Don’t get
me wrong. I’m not an old curmudgeon who refuses to listen to new music. I
rather like some of the newish alternative rock acts like The Kills or Yeah
Yeah Yeahs or Dea Matrona. But comparisons with Led Zep or Deep Purple or Dire
Straits … or even (hushed tones, bowed heads) The Beatles? Oh, come on.
But, at
last, after thirty-year long spell of drought, there is one pale, green shoot.
A promising, sprightly, lively shoot. Does it herald the start of a new golden
era? My generation is holding its breath. And praying.
Rhian
Teasdale and Hester Chambers.
It was a
bare twelve months ago that two little girls from the Isle of Wight got fed up
with their moldy existence and COVID and horrible acne-scarred boyfriends and
all that stuff, and got themselves a pair of guitars and launched a rock group.
They called their band Wet Leg. In a bare six months they had conquered the
known portion of the world, having released several super-hit signals, released
a hit record, played at all of the biggest venues on the planet and had
gathered two Brits and two Grammies along the way. They count amongst their
admirers Barak Obama, Elton John, Nick Taylor of Duran Duran, David Grohl, the
former Nirvana drummer, Jack White, probably the best of the new generation of
guitar gods… the list goes on.
They just
may be the biggest thing to have happened to the music industry in three
decades.
Never heard
of them? No problem. Check out this video of the song that launched their
career. Prepare to fall in love.
With their meteoric rise, record-breaking downloads, and top awards on debut, they have already earned themselves a footnote in the history of rock. Will they one day be counted alongside the greats of rock? Only time will tell.
But they
have youth on their side. They are bursting with talent, and are getting better
all the time. Their humor is scintillating. Their laughter is infectious. They
have a charisma that you can slice with a knife. They sound like no one else,
either now or in the glory days of rock. Their songwriting is outstanding, at
par with the best. I am putting my bets on them, and so are a lot of people far
wiser and more knowledgeable than I am.
Wet Humor
What
endears them to me most, being a humor writer myself, is their use of humor.
Possibly no other group since the Beatles has succeeded in melding humor with
rock so effectively. Comic concepts, exquisite wordplay and a delicious use of
the language vie with hard-driving, foot-stampingly good grooves; the music not
drowning out the lyrics, rather pushing it, prodding it, and teasing out its
inner meaning. Delivered in Rhian’s crystal-clear, cut-glass British accent,
you can make out every word, even in the din of a deafening closed-room
concert.
The songs
nearly always tell a story. A wry, gigglingly-good story. But these are not those
long, plodding things called ballads. Most of the Wet Leg songs are designed
like a conversation. You get flashes of dialogs. Bits of description. Just a
handful of words scattered in the air like confetti. The rest of the story gets
created in the listener’s imagination. It is like painting an iceberg in the
mind’s eye from a glimpse of the tip. It is that perfection to which every
short story writer strives. Being a writer myself, I know how difficult it is
to achieve, for any kind of fiction. But to manage that for humor is beyond
belief. There is a seriously talented short story writer within those two girls
somewhere, waiting to burst out.
Having said
all that, I must admit there are still a lot of people out there who don’t get
what the whole hoo-ha is about. “Yes, they’re rather nice,” say these folk,
“but what is so special about them?”. For people like that, I am writing this
series of blog posts, dissecting each of their major songs, and explaining, in
my humble opinion, why it is so special.
Their first
hit, Chaise Lounge, the one that made them famous, has already been analyzed to
death in countless articles, podcasts, and videos. There is no point in adding
to the verbiage. So, I have chosen to start with their second hit, of which less
has been written.
Wet Dream – Song Analysis
Rhian got
the idea for this song when an ex-boyfriend sent her a WhatsApp message saying
he had had a wet dream about her. The fellow must be a real jerk. Like most
guys I have my share of wet dreams, but, also like most, I have the decency to
keep it to myself. Naturally disgusted, she took it out of her system by
writing a hugely funny song about it. That is how the true humorist deals with
life’s curve balls. They don’t yell or scream or take up Buddhism. They turn
the experience into comic art.
