Portions for Foxes: Allo Darlin'

"Portions for Foxes" is a series of weekly posts, each about one song by a woman or a band led by a woman. See the introduction for more.

Let's start the year, and this series, with a mostly happy song from 2010 - My Heart Is a Drummer by the London-based band Allo Darlin'.

And when you call me on the telephone
My fingers will twist through the cord
And I'll slide my feet up and down the wall

I always love songs with concrete images like that - that are specific about moments, giving physical descriptions that explain better than talking about emotions directly every could.

Singer/songwriter Elizabeth Morris has a clear, open, lovely voice on this song - bright and cheery and again very specific, with an Aussie accent that's really noticeable several times in the song and deeply endearing when it is.

I said mostly happy - Morris's voice is light and precise, and there's a smile in her singing, but the relationship in the song isn't entirely sunshine and rainbows. But what is? 

Do I have to say I'm sorry for my happiness?

I hope not, in any kind of relationship. But asking the question is its own kind of answer, isn't it?

But I know that I'm stronger than you are
But I know that I'm stronger than you are

The singer is in love, we think, but not overwhelmingly so. She's happy, but not blindingly happy. I may be an old middle-of-the-road grump, but I think that's a great way to be.