The first single I bought
It was a cassingle – it’s crazy that that term didn’t take off – from the first Pearl Jam record, one of the B-sides: Dirty Frank. Pearl Jam meant everything to me when I was 10 years old. I remember reading in the fan magazines at the time that apparently it was about Eddie Vedder’s stepdad, who was a jerk. [Sources today say it was written about Pearl Jam’s driver, while on tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers – Ed] They compared him to Jeffrey Dahmer in the song. But it’s kind of funky.
The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
My Name Is Not Susan by Whitney Houston. The gist of the song is that she’s found out about a philandering partner, but it’s so funny to me: my name is not Susan! Yeah, well, no one’s name has been Susan since, like, 1948. That’s no offence to Susans, it’s a beautiful name, it was just not particularly common. It was a strange name to pick. I think a lot about that choice. It also doesn’t really rhyme. I mean you could be Susan, choosin’, bluesin’, boozin’. I got the bluesin’ because you’ve been boozin’ with Susan?