The song starts with a sarcastic request to enter into her ex’s head, presumably to view his sick mind.
Beam me up (beam me up)
Count me in (count me in)
Three, two, one (three, two, one)
Let's begin
The third
line 3-2-1 is rather clever, by the way, as if she is waiting in a Star-Trekish
transponder beam to be uploaded into his head. I didn’t get it the first time I
heard the song, so I had to look up the lyrics. She trills it very quickly with
an ironic slur, so it’s not as easily comprehensible as the rest of the song.
Each line is echoed by Hester with a slight delay, in a slightly different tone, which creates a delicious effect. Unfortunately, Hester’s voice is drowned out in most concert videos on YouTube, but you can hear it clearly in this amazing acoustic version that they did during a radio interview:
After being
beamed up, the wet dream unfolds. Rhian croons out a sordid running commentary
in a light, happy voice that counterpoints the insalubrious details, while
Holmes’ drums go rat-a-tat-a-tat in the background. Rhian accentuates the
lyrics even more in live performances. She swings her hips from side to side
and fondles the neck of her guitar suggestively. But the stony expression in
her eyes makes clear what she thinks about the whole business.
Two verses
particularly standout.
What makes you think you're good enough
To think about me when you're touching
yourself?
Just in
case the sarcasm in the voice is not enough to bring out the irony of the
lyrics, this verse spells it out. I rather like the understated ‘what makes you
think you’re good enough to…’ rather than something more vicious. It makes the
words more cutting.
Another verse
that intrigues everyone is this:
You said, "Baby, do you want to come home
with me?
I've got Buffalo '66 on DVD"
My guess is
that is how this fellow – let’s call him Mike for convenience – propositioned
Rhian early on in their relationship. Buffalo ’66 is what they call a “cult
movie”. It’s about a gangster who kidnaps a young tap dancer and forces her act
as his sham wife for a particular purpose. It’s the sort of movie that the
Mikes of this world obsess about. What I particularly like about this verse is
the way Rhian slurs and stretches out ´Buffalo ‘66’ in mocking tones in live
performances. It’s hilarious. I bet poor old Mike squirms every time he hears
this song.
This song
showcases Rhian’s amazing vocal abilities. By turns, she croons, she chats, she
trills, she chants, she hits high notes, she deliberately lets them go off key…
all in a way that seems perfectly natural, like an extended conversation with
her misguided ex. Most people who hear this song the first time won’t realize
they are listening to a virtuoso performance. I certainly didn’t. She makes it
sound effortless and casual. But a great deal of effort has gone into making it
effortless.
With minor
variations in intonation, phrasing and tempo, she achieves an astounding amount
of interest, movement and dynamics within the 3 minutes of a standard pop song.
A refreshing change from the dull, monotonous dirge that defines most pop
performances nowadays. Neither does she have to indulge in the pointless vocal contortions
of modern R&B groups. I worship the great Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey as
much as anybody, but they knew to put in the fireworks at just the right
places, in just the right way. Their latter-day copycats just grate on the
nerves. The labored ‘Yo dudes, let’s put in some dynamics here’ brand of
dynamics that most pop songs nowadays seem to have, has the contrary effect of
making them dull and lifeless and formulaic. Any of the Wet Leg songs is a
masterclass in how to achieve dynamics in a way that sounds refreshing,
effortless, and natural.
Wet Fun
If you see
videos of Rhian and Hester from their pre–Wet Leg days – and there are a couple
on You Tube – you will see that they are both trained singers with a formidable
range. Actually, all the Wet Leg bandmembers are alumni of an Isle of Wight music
college. But, after years of struggling and getting nowhere, they decided to
throw all the training out of the window and SIMPLY HAVE FUN.
Wet Leg was
born of that decision.
Wet Leg is
all about FUN. In capital letters. Having fun, and conveying a sense of that
fun to their audience. But making a song fun is a lot more difficult than going
into a recording studio and having a few beers and goofing around. It is HARD
WORK. And it requires heaps of natural talent and an unerring instinct for what
works and what doesn’t.
