McKay is hard to categorize. She’s done Brecht on Broadway, opened for Lou Reed at Carnegie Hall, sung Woody Allen movie songs at the Hollywood Bowl, performed on A Prairie Home Companion, duetted with Eartha Kitt and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, played Hilary Swank’s sister on the big screen, paid tribute to Doris Day, and released four wildly acclaimed albums of original music.
Her music is as tuneful and clever as the best of the Great American Songbook-part cabaret, part sparkly pop. But beneath the charming melodic surface is a wit that cuts, and a sharply tuned social conscience.
Home Sweet Mobile Home is McKay’s first album of all-original material since 2007′s Obligatory Villagers, and features the musical wanderlust, lyrical playfulness and unique point of view that has characterized her music since her breakthrough debut Get Away From Me. Songs from the new project were recently debuted at her NYC engagement at Feinstein’s, and The New York Post noted that “songs like ‘Bodega’ and ‘Caribbean Time’… feature a blend of whimsical humor and social commentary that blended in beautifully alongside the Doris Day standards from the Blueberry Pie album.”
The album, produced by McKay and Robin Pappas, was recorded in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, New York, Jamaica, the Pocono Mountains, and even more than her previous albums, combines diverse musical moods and cultures. Reviewing a recent McKay show, Stephen Holden from The New York Times described her as a “vocal chameleon,” and that varied musical palette is used to great effect on the 13 songs of Home Sweet Mobile Home.
Nellie began playing her own songs (and lovingly chosen covers) in clubs in downtown New York City in 2003, soon catching the attention of music writers and a number of record labels – this gal was a gifted entertainer, an impressive musician, with songs unlike anything people were hearing around town.
Her first album was produced by Geoff Emerick, the man who had engineered The Beatles’ albums from Revolver through Abbey Road. McKay signed on as co-producer.
She and Emerick recorded eighteen songs (including such live McKay favorites as “David,” “The Dog Song” and “I Wanna Get Married,” and that double-CD Get Away From Me was let loose upon the world. The project was greeted with critical raves and placement on many Top 10 lists.
The Washington Post wrote, “McKay’s music evokes the lost elegance of pre-Elvis pop music because she recognizes that such stylishness and wit are worth pursuing. But those goals inevitably collide with the realities of money, sex and politics, and she documents those collisions in her tongue-in-cheek lyrics, emphatic beats and bubbly melodies.”
Following the splash of Get Away From Me, Nellie recorded Pretty Little Head, of which the Los Angeles Times said, “McKay comes on as a Harlem Holly Golightly, a social activist with a disarming mastery of pop vernacular.” Spin noted, “that she succeeds on a record as sophisticated as the self-produced Pretty Little Head is not only a testament to McKay’s talent, it’s also a tribute to her artistic sense.”
In 2007, she recorded Obligatory Villagers, described by Spin as “a brisk nine-song set that plays like the breathless first act of a stage musical decrying American fascism.” Recently, the Chase Brock Experience premiered a ballet, Whoa, Nellie!, based on the entire album.
Meanwhile, Broadway and Hollywood beckoned. McKay appeared on Broadway (winning a Theatre World Award for her Polly in a revival of The Threepenny Opera) and on film (acting and singing in P.S. I Love You). She also wrote and performed the song score for the Rob Reiner film Rumor Has It. In addition, her writing has appeared in The Onion, Interview magazine, and The New York Times Book Review, where she delivered an incisive and knowledgeable review of a Doris Day biography.
“What she possessed,” McKay wrote, “beyond her beauty, physical grace, and natural acting ability, was a resplendent voice that conveyed enormous warmth and feeling.”
It seemed inevitable that Nellie should record an album of songs associated with Ms. Day, and she was given the opportunity to do so when approached by Verve Records. The result features 12 songs handpicked from over 600 recordings by Ms. Day, with an original by McKay. Hailed as “among the killer overhauls of American standards” (The New York Times), Normal As Blueberry Pie covers the scope of Day’s music from the big bands through the McCarthy era. The album wound up on a variety of Top 10 lists of 2009′s best albums, including The New York Times and The Village Voice.
