Single: "Stutter"
Album: Elastica
Year: 1994
Justine Frischmann's drunk boyfriend drops by her house. He's barely able to talk but he wants to discuss an important issue between them in the brazen "Stutter."
Aloof, pushy guitars and drums open the single. Frischmann compares her boyfriend to a wind-up, buzzing and chattering without any purpose. He arrives unexpectedly and sloshed. The fact that he's wasted doesn't bother her. It's what he says. She would like him to be a happy drunk. She won't expect his intimacy in return. "Like a wind-up toy you stutter at my feet/And it's never the time, boy/You've had too much wine to stumble up my street/Well it isn't a problem/Nothing we can't keep between the sheets/Tell me you're mine, love/And I will not wait for other bedtime treats."
In the chorus, she's curious if he's insecure. She owns her sexuality while he seems to be threatened by it. He won't sleep with her if he's had a bad day at work or indigestion. She wonders if he's coming over to say she's touching him wrong or dating someone he could mold. Most importantly, she thinks it's her personality that's turning him off. "Is there something you lack/When I'm flat on my back/Is there something that I can do for you?/It's always something you hate/Or it's something you ate/Tell me is it the way that I touch you?/Have you found a new mate/And is she really great/Is it just that I'm much too much for you?"
She tells him not to appease her with empty phrases. He's being patronizing and not saying what he really means. She tells him he can avoid his own problems on his time. However, there is something up with them which can be resolved. He gets argumentative with her while she has to force him to talk. They are on different pages and not communicating. "Don't feed me a line, boy/I can hear that voice you use upon the phone/And there's no need to be coy/That is something you can do upon your own/Well it isn't problem nothing we can't solve so just relax/Am I on the wrong train, love/And will I have to tie you to the tracks."
Article comments
1 - simon hb
Interesting. I've always thought of the song as being an update and more elegant Too Drunk To Fuck - he's had too much to drink, can't get it up; "had too much wine to stumble up my street..."
2 - Pam Avoledo
Actually, Simon your p.o.v is the correct one. On a fan site I went to, Justine Frishcmann was quoted saying "drunken boyfriends."
I like your p.o.v. better. It makes a lot more sense.
3 - Temple Stark
Temple Stark picked this for an Editors' Pick of the Week. Go ahead and find out why here.