Luckily,
they have it in heaps, several dozen heaps. And they debuted at a time when the
world was pretty fed-up itself, and looking around for just their brand of madness.
Wet Videos
Check out
the video of Wet Dream too. It is rather charming, goofy and fun. I usually avoid
music videos, much preferring live concert videos, but I make an exception for
Wet Leg. They do their own videos, and they have an instinct for visual humor
that verges on Monty Pythonesque.
Wet Interviews
Here is
Rhian talking about this song in an interview (move to 11:40, but this whole interview is ultra cute)…
Samples of Wet Leg Humor:
Interviewer:
What went through your head when Harry Styles called you and asked you to be
his backing band?
Rhian (without
a pause, with a straight face): We thought he must be thinking of some other
band called Let Weg.
(The best
part was that the other band members kept a straight face too)
Interviewer:
Are you ready with your second album?
Rhian: Oh
yes, it’s all ready.
Interviewers:
when are you releasing it?
Rhian,
Hester (in turns): As soon as we find it. We buried it somewhere deep
underground, and now we’ve forgotten where we buried it.
(Interviewer
was a Dutch dude in this case. He looked perplexed. He couldn’t figure if they
were being straight, or if this was some kind of British humor)
Interviewer:
How would you describe the musical style of the second album?
Rhian:
Heavy metal… (long pause. Looks sideways at Hester)
Hester: …
disco (finishing Rhian’s sentence).
Rhian: I do
a lot of low growls in the second album. I had to practice for it.
Interviewer:
What is the origin of the name Wet Leg?
Rhian: That
is what we call the mainlanders on the Isle of Wight. Because they come off
the ferry, and their legs get wet in the process.
This joke
took on a life of its own, by the way, and has become a part of the Wet Leg
legend. Even I thought it was true at one point. The reality is more mundane:
Rhian and Hester wanted a band name that could be described in two emojis,
and came up with this name after trying out various combinations. Or was that
another joke? One can never be sure with these girls.
The first time I heard the band name, I thought it referred to that unmentionable woman thing that bachelors are blissfully unaware of and that we married men to our horror have to learn to deal with. For all I know, that is probably the real origin of the name. It would explain why they are so coy about it.
The Beatles Reborn?
In this
article, I have made no secret of the fact that Wet Leg reminds me a lot of the
young Beatles. Before they became hairy, spiritual, bell-bottomed dudes, that
is. Their joie-de-vivre, their sparkling songwriting, their use of humor, their
scintillating personalities, their rocket-like rise on debut, the shock and freshness
of their songs in a barren landscape… not to mention the the slightly disgusting band name... all that recalls the Beatles to me. Yes,
yes, the Wet Dream album can’t be compared to Sgt. Pepper and Revolver and all those classics, but I am comparing
them to the *young* Beatles, remember? The Beatles did not become the high priests
of all things music overnight. Will Rhian and Hester create the 21st Century’s answer to Sgt. Pepper? Who knows. Give them time to develop. Maybe
they will.
But there is
one HUGE difference between the young Beatles and Wet Leg that hits you in the
eye. Other than gender, that is. The majority of the Beatles songs, especially
in the early days, were about LOVE. They looked on LOVE, GIRLFRIENDS, and GIRLS
in general, as a GOOD THING ™ (except for one or two bitchy songs in Rubber
Soul, when Paul McCartney had been dumped by Jane Asher). The Wet Leg songs,
when they are about love, tend to hit the sour note. They look on boyfriends,
and boys in general, as ticks and slugs, and have a ho-hum attitude towards
loving them. In other words, NOT A GOOD THING ™. I don’t know if it is because
Rhian is going through a phase after having broken up with some particularly icky
specimen, but songs like Ur Mom and Wet Dream make you despair for the male of
the species, and you wonder if somethings shouldn’t be done about these bearded
bounders. It is possible that Rhian will one day come across a moderately subhuman
exhibit, and the Wet Leg songs will turn brighter, but until then, their theme
song shall remain: She Loathes You Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
Part II: The Wet Boyfriend
Featuring Ur Mom, Supermarket - Song Analysis
