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
Suitcase Song
Nellie McKay Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You don't hear it sigh
Does that it mean
That it's gone far far away
Is this your day to
Buy a paper
Draw a mustache
Make the mayor a giraffe
Get pneumonia
Recuperate with soy bologna
Can you hear the rain a ploppin' slowly
With a soft and soapy thud
Don't you worry about a moppin', sholy
You'll only find yourself with mud
Mayfalta una maleta
Mayfalta una maleta
When you go to bed
Lay your fuzzy head
By the nightstand
Where you turned off your phone
Nobody's home, now
Ride the subway
Make graffiti
Go to Famous Ray's
Buy ziti
Get the paper
No more artwork
Make the mayor a dartboard
Can you hear the rain a ploppin' slowly
With a soft and soapy thud
Don't you worry about a moppin', sholy
You'll only find yourself with mud
Mayfalta una maleta
Mayfalta una maleta
The "Suitcase Song" by Nellie McKay is a melancholic and reflective piece about the feeling of loss and letting go. The song opens with the line "When it says goodbye/You don't hear it sigh," which suggests that the departure was sudden and unexpected, leaving the singer wondering if there are any signs of the absence. The lyrics imply that there may be some irreparable damage caused by the departure, as the line "Is this your day to/Buy a paper/Draw a mustache/Make the mayor a giraffe" suggests a possible attempt to distract oneself from the grief by indulging in childish activities.
As the song progresses, the lyrics shift to a more introspective tone, as the singer contemplates the significance of small things in life. The chorus "Can you hear the rain a ploppin' slowly/With a soft and soapy thud/Don't you worry about a moppin', sholy/You'll only find yourself with mud/Mayfalta una maleta" (which means "A suitcase is missing" in Spanish) seems to highlight the transitory and fleeting nature of life. The singer urges the listeners to appreciate the rain and not fret about the inevitable mess it may create, just as she lets go of the missing suitcase.
In the final stanza, the singer returns to the mundane activities of everyday life, perhaps seeking solace in routine. The closing line, "Make the mayor a dartboard", is a symbol of the possible unrealized dreams and expectations that may have led to the absence in the first place.
Overall, the "Suitcase Song" is a poignant piece that touches upon themes of loss, change, and acceptance, and encourages the listener to find meaning and beauty even in the most mundane aspects of life.
Line by Line Meaning
When it says goodbye
When something or someone leaves or ends
You don't hear it sigh
You may not notice the subtle signs of something or someone leaving or ending
Does that it mean
Wondering what the absence of the thing or person means
That it's gone far far away
That the thing or person has gone a long distance away
Is this your day to
Wondering if today is the day to
Buy a paper
Buy a newspaper
Draw a mustache
Draw a mustache on something or someone
Make the mayor a giraffe
Make a caricature of the mayor as a giraffe
Try and tempt fate
Take a chance or risk something
Get pneumonia
Get sick with pneumonia
Recuperate with soy bologna
Recover from the sickness with a vegetarian alternative to bologna
Can you hear the rain a ploppin' slowly
Asking if you can hear the sound of the raindrops falling slowly
With a soft and soapy thud
Describing the sound of the raindrops falling with a soft and somewhat soapy sound
Don't you worry about a moppin', sholy
Not to worry about cleaning up the resulting mess from the rain
You'll only find yourself with mud
The only result of worrying about cleaning the mud would be getting muddy yourself
Mayfalta una maleta
The suitcase may be missing (the line is in Spanish)
When you go to bed
When you get ready to sleep
Lay your fuzzy head
Put your head down on a pillow
By the nightstand
Close to the bedside table
Where you turned off your phone
The place where you powered down your phone
Nobody's home, now
There's no one around
Ride the subway
Take the subway train
Make graffiti
Spray paint something, often illegally in public spaces
Go to Famous Ray's
Go to Famous Ray's Pizza restaurant (in New York City)
Buy ziti
Buy ziti, a type of long pasta
Get the paper
Get the newspaper
No more artwork
Stop making graffiti
Make the mayor a dartboard
Make a caricature of the mayor as a dartboard to express discontent
Mayfalta una maleta
The suitcase may be missing (the line is in Spanish)
Lyrics © MUSIC COPYRIGHT CONSULTANT GRP
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