Portions for Foxes: Haley

"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.

First up - I know this musician as "Haley Bonar," since that's the name on the records of hers I have. But she now performs as just "Haley," and has changed her name officially to Haley McCallum.

The song I want to celebrate is "Big Star," title track from her 2008 record.

Haley isn't the Big Star: she's singing to someone else. I've taken it as a friend or colleague, someone close, but it could be an acquaintance or current/former lover. The song is ambiguous enough for that. But it's definitely someone else. Definitely someone who will be a Big Star.

They're gonna call you "baby"
Treat you like a symbol
Something that they'll never understand

But for how long?

They'll all hate you tomorrow
When no one buys your single

Haley sings this all at a slight distance, as if this person is already on those airplanes. It's one part cheering the departing Big Star up, one part setting her own expectations for being left behind.

But the part that always gets me - the lines that make this one of my favorite songs - are these, near the end:

But I can't make you happy
I can't make you money
I can only fold your laundry

It's almost a koan: this is what we can do for other people. We can't make them happy. We can do small physical things, take chores over for them.

Even if they are Big Stars. Even if we care deeply for them. What I love about this song is that insight, that moment of clarity, even as the singer is metaphorically watching the Big Star walk out the door into Big Stardom.