Fluxblog 501: all Father John Misty edition
Collecting posts about 9 of Josh Tillman's best songs, including 3 new song reviews.
I originally intended to only write about one song from the new Father John Misty album Mahashmashana, but felt inspired to write about a couple older songs too. Then I figured, hey, I’ve got a lot of posts about FJM, so why not do an all-Misty issue? So here we are. If you don’t care about this guy at all, maybe I can change your mind.
Treating Acid With Anxiety
Father John Misty “Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose”
Talking Heads may have written the most popular song about snapping out of a fugue state and having an existential crisis, but Josh Tillman has spent most of his career exploring this lyrical territory in-depth without ever getting a good answer to the question “how did I get here?”
“Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose” is played as dark comedy, with our hapless hero tripping out in a terrible “set and setting” situation – accompanied by a woman he can’t trust and her collection of clown portraits, plus “a publicist and a celibate.” The verses, which roll around a winding piano melody, are funny, but the depiction of ego death is no joke. It plays out like a devil’s bargain over sporadic orchestra stabs, a direct view of “bare reality” in exchange for feeling permanently broken. The string arrangement sounds like dark clouds rolling in over a vast landscape, with Tillman feeling smaller and smaller as the words “you may never be whole again” are repeated and he starts to accept it as truth.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Father John Misty “Real Love Baby” (Live in Pioneertown, CA 2024)
This is what Josh Tillman said about “Real Love Baby” just after performing it in this show from a few months ago:
“I had this realization about this song recently. Y’know, I was pretty ambivalent about it for a long time, and then it started making me a lot of money. No, I’m just kidding. Not really, not much. But I’ve got all these songs that are just about these humiliating debased scenarios I find myself in on psychedelic drugs and stuff. I was like, this song is an actually really nice thing that came out of taking psychedelic drugs. It’s a little bit of an ego death to have…that’s the only song that will last. If any of these songs has a chance of pollinating the world after I’m gone, it’s that one. And it’s just an incredible cosmic joke that this one song, which in no way fortifies my egoic perception of myself, that I’m this dark cool guy. And I like that, so now I really enjoy playing it.”
The thing is, as sweet as it is, “Real Love Baby” is not that different from his other songs. There’s a lot of lines in it that deliberately undermine that sweetness, just as there’s a lot of earnest feelings that soften the more cynical sentiments. The reason the song works and is so resonant for so many – including Cher! – is because these contradicting feelings about love coexist and overlap. This is most apparent in the later choruses, in which layers of conflicting thoughts and emotions swirl around in the vocal harmonies. It’s a battle between the head and the heart, and given that the most tender and open-hearted lyrics ring the most true as it’s sung, I think it’s a W for the heart.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Father John Misty “The Ideal Husband” (Live in Pioneertown, CA 2024)
“The Ideal Husband” opens with Josh Tillman in a panic, terrified that Julian Assange is “gonna take my files” and reveal his scandals to the world. Is this character a politician, a celebrity, some kind of captain of industry? Maybe, but as Tillman lays out all his sins and regrets, the guy sounds more like a garden variety loser. Actually, a lot of the lines just make him sound ordinary. That only makes the terror in the song hit harder, because it prods you to imagine everything you’re privately ashamed of becoming public knowledge against your will. And like, would it change how people see you? They might already have a low opinion of you. But keeping these things private allows for a sense of security and some hope that you can actually control what other people think of you.
The final verse of the song is the punchline. It follows through on the premise that this guy is ruined, and he shows up at a girlfriend’s place at 7 in the morning, saying melodramatic things like “I’m finally succumbing” and “I’m tired of running,” and deciding he wants to settle down with her. The “7 in the morning” detail is so funny to me – Tillman probably initially landed on 7 to fit the meter, but this scene happening around when most people wake up is much funnier than if it was in the middle of the night.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
After A Millennia Of Good Times
Father John Misty “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All”
I saw Father John Misty perform an early version of “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” back in 2019 so I know it wasn’t written with the purpose of appearing on his greatest hits album. But regardless, it’s very appropriate for that utility. I mean, even setting aside the joke in the 8th verse about “doing my greatest hits” in Las Vegas, it comes across as a commentary on his career to date. And this being Father John Misty that commentary goes heavy on weary cynicism and bitter irony, and the best jokes are all at his expense. The sound of the track is full-on 70s show biz razzle dazzle – a little disco, a little country, a little Rolling Thunder Revue – and while it’s delivered with a fairly aggressive wink, he didn’t half-ass anything about the arrangement. He’s so totally committed to the bit that it stops being a bit at all. He can’t help but make jokes and be clever, but he’s dead serious about the despair at the heart of this song and so many others he’s written through the years.
