Talkin' Bout Tanya

My kids absolutely love the "Slideshow" function on the iPhoto application on my computer. They sit like raccoons caught in a trash can looking up at it and it gives me a chance to expose them to "Daddy's Tunes". I'm unsuccessfully attempting to subvert the steady diet of insipid children's music my wife seems intent on force-feeding them. I select a different track each time and try to gauge their reactions. This morning, when Charlotte (who will be 4 in March) started asking if we could turn the television on, I swiftly derailed that pesky line of inquiry by asking if she wanted to see pictures. As if on cue, she merrily chirped, "WITH MUSIC!!" Apropos of nothing, I selected "Not Too Soon" by Throwing Muses and hit play.

Almost instantly, Charlotte forgot about the slideshow and started hopping around the carpet, air-guitaring along (something she sees her father do often) with the `Muses. She's liked certain songs I've played for her, but never has she taken to something so immediately before. Admittedly, you'd have to be one frowny fun-hater not to warm to the chunky, punky guitars of this track. Charlotte also quickly grasped the wordless neow-na-now-nyah-now chorus and continued pogoing around like a pint-sized Tanya Donnelly. We ended up playing it four or five times in succession, it now being established as Charlotte's favorite song. Better that than fuckin' "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" as far as I'm concerned.

I was never a massive fan of Throwing Muses. I'd first heard them in college (naturally - next to R.E.M., they were arguably the preeminent "college rock" band) via their track "Fish" on the 4AD compilation, Lonely is an Eyesore (the title of which coming from the song in question). I liked their strange time-signatures, lyrical obliqueness and overall weirdness, but when I went and picked up their most recent album at the time, Hunkpapa, I was underwhelmed (although "Dizzy" is a fine single). It wasn't until a Rough Trade compilation in 1991 featuring this song that I fully embraced the band. "Not Too Soon" retains the band's oddness, but packages it in a burst of brilliant, shiny guitar pop with Tanya Donnelly's sugary sweet vocals sounding simultaneously angelic and deranged (especially on that wordless chorus). It became and remains one of my favorite songs of all time.

Shortly after this, Donnelly split from the `Muses, dabbling briefly with The Breeders before forming her own band, Belly. At the time, I was a "full time music journalist" (read: broke music dork living at his Mom's) and was in regular contact with a phalanx of music industry publicists. Once such guy was an affable gent named Rob Ross. Rob worked for an indie label in Soho, looking after bands like French noiseniks Treponem Pal, ersatz shoegazers the Venus Beads and NYC hardcore brats turned funk-metal also-rans, Token Entry, all of whom I produced rapturous copy about for the few paltry periodicals I was writing for. In any case, Rob and I became pretty friendly, and it became disclosed in somewhat short order that he was singularly obsessed with Tanya Donnelly. Well, to be fair, he was also hugely into That Petrol Emotion, but I don't believe he wanted to date any of them. His own band, Smile, even recorded a song devoted to the object of his fawning affection called "Talk To Me, Tanya" (you can find it on their 1995 album titled Splendid.) Ever since then, I've never been able to hear any Tanya Donnelly-related music (the `Muses, Belly, the Breeders, etc.) without thinking of dear ol' Rob. I'm not sure if she ever heard his song (let alone took him up on the offer), but I gather she's married with kids now anyway.

Anyway, play this one good and loud for both little Charlotte and big Rob.