Exile in Guyville

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Exile in Guyville is American singer-songwriter Liz Phair's 1993 debut album. (See 1993 in music). Phair commented in interviews that the album was a song-by-song reply to the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile on Main Street. Some critics do not accept her statements at face value, although the album can be seen at least at a general level as a response to the Rolling Stones.

Some tracks on the album are a direct reply to the corresponding track on Main Street, while others are more general. Some tracks seem to have little relation to Exile on Main Street.

Two examples of songs that seem to be responding directly to Main Street are "6 1" and "Fuck and Run".

"6 1" is track 1 of Guyville, while "Rocks Off" is the first track of Main Street. In Rocks Off, the singer speaks of sexual frustration and says in the chorus:

"And I only get my rocks off while I'm dreaming,
I only get my rocks off while I'm sleeping."

While in 6 1", Guyville's lead song, Phair says:

I bet you fall in bed too easily
With the beautiful girls who are shyly brave
And you sell yourself as a man to save
But all the money in the world is not enough
I bet you've long since passed understanding
What it takes to be satisfied

Perhaps the most striking example of a respone to a track in Exile is Happy and Fuck and Run. In the Stones' Happy, the singer says emphatically, "I need a love to keep me happy, I need a love to keep me happy." In Phair's corresponding track entitled "Fuck and Run", the singer talks about loneliness and regret following a one night stand, which no doubt occurred to keep her "happy". She laments:

"I want all that stupid old shit
Letters and sodas"

Glory places the Rolling Stone logo of a large tongue directly in the bullseye:

"He's got a really big tongue
It rolls way out
Snaking around in the club
It slicks you down"

Some songs do not seem even addressed to Main Street or the Stones. Flower creates tremendous irony. To a casual listener, it sounds like young girls practicing scales in a choir, except the words to the song are:

"Every time I see your face
I get all wet between the legs"

In all, the album is not so much a response to Main Street as an attack on the stereotype of women found in Rock and Roll. The women in Guyville are thoughtful, humorous, self-aware and sexual, far from the one dimensional women inhabiting most popular music.

Phair wrote and recorded songs on cassette tapes, which she circulated under the title Girlysound, in the late 80's in Chicago. A Girlysound tape made it to the head of Matador Records, and he signed Phair. Phair recorded the best songs from her Girlysound compilations, and the album was released in 1993 and received widespread critical acclaim. It was the number one album in the year-end critics poll in Spin Magazine and the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, and "Never Said" received airplay on MTV. In the Spring of 1994, the album had briefly made it to the US charts, and it had sold 200,000 copies.

The album inspired a number of imitators, and the low-fidelity sound and emotional (and lyrical) honesty of Phair's lyrics were frequently cited by critics as outstanding qualities.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 328 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Contents

1 Track listing
2 Samples
3 Personnel
4 Production
5 Charts
6 US Chart Run

Track listing

All songs by Liz Phair

"6' 1" – 3:05
"Help Me Mary" – 2:16
"Glory" – 1:29
"Dance of the Seven Veils" – 2:29
"Never Said" – 3:16
"Soap Star Joe" – 2:44
"Explain It to Me" – 3:11
"Canary" – 3:19
"Mesmerizing" – 3:55
"Fuck and Run" – 3:07
"Girls! Girls! Girls!" – 2:20
"Divorce Song" – 3:20
"Shatter" – 5:28
"Flower" – 2:03
"Johnny Sunshine" – 3:27
"Gunshy" – 3:15
"Stratford-On-Guy" – 2:59
"Strange Loop" – 3:56

Samples

["Divorce Song"] ([file info])
Problems playing the files? See [[Opentopia:Media help|media help]].

Personnel

Liz Phair - guitar, piano, vocals
Casey Rice - guitar, cymbals, background vocals, handclapping
Brad Wood - organ, synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, bongos, drums, background vocals, drones, feedback
Tony Mariotti - bass
John Casey - harp

Production

Producers: Liz Phair, Brad Wood
Engineer: Brad Wood
Assistant engineer: Casey Rice
Arranger: Liz Phair
Design: Liz Phair, Mark O
Photography: Nate Kato, Mark Schime

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1993	Heatseekers	12
1994	The Billboard 200	196

US Chart Run

Week	1	2	3	4	5
Chart Position	199	197	200	196	199

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