Nellie McKay's Obligatory Villagers

Obligatory Villagers opens with the splendid “Mother of Pearl,” a scathing satire of institutionalized misogyny. The song presents itself as a list of stereotyped feminist views that takes complex issues and makes them sound shallow, much like opponents of feminism often do. In the background, a chorus of men responds to each statement with a blatantly sexist exultation. It ends up working, and quite well. I believe it was Whitman who said that all great poems are lists, and that carries through to song lyrics on this particular track.

At the end of the song Nellie McKay quips “I’m Dennis Kucinich and I approve of this message.” I’m still not sure exactly what Nellie means by this – is she saying that Kucinich is a sexist bastard who believes the sexist ideals the song caricatures, or is she saying that Kucinich would also disapprovingly lampoon such views? – but the song did make me do a little research on Kucinich to find out which it was.

I loved Kucinich going in, and love him more if anything now, though I could see Nellie possibly objecting to his mostly pro-life voting record or possibly to him marrying such a young wife (Kucinich, 60, is married to a gorgeous 29 year old British redhead). At the same time, Nader supported him in 2004, and listening to the track “John-John” from the DualDisc reissue of Get Away From Me, we know that Ralph’s the one Nellie loves.

The point is that when much of the population still doesn’t know who Kucinich is, McKay is able to spur complex, nuanced thought about who he is and what he stands for.

Another standout track, and my favorite on the album, is the Carribean-inflected “Identity Theft.” Though the song perhaps unfairly skewers higher learning (I certainly didn’t learn not to empathize in college), the song does a great job of analyzing a variety of topics. It ends by confusing Christ and Satan, a popular literary device used on Bob Dylan’s “Man of Peace” among other pop tunes.

“Identity Theft” also features some of McKay’s most complex rhyming, the kind which can rival MC Paul Barman. The verbal onslaught of “journo-fascist profiteers, pornotastic pioneers, bonbonbastic puppeteers” will leave your ears reeling. Sure, half the words are freshly coined, but make immediate sense, much like the sin sandwich McKay refers to as a “sinwich” in “Oversure.”

Elsewhere she rhymes what sounds to me like “I’m looking for some culture; all I’m finding is Ray Bolger.” The official lyrics claim the line is a “sense of closure,” though I think culture sounds betters. Ray Bolger is awesome, so I feel that the line is a reference to his greatest role, that of the scarecrow in Wizard of Oz. Bolger sings that he wishes he had a brain, and it is exactly that sense of brainlessness which makes the contemporary scene seem so void of culture. Of course, the scarecrow wanted a brain, which can’t be said for everyone coming out now.

Another standout track is the protest anthem “Testify.” The sound encourages citizens to fearlessly speak their minds even in the face of even the fiercest opposition. In the shouted chorus McKay sings that the “clouds are comin’ closer,” but it sounds like she says the cops are coming closer, invoking the image of protesters being tear-gassed and arrested.

The song also features the line “the peace they were plannin’ died in San Francisco.” If peace is truly dead, the way to fight back is not to sit idly by, but to testify against that which ails.

The album closer, “Zombie,” is a fiftie’s novelty style send up of how the South politically inculcates the citizenry with conservative values. The South is inferred through phrases like “bayou bump, but is unmistakable is phrases like “way down South” and “the Mason-Dixie line.” The song argues that the neo-cons have made voters into a group of zombies, unable to think or act independently of what they have been spoon-fed.

Not all of the album is so confident and sure, however. I appreciate the obscurity of "Oversure"'s reference to Maxine Schreck; however, I question its utility. Maxine Schreck is a female vampire in Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter. She is herself named for Maximillian Schreck, who played the title role in Nosferatu. I appreciate the idea behind Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter, but it fails in comparison to similar fare like Ultrachrist! If Nellie is going to start referencing obscure b-films, she could pick betters ones to relate to. (Granted, the names in Ultrachrist! - Richard Nixon, Mary Magdalene (as a lesbian!) - are all names used in tons of other things beyond Ultrachrist!)

"Galleon" seems Jim Steinmanesque, in everything from the overpoweringly wicked guitar that comes in from 0:13 until 0:15 and then sadly disappears to the mixed gender duetting on Broadway-stylized balladry that's not really intended for Broadway at all. I like the song a lot in some ways, but in others it seems overdone, and while I love "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and am okay with "Paradise By the Dashboard Light," I expect more out of Nellie.

"Livin" is the album's lowpoint. The song is merely a twenty-three second fart joke. When I heard it I was reminded of Paul Barman's "Burpin' and Fartin'." Both songs attempt to intellectualize farts, or something like that, but that doesn't make the joke any newer or any funnier. The only good thing about the track is that McKay keeps the joke so short I don't have time to skip it.

Still, overall Obligatory Villagers is indicative of the brilliance I have come to expect from Nellie. If you haven’t heard it, make sure you do.