Buy it from Amazon.
The Girl I Knew
Lana Del Rey “Buddy’s Rendezvous”
I’m at Buddy’s Rendezvous
Telling the losers and old timers
How good I did with you
They almost believe me, too
I knew this song for the better part of a year before finding out that Buddy’s Rendezvous is a pizzeria in Michigan and not some miserable dive bar in Los Angeles as I had assumed given the context and the song already mentioning Canter’s, which is in LA. This detail changes the song for me. It’s funny but also amps up the pathos, picturing this guy chatting up some old guys eating pizza stings a lot more than if he’s just doing the same thing at a bar after his third well whiskey.
The other thing I didn’t quite pick up on for a while is that this isn’t about a failed romance but rather a song from the perspective of an absent father who’s been released from prison and is trying to reconnect with his daughter who has had some measure of success as a singer in Los Angeles. It’s not some big ironic switcheroo, as Father John Misty’s arrangement, lyrics, and vocal all play the scenario exactly the same as if it was addressed to a long-lost ex, which I don’t think is necessarily meant to be taken as some incestuous thing but more that his regret, lingering possessiveness, and nostalgic affection for her is probably not that different from a bunch of actual exes he could be singing about in other songs. He’s not reaching out because they have a genuine connection – he’s been out of the picture way too long for that – but because he needs her success to validate his existence. At least something good came from him being alive, and he wants to get as close to that feeling of having value as he can.
It was an inspired choice to have Lana Del Rey sing a version of this song. Lana Del Rey and Father John Misty, born only a few years apart, are kindred spirits as songwriters. Their music largely draws on mid 20th century sounds and archetypes but their lyrics are squarely focused on the present tense, and everything in their lyrics that look back to the past is presented with irony as it’s always from someone living in America’s decline reaching for something they think was probably better and more pure. They’re both bitter and damaged but mostly because as romantics they’re always setting themselves up for disappointment. They’re each other’s truest peer and so it’s a treat to hear her interpret one of his songs.
Lana’s presence changes the implied perspective – is this now Lana inhabiting the voice of the daughter, is this her impression of her father’s words? The way she plays it feels more like this is her father imagining his daughter singing his words, but in any case there’s some cold disconnection. It’s only just “her.” I think this might have worked better as a duet with Father John Misty singing the parts that she sings a little too low in her range. Her vocal performance is very good, particularly on the choruses, but I do get the sense that this song was a challenge for her, and the variations in her phrasing were made in large part to just stay in tune and not push her to an uncomfortably high register on the chorus. Misty shows up for backing vocals in the final third of the song and I love hearing them together, particularly as it sounds like he’s the one singing with a ghost, just trying to soothe himself with this idea of her.
Buy it from Amazon.
A Square Foot Of Empire
Father John Misty “The Next 20th Century”
“The Next 20th Century” is a song only Father John Misty could write. In fact, it may be the most “Father John Misty” song he’s written, the one where he perfects his very particular way of stacking a world weary cynicism upon dark humor and sick ironies without it collapsing in on itself or negating the very sincere longing and despair at the center of it all. He’s practically daring the listener to take him the wrong way from the opening line, but if you make it through to the concluding verse his POV is very clear: This is someone who sees the same old tragedies in each new disaster and doesn’t believe there’s any real escape from the world we’ve all been making for centuries on end. Even romance and fantasies are infected by the rot, even the purest true love is burdened by the weight of historical context. “And now things keep getting worse while staying so eerily the same,” he sings, really getting to the bitter core of the song. Everyone is waiting for some brutal apocalypse, but we never get the punishment we crave. It’s worse to live in the anticipation.