McKay completed filming her first starring role, opposite violin prodigy Philippe Quint, in the independent film Downtown Express; recorded (along with Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks) for the soundtrack of the upcoming Martin Scorsese HBO series Boardwalk Empire; and contributed two songs to the award-winning documentary Gasland. She is currently participating in Dear New Orleans, a benefit album to aid the ravaged city, along with such artists as Jill Sobule, My Morning Jacket, and OK GO.
Home Sweet Mobile Home arrives three years after her last self-composed album, and as ever her songs are a study in contrasts: some of the moods are dark (“we’re marching through the madness / with not a soul about to see / we’re moving through the fortress / chasin’ the ghost of anarchy” and “there’s no equality here / there’s no equality anywhere / & every fear you can face / is quickly replaced by one you can’t lose”), but there is also joy and gentleness. Sometimes all at once. Her gift is in mingling the pure pleasure of all kinds and all eras of pop music, twisting the dials, writing upbeat melodies with subversive undercurrents.
As critic Robert Christgau wrote, Nellie McKay is “ebullient, funny and political. Her future looks brave and free to me.”
Official artist website www.nelliemckay.com
Close Your Eyes
Nellie McKay Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Rest your head on my shoulder and sleep
Close your eyes
And I will close mine
Close your eyes
Let's pretend that we're both counting sheep
Close your eyes
Music play
Something dreamy for dancing
While we're here romancing
It's love's holiday
And love will be our guide
Close your Eyes
When you open them dear
I'll be near by your side
So won't you close your eyes
Music play
? playing
It's a lover's holiday
And our love will show us the way
Close your eyes
And ? vision this vision I see
You and me
Let's close your eyes
Close your eyes
Rest your head on my shoulder and sleep
Close your eyes
I will close mine
Close your eyes
Let's pretend that we're both counting sheep
Close your eyes
This is divine
Music play
Something dreamy for dancing
While we're here romancing
And it's love's holiday
And our love will be our guide
Close your eyes
When you open them dear
I'll be near by your side
So won't you close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
The lyrics to Nellie McKay's "Close Your Eyes" suggest a moment of intimacy between two people. The singer reassures their partner to let go of their worries and rest by closing their eyes and leaning on their shoulder. The singer encourages their partner to forget reality for a while by pretending to count sheep and allow themselves to experience the dreamy musical soundscape. The repetitive act of closing their eyes may symbolize shutting out the outside world and immersing themselves in a serene moment with their loved one. The singer assures their partner that nothing else matters except the love they share and the moment they are in. The song closes with the reassurance that the singer will always be by their partner's side.
The dreamy and peaceful nature of the lyrics' atmosphere has a whimsical and romantic feel that evokes the feeling of escapism. The lyrics encourage the listener to forget reality and escape into a world of comfort, peace, and love. The use of repetitive phrasing in the lyrics emphasizes the importance of the moment between the two individuals and how they should cherish it.
Line by Line Meaning
Close your eyes
The singer is encouraging the listener to shut their eyes.
Rest your head on my shoulder and sleep
The singer is telling the listener to rest their head on the singer's shoulder and go to sleep.
And I will close mine
The singer is indicating that they too will shut their eyes.
Let's pretend that we're both counting sheep
The artist wants the listener to imagine that they are both counting sheep to help them relax.
This is divine
The artist believes the current situation is heavenly.
Music play
The singer wants music to play.
Something dreamy for dancing
The singer wants to hear a slow, romantic song to dance to.
While we're here romancing
The artist is emphasizing the romantic moment they are sharing.
It's love's holiday
The artist sees this moment as a special time of love.
And love will be our guide
The artist trusts love to direct their actions and emotions.
When you open them dear, I'll be near by your side
The singer assures the listener that when they open their eyes, the singer will still be there with them.
So won't you close your eyes
The artist repeats the earlier request for the listener to shut their eyes.
And ♪ vision this vision I see
The singer is suggesting that they both have the same dream or vision.
You and me
The singer is imagining a shared experience between them.
Close your eyes (repeat)
The singer repeats their earlier request for the listener to shut their eyes.
Close your eyes (repeat)
The artist repeats their earlier request for the listener to shut their eyes.
Close your eyes (repeat)
The artist repeats their earlier request for the listener to shut their eyes.
Close your eyes (repeat)
The singer repeats their earlier request for the listener to shut their eyes.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RICHARD MAINEGRA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind