August 24, 2011

Stream: Girls - "Honey Bunny"

Girls' frontman Christopher Owens wrote "Honey Bunny" on his birthday back in 2008. According to NPR, it was the 19th song he'd ever written—and it's a pretty damn good one. The track features two contrasting sections and themes: an uptempo surf riff infused main section, where Owens laments about his girl trouble:
I’ve been messing with so many girls / Who could give a damn about who I am / They don’t like my boney body / They don’t like my dirty hair / Or the stuff that I say / Or the stuff that I’m on.
Then the tempo slows and the slide guitar is brought out for a bridge of sorts at 1:30, where Owens changes the topic to his mother:
Mamma / She really loved me / Even when I was bad / She'd hold my little hand / And kiss me on the cheek. / And when I cried she would hold me closer / And tell me everything will be alright. / That woman loved me.
It's a sincere and sweet sentiment—never once feeling contrived—with Owens concluding that he needs "a woman who loves me," much like his mother. How often do we hear rock songs where narrators conclude that rather than sleep around with pretty girls, they need to find a woman like their mother? It's not easy to pull a topic like that off in a rock song—nor is it necessarily hip—but Owens and company absolutely nail "Honey Bunny." Maybe next time, Girls will record a track about how kids need to stop messing around with fried food, and eat their vegetables. I'd buy it.

Girls - "Honey Bunny" (from Father, Son, Holy Ghost)


Girls

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