Emmy The Great – We Almost Had A Baby
At times you hear the sweetness of an assumed ditty and so are lured into the safe arms of not trying – not trying to assume that for three lousy minutes there may be something more to a song than immediate charm. More to a person than the aesthetic. And it doesn’t say much for the listener when he daren’t allow a piece of fervent art to steal him for three minutes. “We Almost Had A Baby” was to me, to my shame, simply a tap and clap along song of waltz and drawn out cello whisper, with twinkling piano, and sneaky electric licks, too. It was once that, but is now hauntingly affecting.
“Well you didn’t stop when I told you to stop, and there was a month when I wasn’t sure…” goes an opening line sold to us in an insouciant tone, yet rocking with harrowing suggestion. I’m thrown. How I expected such a line to be delivered I do not know. Maybe it can’t be delivered, just sung and then experienced. It’s almost poetry in its elemental presentation and involving response. From the forced claim of the partner and his unimportance, to the use of her situation for gain of pride and position, the entire piece is intricate and entirely brutal.
And then with a month came assurance. “I put my hand across my gut; I plan to feed it with a heart.” No; the false alarm. Nothing to feed. [Pledge to Emmy as she celebrates the Royal wedding.]