"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.
I think this song is atypical: most of what I've heard from Courtney Barnett is in singer-songwriter mode, regularly in that one-person-and-a-guitar sound. But this is the first song of hers I heard, and it's different.
The song is about that, too, in a way. I gather Barnett was something of an initial critical darling, and then, as critics do, they turned to other darlings and started finding flaws in her work.
To be blunter: I think the title is a direct quote. Pedestrian at Best.
This song is loud, insistent - complaining, demanding, complicated. Self-loathing mixed with loathing for others. The voice of a creator who isn't sure what she's doing - like all of them! - and isn't sure what comes next and isn't sure how to do this and is getting a bit stressed by all the unsureness.
But she can turn that into a song - that's what a creator does. And this is a great, brash, pushy, space-filling stomp of a song, with a killer chorus:
Tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
Give me all your money and I'll make some origami honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny
The way Barnett drags out "funny" at the end of that, each time, is just perfect. Somewhere between squawking and growling - digging in the knife and waggling it around, just to make the insult that much stronger.
This is the way to respond to criticism: do something new, something stronger, something that shoves back harder than you were pushed. Show them all. Make it new, make it loud. It's a great song, from a fine songwriter.
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