Moxy Fruvous :: Music Musical Essays

Moxy FruvousFrom their earliest gigs as buskers (street performers) in downtown Toronto, the Canadian pop stack Moxy Fruvous has attracted attention with an energetic blend of tight harmonies and witty social gossip (Bush). The bands first album, 1994s Bargainville, highlights both these qualities, casting a skewed glance at topics ranging from video stores to the Gulf War. One of the magnetic disks highlights, Darlington Darling, examines blue-collar love and tells a tale of frustration, both sparing and romantic.The first verse introduces the songs speaker, who works on an fable line of business in an auto plant, where he slaps on plugs and distributor caps for Mercuries (1-2). However, we right away discover that the speaker is unable eventide to afford the cars he helps to build, noting that I substructure drive. . . but this cars made for you (4). This point is underscored by the chorus. As the speaker says that hed like to buy a car or cars for his love, his wishes ar e countered by the economic realities of his situationId like to buy her one (Where you gonna get the money, son?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .An Id like to buy her moreThan this blue collar can afford (5-6, 11-12).In the second verse, the speakers situation is contrasted with the encase of a co-worker who is doing a little better. Chipper down the line sycophantically plies his boss with egg nog at the company Christmas party (13-14). In return, Chipper gets a raise, which he uses to pay for a vacation cottage/love nest on Lake Scugog (a rather unprepossessing man-made lake around Toronto)(Lake Scugog). Although Chipper is willing to let his coworker use the cabin for a weekend, the speakers girlfriend is working for nearly the entire weekend (16). one time again, the economic realities of the working class (weekend shifts) interfere with dreams of leisure and love.Also charge noting here is that, during the solo that follows the second chorus, the listener can here a voice berating Chipper, telling him to Get back to work, you greaseball Apparently, even toadying for the boss only goes so far, and even the better-paid workers are subject to literal abuse.After the solo and another repeat of the chorus, a final half-verse focuses on the speakers love. We learn that she lives half a mile from the alter towers of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant near Toronto (Darlington).