There’s a deliberate cinematic quality to the arrangement “The Next 20th Century,” with little nods to westerns and melodramas along the way. The song is aiming for a very 20th century sort of grandeur, but true to concept, the song itself sounds more like an endless plateau rather than some dramatic vista. The instrumental spaces between verses are the most striking musical elements of the piece, particularly in how each verse is punctuated with a very different sound. After the first time, it’s a glorious and melodic string sequence. After the second time, it’s a thunderous distorted guitar solo. The space between the third and fourth verses is mostly just a simple keyboard part plinked out in a way that makes it sound very small and tinny in the middle of this grandiose track. It’s a very effective moment of calm but also something that foreshadows the feeling of impotence expressed in the following verse.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
But My Mojo Is Gone
Father John Misty “Date Night”
Josh Tillman loves to play the heel in his own songs, and he’s exceptionally good at it. He knows what’s up in culture, he’s aware of his reputation, and he knows what he looks like to you. He’s not really that guy, but he’s enough like that guy to satirize it and poke holes in a particular form of bohemian masculinity. His character in “Date Night” is a dangerous but charming creep who’s a little too clueless to be good at manipulating other people. He aspires to be a grifter, but he’s actually the mark – he’s just far too obsessed with creating an image for himself to give much thought into anyone else’s motivations or desires. You get the impression that you could trick this guy into anything if he thought you were cooler than him, or that it would give him some edge. He’s ultimately just a bad date, some goon who’s trying too hard to seem nonchalant, quirky, and impressive, and mostly comes off as a frantic mess. It’s probably not too hard for a guy who gave himself the name “Father John Misty” and carefully crafted a louche “homeless billionaire” look for himself to get into this mindset. But he’s 100% in on the joke even if you’re not.
Buy it from Amazon.
Somebody Stop This Joyless Joyride
Father John Misty “Please Don’t Die” (Live)
I’ve been waking up with this song in my head a lot in recent weeks, as if my brain was searching for a song in my memory that would be almost too on-the-nose for the circumstances of the world at the moment. The sentiment could not be more clear and sincere, especially from a singer-songwriter who deals so often in irony and dark humor: “You’re all that I have, so please don’t die.” It doesn’t take much effort to ignore the parts of this song that are about someone struggling with addiction and nudge it into something more general about being very afraid of losing someone you love. The chorus, which hangs on a gorgeous melodic turn, is so pure in its emotion. The language is unusually plain and direct for a Father John Misty song, partly to convey an earnest wish, but also to let you linger on how helpless the phrase “please don’t die” sounds. It’s tugging on just a strand of hope, but in a lot of cases, it’s all you can really do.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
This Is Just My Vibe
Father John Misty “Mr. Tillman”
1. The verses in “Mr. Tillman” are sung from the perspective of a concierge at a hotel where Father John Misty – a.k.a. Josh Tillman – is staying and behaving like an inebriated paranoid wreck for days on end. It’s played as a dark comedy, and part of the joke is the way the concierge’s polite language puts a sunny spin on Tillman’s disturbing behavior and just barely conceals their impatience with him as the song goes along.
2. Note the contrast of the meter in the verse and the chorus: The concierge’s obsequious dialogue tightly wraps around melody and flows between measures, suggesting a formal and uptight demeanor. The chorus, from Tillman’s perspective, is relaxed and loose. He sounds blissful, oblivious, and delusional.
3. This isn’t the first time Tillman has written a song about himself as a very unsympathetic and unlikeable character. It’s hard to say how much either this or “The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment” is about him – probably a fair amount, with some degree of artistic license. He clearly delights in playing with the audience’s perception of him, being a guy who records under a pseudonym/persona and sings songs about a guy who has his real name. He’s inviting you to doubt how “real’ those songs are, which strikes me as a way of covering his ass. Is he a drunken train wreck, like in “Mr. Tillman”? Is he attracted to women who bring out his worst misogynistic impulses, as in “…Our Apartment”? I don’t know the guy. Maybe?
4. It’s interesting to write a song about yourself going on an out-of-control bender and writing it mostly from the perspective of the people who have to look after you and clean up your messes. He’s being treated like a coddled baby – at one point the concierge offers to bring him a Regalo, one of those safety gates for small children, to keep him from hurting himself. On one level, this is like an admission of guilt after the fact for being a burden on other people. But it’s also a judgment on himself, for giving into the rock cliché of being a spoiled baby-man. And then there’s another layer where he’s alienated by his awareness that the concierge in sycophantic and concerned entirely because it’s their job. If his self-destructive behavior is the result of feeling disconnected and lost in a world full of fake people who don’t care about him, this only proves him right to feel that way.
Buy it from Amazon.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Here’s Raina Douris interviewing Father John Misty on World Cafe. How did he figure out how to make a song with as many verses as “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” work? “The obvious solution was disco.”
• Father John Misty also recently appeared on How Long Gone, and it’s worth enduring the show’s fairly obnoxious hosts to hear him do an impression of Stephen Malkmus’ speaking voice that basically just sounds like Dennis Miller.
Mahashmashana impressed me!
https://superjews.substack.com/p/father-john-misty-mahashmashana