by below a plane, and finding a moment of peace and clarity in the noise.
Line by Line Meaning
I was flying into Chicago at night
I was on a flight to Chicago during the night
Watching the lake turn the sky into blue-green smoke
I saw the lake transform the sky into blue-green smoke while observing from the flight
The sun was setting to the left of the plane
The sun was setting on the side opposite of the plane's wing
And the cabin was filled with an unearthly glow
The cabin was illuminated with an otherworldly hue
In 27-D, I was behind the wing
I sat behind the wing in seat 27-D
Watching landscape roll out like credits on a screen
I observed the terrain unfurl like end credits in a film
The earth looked like it was lit from within
The earth appeared as though it was emitting light
Like a poorly assembled electrical ball
It resembled a substandard globe containing electricity
As we moved out of the farmlands into the grid
As we departed the rural landscape and entered the cityscape
The plan of a city was all that you saw
The design of the city was the only view present
And all of these people sitting totally still
Numerous individuals occupied motionless seats
As the ground raced beneath them, thirty-thousand feet down
Though the earth was speeding beneath us, some thirty thousand feet away
It took an hour, maybe a day
An indeterminate period elapsed, maybe an hour or a day
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
Once I attuned myself to the sound, it vanished completely
And I was pretending that I was in a Galaxie 500 video
I was simulating being in a Galaxie 500 music video
The stewardess came back and checked on my drink
The flight attendant revisited to inspect my beverage
In the last strings of sunlight, a Brigitte Bardot
Within the final strands of sunshine, a resemblance to Brigitte Bardot
As I had on my headphones
As I wore headphones
Along with those eyes that you get
Together with the eyes one acquires
When your circumstance is movie-size
When your situation is cinematic in magnitude
It took an hour, maybe a day
An unspecified duration passed, possibly an hour or a day
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
However, once I genuinely listened, the sound simply ceased
It took an hour, maybe a day
A variable span of time occurred, possibly one hour or one day
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
Nevertheless, upon genuinely hearing, the clamor dissipated
But once I really listened the noise just fell away
However, once I truly concentrated, the noise just abated
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LIZ PHAIR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Jantonov1
This is my favourite Liz Phair song going back to '93 and I had NO idea there was a video for it.
@ibelieveicansoar
Ditto for me, except that I bought this CD (through Columbia House or BMG Music Club!) in ‘94. I used it as quiet studying music in my senior year of high school.
@kristasweetleaf5695
It was only played really fucking late on MTV in the 90s and only on like 120 minutes at 3 am and rarely at that.
@kristasweetleaf5695
@ibelieveicansoar I bought it thru BMG too, like the only place I could find it back then ('96)! Those CD services sucked and were so overpriced and predatory but the only plus was you could go thru the old catalogs and order indies if you didn't live near a big city with indie record stores. I did get my hands on alot of indie 90s albums that way until I got my driver's license and was able to make the hour drive into DC.
@oliveoil4380
Yep
@eucliduschaumeau8813
She's HOT. I bought the CD back when it was new. This video was on MTV back then, but I missed it.
@PopTodd
This is the song that plays in my head every single time I fly into Chicago.
And I don't mind. The lyrics are pure poetry; so evocative.
@larrylujack7808
Amen...😎
@DG-ck2mv
This song along with Chicago by Sufjan Stevens should be played on every plane landing in Chicago
@johnthorne4093
O’Hare? Or Midway? Or both?