Phillips began her musical career as a vocalist in the early 1980s, singing background parts for Christian artists such as Mark Heard, Randy Stonehill, and others. After a short time, Phillips was signed to a solo contract with Myrrh Records (under her given name) where she went on to record four Christian pop albums: Beyond Saturday Night, Dancing with Danger, Black & White in a Grey World, and, The Turning, which teamed her with producer and future husband T-Bone Burnett. Throughout the Myrrh period, Phillips wrote more and more of her own songs and several were Top 10 singles on Christian radio.
Since Cyndi Lauper was popular at the time and also had an high-pitched, idiosyncratic vocal style, Myrrh insisted on promoting her as "the Christian Cyndi Lauper." Phillips was never comfortable with this image, and it was a bone of contention between her and the label. She began using the name "Sam" professionally in 1988 when she left Myrrh Records and signed with Virgin Records, partially in order to distance herself from her somewhat embarrassing Myrrh-imposed persona.
Like many Christian artists before her, she expanded into more secular content at the new label. She released The Indescribable Wow, which featured the orchestrations of Van Dyke Parks. Cruel Inventions, which was released in 1991, included a guest appearance from close friend Elvis Costello, and she (with her husband) supported Costello on his 1991 tour. 1994's Martinis & Bikinis was widely praised by music critics and was even nominated for a Grammy Award; this was Phillips' first nomination.
In 1995, Phillips made her silver screen debut in the Bruce Willis blockbuster Die Hard With a Vengeance, in which she played a mute terrorist. She was originally supposed to have a speaking part in the film but it was decided that her character would be silent, since it made her appear much more imposing and lethal, although it also placed her in a more stereotypically femme fatale role at the same time.
In 1996, Phillips released Omnipop (It's Only a Flesh Wound Lambchop), which was more experimental musically and ended up being her worst-selling album to date. After releasing a contractual obligation "best-of" album for Virgin in 1999, the label dropped Phillips from their roster.
In 2001, Phillips signed with Nonesuch Records and released a stripped-down acoustic album called Fan Dance, which featured some of the most critically acclaimed songwriting of Phillips' career. Van Dyke Parks contributed string arrangements for a track or two. Phillips also began writing music for and scoring the television series Gilmore Girls, and even appeared on-screen during the final episode of season six, performing Taking Pictures. In 2004 she released A Boot and a Shoe, another collection of acoustic cabaret songs in the same vein as her previous album.
Sam returned with a new album don't do anything in 2008. In October 2009 Sam launched Long Play, an exclusively web-based membership site which promised subscribers 5 digital EPs and 1 full-length digital album over the course of about one year. A physical "best of" compilation of Long Play songs, titled Solid State, was released in June 2011.
Slapstick Heart
Sam Phillips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In dream I hold your knife over my heart
The edge is higher the closer I get
When I jump you move the net
I keep falling for this slapstick heart
Hanging on your words
The rope is cut and I'm falling on my own
The comedy in the tragic disbelief
Of only human
To make you laugh is there nothing I won't do
Any pain I won't go through
Lost my balance fell like rain
I half expected you to do the same
But you cried an ocean and broke my fall
That's when I knew I couldn't swim at all
The lyrics of Sam Phillips' "Slapstick Heart" convey a message of love and the lengths to which someone will go to make the person they love happy. The song starts off with Phillips portraying a person who is pretending to be happy (a painted smile) but is not really feeling that way. In her dreams, she pictures herself holding a knife over her heart; this is a symbolic representation of how vulnerable and exposed one is when in love. The closer she gets to confessing her feelings, the higher the risk, and she jumps in the hope that the person she loves will catch her.
However, she is let down time and time again, and the person she loves moves the net every time she jumps, causing her to fall (slapstick heart). The second verse talks about holding onto someone's word, believing them to be true, but then having the rope cut and being left in a tragic state of disbelief. Phillips then talks about the irony of the situation- to make someone else laugh, she'd do anything, even endure pain, and when she did fall, she half-expected the person she loved to fall like her, but instead, he cried an ocean and broke her fall. This event made her realize that she couldn't swim at all, meaning that she needed him in order to keep her afloat.
Overall, the song is a poignant reminder of the risks we take when we fall in love and the hurt that comes with it. It tells a story of pain, vulnerability, and hopelessness but ends with a glimmer of hope that, even though the person we love may not be there to catch us, they are there to break our fall.
Line by Line Meaning
Painted smile but I don't feel the part
I am pretending to be happy, but inside I am not
In dream I hold your knife over my heart
I often dream of how vulnerable I am to your actions
The edge is higher the closer I get
The more I try to get close to you, the more dangerous it gets for me
When I jump you move the net
You always seem to be there to save me, but I wonder if it's just part of the act
I keep falling for this slapstick heart
I am repeatedly falling for love that seems to just be an act or a joke
Hanging on your words
I am clinging to every word you say, hoping to find some truth
I thought I'd known
I believed I understood your true character, but now I am rethinking that
The rope is cut and I'm falling on my own
I am cut off from you and now I am lost and alone
The comedy in the tragic disbelief
It is both funny and sad how much I was blinded by my love for you
Of only human
I am only human and I make mistakes, even when it comes to love
To make you laugh is there nothing I won't do
I am willing to do anything to make you happy, even if it means sacrificing my own well-being
Any pain I won't go through
I am willing to endure any amount of pain for your sake
Lost my balance fell like rain
I am so caught up in love for you that it has thrown my whole life out of balance
I half expected you to do the same
I was hoping that you would be just as devoted to me as I am to you
But you cried an ocean and broke my fall
Despite my fears, you were there to catch me when I fell
That's when I knew I couldn't swim at all
I realized that I am helpless without you and I need you to survive
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PETER BUCK, MICHAEL STIPE, MICHAEL MILLS, BILL BERRY, SAM PHILLIPS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind