Where she keeps a tangerine

So it didn't take me too long to get around to mentioning Sheena Easton again. Say what you will, but she got me into music. First album i ever bought. Just fell in love with "Morning Train" How my parents never knew is beyond me.

Now, interesting fact. That song hit #1 in the US, but NOT in the UK. Sheena only had one number 1 in the uk...the followup, Modern Girl (which peaked at like #19). I loved this song--i thought it was a little hipper (!!!!) than Morning Train. OK, i didnt think that then. I think it now? Ok, its not hip. I embarass myself and digress.

Can i just reference the lyrics?

He wakes and says hello, turns on the breakfast show
She fixes coffee while he takes a shower
Hey that was great, he said, I wish we could stay in bed

But I got to be at work in less than an hour
She manages a smile as he walks out the door
She's a modern girl who's been though this movie before

Chorus:She don't build her world 'round no single man
But she's gettin' by, doin' what she can
She is free to be, what she wants to be'
N all what she wants to be, is a modern girl
Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl

It looks like rain again, she takes a train again
She's on her way again through London town
Where she keeps a tangerine, flicks through a magazine
Until it's time to leave her dreams on the underground
She walks to the office like everyone else
An independent lady, takin' care of herself

chorus: She's been dreaming 'bout it all day long
As soon as she gets home, it's him on the telephone
He asks her to dinner, she says I'm not free
Tonight I'm going to stay at home and watch my TV
I don't build my world 'round no single man
But I'm gettin' by, doin' what I canI am free to be, what I want to be
'N all what I want to be, is a modern girl
Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl
Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl

OK does that not rock or what. Don't you love the sexually blase beginning. Folks, this was 1981!!!! If this ain't a feminist anthem, what is. Its Sleater-Kinney as a Scottish lass! She doesn't want to hang out with her man...TV is enough!

Sheena sings it very straightforward, not surprising. Its very i'm-gonna-make-it and all.

As i grew older and hipper and cooler and more ashamed of my love for Sheena Easton, i began to rationalize "you know, that's actually a cool song, if only somebody would record it for a cool TV show." Is it so not Bridget Jones diary or Sex In The City?

Enter Camera Obscura. Yup! Why am i not running a label (LOL...haven't you heard the Camera Obscura version on the radio...oh wait, that's why!). This band i will forever love for recording this song. They get it!

Interestingly, some 25 years later, the songs lyrics sound different, especially sung by Camera Obscura. Sheena sings this song like its an anthem, an incantation. Hell, she was 20 and it was the early 80's....all faux Thatcher/Reagan economic optimism. She shoulds like she is going to march in and start at secretary and poof! within years, she's the CEO. So 80's.

Tracyanne Campbell sings it very differently. There is something sad about the way the lyrics sound with her. Its basically a totally different interpretation of the lyrics. Her Modern Girl sounds like somebody whose done this time and time again, and isn't really believing that this or any job will amount to much for her. She might be waiting for a guy to come around. Or she might not. Even if he does, i don't think she's so sure he'll work out to be such a prince. Basically , she's happy about going out for drinks with the girls. That she is sure of.

Basically, the tangerine takes on ALOT more significance.