Babies - Pulp

[Guest]

I love this track but it still confuses the hell out of me over who is doing what with who and where exactly Jarvis (or the person he is speaking on behalf of) ends up in all of this? I can follow it until the sister(?) goes off with someone else...is that right?

[Mitch]

Babies - Pulp

Thinking about it, I don't think the last verse makes sense:

Well I guess it couldn't last too long.
I came home one day,
and all her things were gone,
I fell asleep inside.
I never heard her come.
And then she opened up her wardrobe,
and I had to get it on.

So, err... either the girl's sister had moved in with Jarvis' family for some reason. Or he came home from school, and then sneaked into this girl's house.

[evilC]

Babies - Pulp

I got the impression he was only dating the girl involved because she looked like her older sister, who was the one he really fancied. He had to keep up a charade of devotion and seriousness to her. However, when the oportunity arose for him to do some (literally) closet voyeurism on the older sister and her boyfriend, he took it.

That's how I interpret it, from my (shaky) memory of the full lyrics, anyway.

It's a song that I think Tindersticks should cover. :-)

[Guest]

Babies - Pulp

evilC wrote:

I got the impression he was only dating the girl involved because she looked like her older sister, who was the one he really fancied. He had to keep up a charade of devotion and seriousness to her. However, when the oportunity arose for him to do some (literally) closet voyeurism on the older sister and her boyfriend, he took it.

That's how I interpret it, from my (shaky) memory of the full lyrics, anyway.

It's a song that I think Tindersticks should cover. :-)

That's how I had it. Plus when he gets caught he actually 'gets it on' with the older girl meaning he's talking to the younger sister when he says 'I only went with her cos she looks like you.'

Bloody hell it's confusing.

[Guest]

Babies - Pulp

evilC and Baroudeur are spot on, especially with the Tindersticks suggestion.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Babies - Pulp

How come your name and details have got scroll bars around them?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Babies - Pulp

I also love this song to a bizarre degree. I always thought that Jarvis was going to write progressively less kinky songs about hiding in wardrobes as he became more famous and got a girlfriend etc. Didn't I get an awful shock when I heard this is hardcore for the first time.

[Guest]

Babies - Pulp

"That's how I had it. Plus when he gets caught he actually 'gets it on' with the older girl meaning he's talking to the younger sister when he says 'I only went with her cos she looks like you.'"

I always thought he was talking to the older sister on that line to explain why he was dating her sister? So who "all her stuff had gone" left then? It's a strange song because there is no clarity one of the two he is talking about isn't actually male.

[Guest]

Babies - Pulp

"we were on the bed when you came home,
I heard you stop outside the door.
I know you won't believe it's true,
I only went with her 'cos she looks like you."

This is directed at the younger sibling, surely.

[Mumpo]

Babies - Pulp

SR - that happens in alot of the user name/details areas on my browser at home, but not at work. No idea why.

[Jimski]

Babies - Pulp

The way I see it is the entire song is directed at the younger sibling. I reckon he's her friend, but nothing more, and has a crush on her. The pair of them listen outside her big sister's door, just for a laugh, but then he goes further and starts hiding in big sister's wardrobe. First he sees/hears her with this kid called David, then eventually comes the time when he has to get it on with her. But really, all he wants is little sis.

(He has listened in on little sis too with some boy when that boy's parents are out.)

P.S. Not sure what the "and all her things were gone" line means either. Doesn't appear to make much sense.

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

Babies - Pulp

I love the way Jarvis says 'alright!' in this song.

[David Agnew]

Babies - Pulp

Jimski wrote:

The way I see it is the entire song is directed at the younger sibling. I reckon he's her friend, but nothing more, and has a crush on her. The pair of them listen outside her big sister's door, just for a laugh, but then he goes further and starts hiding in big sister's wardrobe. First he sees/hears her with this kid called David, then eventually comes the time when he has to get it on with her. But really, all he wants is little sis.

(He has listened in on little sis too with some boy when that boy's parents are out.)

P.S. Not sure what the "and all her things were gone" line means either. Doesn't appear to make much sense.

I think the chorus, is him thinking to himself, rather than directed at the younger sister:

Jarvis Cocker wrote:

Oh I want to take you home.
I want to give you children.
You might be my girlfriend, yeah.

In terms of:

Jarvis Cocker wrote:

Well I guess it couldn't last too long.
I came home one day,
and all her things were gone,

I'm guessing that he thinks it wouldn't last too long, because he was going to get caught by one of the sisters, but I've always thought that the older sister is moving out - presumably to live with David.

The thing is, this is the first time that the younger sister has caught him in the wardrobe, how was he getting in the house? Especially as he's admitted to listening to the younger sister and Neve at some point.

Jarvis Cocker wrote:

And so you went with Neve,
and Neve was coming on,
and I thought I heard you laughing,
when his Mum and Dad were gone.
I listened outside, I heard you.

[Jimski]

Babies - Pulp

I think the chorus, is him thinking to himself, rather than directed at the younger sister:

Yeah, what I mean is the 'you' in the chorus is the younger sister.

In fact that's the easiest way to decode the song. 'Her' always means the elder sister, while 'you' is the younger sister, which is what I meant when I said the entire sopng is directed at the younger sister.

[evilC]

Babies - Pulp

Are there any other pop songs so explicitly about voyeurism? I know that voyeurism isn't the main theme of 'babies' it's more about unrequited love and the lengths you'll go to to be near the object of your thwarted desire - but it still plays a major part. It's what makes the song so errr... 'kinky' (although I hate that term).

Momus' 'My Pervert Doppelganger' deploys a bizarre twist on the tale. The protagonist is worried his girlfriend is having a fling on the side, so he hides in their wardrobe to 'catch' her. When she enters the room and he jumps out, it turns out that the mystery lover is in fact himself - only his pervert alter ego - meaning that he is, in fact, pretty much schizophrenic - at least sexually speaking. As it happens, this turns out to be a watershed moment and he 'comes to terms with' his seedier side and they all live happily ever after ...all three of them!

Here's the lyrics:

"I've got a pervert doppelganger
He came from over the sea
He hangs around doing sexual crimes
And the blame is getting pinned on me
The blame is getting pinned on me

Whenever that pervert shows his face
My friends all think he's me
They give him records by Squarepusher
And a box of Japanese tea
A box of Japanese green tea

He's taken a flat in Smithfields now
Where refrigerated lorries unload dead cows
They call him the Smithfields Ripper now
And the rap is getting pinned on me
The rap is getting pinned on me

And now my pervert doppelganger
Has got my girlfriend's phone-number
I gave her a warning, but yesterday morning
She cancelled her date with me
'And made it a date with me!'

I went to the flat of my doppelganger
I'd copied my girlfriend's key
I waited in a cupboard till they both came round
Then jumped out very suddenly
Jumped out very suddenly

And now we get along like a house on fire
The police took away my doppelganger
He's a high security prisoner now
Being held under lock and key
And everybody thinks, thinks he's me

And when the lorries unload their cows
Their hogs, their heifers and sows
In piles of slithering meat
I give my girl a treat
With unstoppable energy
Can the man in the mirror be me
Can the man in the mirror be me
Can the man in the mirror be me
Or can it be

My pervert doppelganger"