Ben Lee is mostly known to me as “that guy that Claire Danes dumped for Billy Crudup.” I have this friend who loves his music, but personally, every time I hear it a monster eyeroll threatens to harsh my mellow. He’s just so… well, put it this way. The title of one of the tracks on his last album was “Gamble Everything For Love.” In short, not the guy for me. I discovered he married Ione Skye recently, she of the famous non-performance in Say Anything. I hope they are happy. Seriously, really. Although, does he like, hoist a ghettoblaster over his head for her? I’d bet not. That woman had no idea what the hell she had in John Cusack, and I’m still jealous that she was friends with Lili Taylor as a teenager. THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY LIFE.
Anyway! That’s all well and good until he goes and inserts himself into my consciousness by writing a song called “I’m A Woman Too.” Oh yes. He went there. Not from like a transgender place, though, y’all! He just wanted to express his solidarity. Sort of.
The absolutely fucking RIDICULOUS lyrics are after the jump.
It’s true, it’s true
I’m a woman too
I move with the flow of the seasonsI do, I do
Cause I’m a woman too
I don’t make sense but I got my reasonsSo hear me roar
I will not be ignored
If you’ve ever had to fight
You’re a sister of mine
If you’re heart’s got something to prove
Then you’re a woman tooIt’s here, it’s clear
Is what can be unfair
There’s always someone being kept down.It’s true, it’s true
Cause I’m a woman too
So shut me up and I’m gonna get loud[chorus: So hear me roar, etc.]
The African he’s a woman too
The American he’s a woman too
The Palestinian he’s a woman too
The Jew? He’s a woman too
The freedom fighter, he’s a woman too
The messiah, he’s a woman too
This planet, he’s a woman too
And you you’re a woman too
You’re a woman too
Now, these may not be 100% accurate, because I transcribed them myself. None of the usual lyric repositories had them, so, readers, I sacrificed for you. I listened to this claptrap several times. Had a woman written these lines, it would be bad enough. (“Move like the seasons”? Jesus, Mary and Joseph.) But women don’t generally write shit like this about themselves. Because we think we make some sense.
Feel free to make fun in the comments.
So…basically he’s Dwight Shrute?
“I wish I could menstruate. If I could menstruate, I wouldn’t have to deal with idiotic calendars anymore. I’d just be able to count down from my previous cycle. Plus I’d be more in tune with the moon and the tides.”
“I move with the flow of the seasons”? Yes, and I occasionally move with the flow of my uterine lining. But that is not really how I think of my identity.
You can’t listen to song lyrics too closely. It’s almost always a disappointment.
Anyway pure musicians (not me) think lyrics are a form of cheating.
I still stand by Lennon’s Woman is the Nigger of the World, however.
OMFG. That is so….so…okay, I actually can’t find the right words for what I think of those lyrics.
At any rate,Ben Lee, if you are a woman, I hereby resign my vagina.
“I don’t make sense but I got my reasons”
I’M JUST ON MY PERIOD, YOU GUYZ.
Wait, you guys? I think he might be right. I mean, my heart has something to prove. That’s not a universal thing?
And I will not be ignored? I think women are ignored pretty fucking often.
But I’ll take his word for it, considering he probably knows more about being a woman than I do, given my tiny ladybrain.
Because we think we make sense?? Why, Pilgrim Soul, we “don’t make sense, but we got our reasons.” If you were a real woman like Ben Lee, you would know this, too.
Seriously, though, I wonder what inspires someone to write a song like this completely earnestly. It sounds like it’s supposed to be a tribute, like women = humanity, but there’s no way to write that without essentializing, being ridiculous and pretty condescending, etc. etc..
You guuuuuyyyys, he understands us! Why don’t all we women date dudes like him? Why do we hate Nice Guys?
I wonder what inspires someone to write a song like this completely earnestly.
The radio. Emosogyny. The knowledge that at least one hundred teenage girls (perhaps hundreds! Literally hundreds!) will listen to this song and burn it on mix CDs for their friends.
I’m tempted to know what this sounds like. Almost tempted enough to go to youtube.
@PilgrimSoul: Yeah, he’s the “sensitive ponytail man” from “Singles.”
I absolutely HATE sensitive ponytail men.
