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 TITLE: My Own Personal Oz
BY: Vile Hour (N. Fischer and C. Drake)
WRITTEN BY: N. Fischer
GENRE: Folk
LABEL: Chaos RecordsVile Hour switches the genre of music they're playing from the punk rock sound straight into a folk sound. The piano and drums that Vile Hour are known for completely disperse, now with only Castor Drake playing guitar as Nichole Fischer sings. Why does Vile Hour do this? Because they fucking can. When you're in a genre of your own (punk cabaret), you can do things like this without them being completely questioned. After all, this is Vile Hour, and if you didn't expect weirdness out of Vile Hour... well, then what did you expect?
The song, rightfully titled My Own Personal Oz, is another example of a fast-paced fun-sounding song that have very very dark lyrics. The song uses imagery from The Wizard of Oz to show a battle with depressing and search for self-worth in a person's mind. The song starts with a very obvious The Wizard of Oz reference, saying, "My brain is made of straw / and my heart was forged from tin / my courage, although fierce, is endangered." Nichole insults herself using what the Scarecrow (straw), Tin Man (tin), and Lion (endangered) all wanted from the Wizard at the end of the movie. In the next couple of lines, she refers to the flying monkeys as "my monkeys," although her monkeys have no wings. This could be talking about Nichole's friends and the people that help her with her tasks. In the movie, the flying monkeys were used as the Witch's henchmen, so it could be easily said that Nichole is calling her own friends evil in helping her. Perhaps her friends are the ones that are making her feel so worthless? In the next few line she says, "My path is paved in gold and filled with strangers / and the city, made of green / was a mirage filled with diversions / you'll notice when the smoke has cleared away." Nichole is talking about her career now, saying that the road that she's taken in the music industry made itself seem like it was brilliant and beautiful, when it's really all an illusion. Although Nichole seems like a very confident woman, especially in her looks and in herself, she has had a tendency to compare herself to other women in the music industry. Feeling less pretty, as she does have a much more complex look to her than some of the other more popular stars do, she may lower her idea of self-worth, causing her to feel depressed and lonely. "That wizard was a hoax / and this old witch is scared of water" she continues to say, pointing out how fake people can be in the industry as well. "And home is always just three clicks away," she finishes.
But Nichole can't go home because, as she tells us in her next verse, her home as been "... blown away / by a modern age tornado." Nichole feels alone in this industry. She has stated before in one of her many blogs that both of her parents are microbiologists, so it's easy to assume that her parents aren't exactly thrilled with Nichole choosing this career path. Nichole has, several times, mentioned how alone she feels when she sees her husband out on tour, as Nichole, during the time of writing and recording this song, was six months pregnant, and couldn't tour or have fun (or at least she wasn't supposed to. That didn't stop her from being a headliner for the No Venues III tour this year, being four months pregnant throughout all of it). Nichole continues to say "... everything is black and white / Except these choices I am making / About the colored boxes I could fit in." To anybody who pays attention to Vile Hour, this line would be slightly ironic, since in every public picture of Nichole Fischer and Castor Drake you'll ever see, they're both mainly wearing black and white, with their faces whited out to look like mimes. Nichole means the line less literally, and more figuratively. In her mind, everybody else in the industry tends to have a very cookie cutter attitude, making the same cookie cutter music and having the same cookie cutter drama. Nichole's music and drama don't belong in the "black and white" area of music; Nichole's music has it's own colorful boxes that it fits in. This is just her, once again, attacking the rest of the music industry.
After the second verse, the guitar stops and all you can hear is Nichole as she begins to hum to tune to Somewhere Over the Rainbow. She sings a capella her own lyrics to it: "I'm somewhere / Under the rainbow / Way down low." The guitar starts right back up again and they go back into their fast-paced folk music sound. She then sings twice, "I'm under the waves and I am under the weather / I'm under the pump and I am under the pressure / And I am under the spell of a life lived in leisure / And I am underperforming and so under-pleasured," her voice growing in anticipation for the next verse as she complains about her life, an air of regret in the song before launching into the third and final verse. She talks about her friends that she's made while she's been famous, stating that their "plight" is never going to end, and they aren't worth answer why, so there's no point in asking anymore. Nichole ends the song on a rather depressing note, finishing it simply by saying that things are never really going to get better and she's done trying to make them so.
The song, as stated before, is a rather up-beat, happy sounding song, although the lyrics are so full of malice and depression that it's hard to image it as happy at all. The tune of the song could be viewed as ironic because of the lyrics, but many people have viewed the whole song as a metaphor for a crying for help; Nichole's voice and tone match one of a happy song, while what she's actually saying is terribly depressing and worrisome if you actually listen to her.My brain is made of straw
And my heart was forged from tin
My courage, although fierce, is endangered
My sunflowers still grow
Though my monkeys have no wings
My path is paved in gold and filled with strangers
And the city, made of green
Was a mirage filled with diversions
You'll notice when the smoke has cleared away
That that wizard was a hoax
And this old witch is scared of water
And home is always just three clicks away
Away...
Away...
My home was blown away
By a modern-age tornado
My aunt and uncle now live far away
And the lady riding by
Doesn't seem to make much progress
She's always exercising, night and day
And everything is black and white
Except these choices I am making
About the colored boxes I could fit in
And the room, it gently spins
Like a politician's promise
To fix the weather with a weathered wallet
That she's going to thrown away
Away...
Away...
I'm somewhere
Under the rainbow
Way down low
I'm under the waves and I am under the weather
I'm under the pump and I am under the pressure
And I am under the spell of a life lived in leisure
And I am underperforming and so under-pleasured
I'm under the waves and I am under the weather
I'm under the pump and I am under the pressure
And I am under the spell of a life lived in leisure
And I am underperforming and so under-pleasured
Pleasured...
And that road, it kept on winding
My companions were finding
That their memberships were ripe for cancelling
And that road, it kept on going
I left my friends there, knowing
Their questions were not fit for answering
No
My questions are not fit for answeringSOUNDS LIKE:
Kimya Dawson - Loose Lips
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