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
Work Song
Nellie McKay Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Deliver the baker deliver the morn
A quiverin' jibberin' shiverin' mass
Of sunshine and good times that I have to pass
On the way to my job on the way to my work
On the way to that slobberin' hoverin' jerk
Who's my boss today
Who's my boss to stay
A slave on the run still under the gun
Of Attila the Hun with a cinnamon bun
I don't know son, was there somethin' I missed
I don't think Fritz Lang was a fantasist
Metropolis exists is this
If you listen close you can hear the piss
Every day's another loss
Need the pay so please the boss
Through the sludge they mingle by the mile
Every worker looks ahead
Ah the kiddies must be fed
So they trudge along in single file
Joo ming boohaaooo
And you turn and you toil
And you burn and you boil
In the tourniquet coil
Of the white folks' soil
Spoilin' with a malaise worse than disses or dope
Wakin' up in a haze
With your wishes and hopes
And your poor little dreams
All wrapped up in burlap
That you carry around
For a sniff or a snack
Or a taste in your haste
To get right back on track
Outta whack with the pack
But acquiring the knack
Of ignoring the rustle
That quietly seethes
The hustle, the buy-it
The air that you breathe
Every day's another loss
Need the pay so please the boss
Through the sludge they mingle by the mile
Every worker looks ahead
Ah the kiddies must be fed
So they trudge along in single file
Joo ming boohaaooo
Nellie McKay's "Work Song" is a commentary on the drudgery of working life- the monotony of going to the same job every day, working for a boss that you may not respect or like, and feeling trapped in a cycle of work that is never-ending. The verses are filled with images of various types of workers, from paperboys to bakers, all "trudging along in single file" to their respective jobs. The singer refers to their boss as "Attila the Hun with a cinnamon bun," suggesting that their boss is an aggressive, overbearing jerk who doesn't care about their employees. The chorus repeats the line "every day's another loss, need the pay so please the boss," emphasizing the fact that the singer is stuck in a job they don't enjoy but must continue to work in order to support themselves and their family.
The final lines of the song suggest that even when one is trying to escape the drudgery of work and pursue their dreams or passions, they are still hindered by the constant push to keep up with the rat race ("outta whack with the pack but acquiring the knack of ignoring the rustle that quietly seethes"). The title of the song is ironic, as the melody is upbeat and sounds like a traditional work song, but the lyrics tell a different story of discontent and frustration.
Line by Line Meaning
Deliver the paper deliver the porn
The singer is listing off various delivery jobs, including delivering newspapers and pornography.
Deliver the baker deliver the morn
Continuing from the previous line, the singer is listing more delivery jobs, including delivering baked goods and the morning.
A quiverin' jibberin' shiverin' mass
The singer describes a group of people who are nervous, uncertain and scared.
Of sunshine and good times that I have to pass
Despite the good times and bright sunshine, the artist has to journey through this crowd.
On the way to my job on the way to my work
The artist is on their way to work.
On the way to that slobberin' hoverin' jerk
The singer's boss is someone who is not respected and is often hovering around.
Who's my boss today
The singer's boss changes frequently.
Who's my boss to stay
The boss does not stay the same, and is always changing.
Who's my supervisor when I'm in my grave
Even in death, the artist is still being supervised and controlled by someone.
A slave on the run still under the gun
The artist feels like a slave, always under pressure and being chased by someone or something.
Of Attila the Hun with a cinnamon bun
The imagery represents an aggressive boss with an air of superiority.
I don't know son, was there somethin' I missed
The artist is confused and questioning if there was a step they overlooked.
I don't think Fritz Lang was a fantasist
The singer does not believe the director, Fritz Lang, was a fantasist (someone who creates imaginative stories).
Metropolis exists is this
The film Metropolis reflects the struggles of the working class, as seen in the crowd the singer travels through.
If you listen close you can hear the piss
There is a general feeling of dissatisfaction and negativity among the workers.
Every day's another loss
The artist feels like every day is a defeat or setback of some kind.
Need the pay so please the boss
The workers are only working to please their boss and make money for themselves.
Through the sludge they mingle by the mile
The workers are trudging through a difficult and tiring path or environment.
Every worker looks ahead
The workers are all focusing on what is ahead and trying to get through the day.
Ah the kiddies must be fed
The children of the workers need to be provided for and taken care of, so the workers continue to work to meet those needs.
So they trudge along in single file
The workers are slowly marching in a line, struggling through their workday.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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