@Pilgrim: Well, this kind of sums up why I enjoy dating ladies.
I can’t help but recollect that Ms. Skye has also dated one S. Ronson. I’m going to go out on a limb and wildly project that Ben Lee needs to convince himself he is as good a lover as his wife’s female exes.
@JDRegent: Reeeeaaaallllly?? That would explain a lot.
(also, Samantha Ronson must really have it going on)
Becky, I know right? Of course, Ione’s other famous ex (that I know of) is none other than Mike D of the Beastie Boys. She seems to have a thing for slightly built Jews.
Oooh her wikipedia says she also dated Anthony Kiedis and Jenny Shimuzu! Ok I will stop hijacking this into a “who Ione Skye has fucked” thread now.
So because I am this kind of person I went and googled this and although I could not find any reference to Ione Skye dating S.Ro, she did definitely (and publicly) leave her last husband for Jenny Shimizu.
JD, haha, we are as one!
P.Soul, there is an image of them on this site, not techy enough to pull it out and post it:http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====206541&nbc1=2
Guys, I just realized something. While we were all bemoaning Crudup’s dick move of leaving a pregnant Mary-Louise Parker, we never stopped to consider the pain the Ben Lee was also experiencing. The patriarchy hurts men, too, and sometimes it leads them to musically identify as women.
That last stanza is (extra) enraging. I didn’t realize that only men can be freedom fighters. But glad to know they’re in touch with their womanly sides….
It’s no “Your Body Is A Wonderland.”
I am speechless.
How did he get in my head? How did he know that I get loud when people try to shut me up? HOW DOES HE KNOW OF MY STRUGGLE WHILE I FLOW WITH THE SEASONS (or the months, who gives a damn if it’s accurate)?
What a terrible song.
This is appropriation. In this song, “woman” doesn’t mean “woman,” it means “oppressed.” And he’s not doing anything about the oppression of women in this song; he’s appropriating women to use as a tool to describe oppression, when he can’t use the word “oppression” for fear of being shunned by the mainstream. Ick.
Credit where credit is due: I think I may only notice this because I recently read a very good explanation by amandaw regarding the appropriation of disability in advertising: http://threeriversblog.com/2009/04/low-self-esteem-a-man-made-disability.html
Cheryl, I suspected he was using the word “woman” as a substitute for another word. Blech.
As lyrics go, this is pure junk but Cheryl your insight is really valuable. That is a very interesting article and a good catch by you.
@DangerMouse: Maybe he’s on Seasonale! *bada-bam-chhh*
Ja, @ShinyObjects, I’m also loving how The Palastinian, The Jew, The African, actually means The Male Palastinian/Jew/African, cause ladies are a mere subsection of those peoples. Obvvviously. Also, the planet is a he, except, actually a woman he because he is oppressed? WHAT WHAT WHAT.
Aww. I met Ben Lee once, and he was a sweetie, but this is a little…yeah.
I love how he accidentally implies that there are no American women, or African women, or Jewish women, or Palestinian women, just men who identify with women. Also I might be taking this parallelism a little bit too far, but: the correct thing to compare Africans with is not “Americans”, but perhaps “North Americans” or “Europeans”, because Africa is a continent, not a country. Similarly, Palestine is a political entity and Judaism is a religion. I’m all for poetic license, but that just seems like carelessness to me.
“This planet, he’s a woman too”
Strange, I always thought a planet was an it, and didn’t even have a gender. But everyone knows women are bad at science, after all.
Are you kidding me? Wow. I love how he threw in a few nationalities just for kicks.
These are the most ridiculous lyrics I’ve ever heard, and I kareoke the song “Butterfly” by Crazytown on a regular basis.
@PilgramSoul: Didn’t she have an affair with Jenny and then Lee left her. I could be wrong but if that is the case I cannot join the Syke love party on here.
@Khrushchev: Would you have preferred it if Crudup had stayed in the relationship for the child?
The lyrics are terribly misguided but I don’t think they should necessarily be a reflection of the man himself.
I have not laughed so much at lyrics since switching the subtitles on during the Eurovision song contest (which I strongly recommend you do, its hilarious). I particularly love the assertation at the end the “you are a woman too”. Just in case you forgot.