Our Saturday morning folk show (see Jesse James behind the wheel) was a hybrid of music, a juxtaposition of sounds that didn't always sound the best together but we made them work the best we could. One of the types of music featured was what might be considered contemporary folk music, a man or woman singing along with his or her stringed instrument and sometimes a backing band. I note "contemporary" because these songs were released recently, as opposed to "traditional folk" songs that were nearing three decades old. We originally had some traditional songs in rotation but they soon fell by the wayside.
One of the early highlights of the program was a quartet of women known as the Four Bitchin' Babes, consisting of founder Christine Lavin and a rotating roster of other women. By the time I was familiar with the group, the quartet consisted of Lavin, Debi Smith, Megon McDonough, and Sally Fingerett. It was on their third album that I heard the song I remember most: TV Talk. This was to be the song I used to grab the attention of fellow students who were weary about listening to a "folk show." You must realize that for years my undergraduate station apparently had little interest in branching out into other formats. And of all the formats to add, we decided upon something that I think many students didn't listen to and thought was nothing more than longhaired freaky people strumming guitars. However we quickly learned that what the students were missing out on was something the public loved. On weekends where I guest-hosted there would be calls for requests or questions about the albums. It was something I enjoyed being part of.
I also enjoyed trying to convince students to listen - like Sarah Smile. I forget the occasion but I recall being involved in some project with the campus television station a year or so later, with Sarah being one of the students who oversaw television programming. There was a project meeting one evening of the four or five students involved and afterwards, as we stood talking in the hall out front of the radio station, a promotional spot for the folk show was played. Unaware I was by this time the full-time host, Sarah made some sort of disparaging comment - not mean, but something along the lines that she couldn't imagine four hours of longhaired freaky people. I told her not to write off the music without listening and to give it a shot that coming weekend. She did. That Saturday after playing the Bitchin' Babes the phone rang. Her call was brief, but Sarah was hooked.
By the way, we lost the bitchin' privilege to use the word "bitch" on air about the same time Meredith Brooks became a dorm-and-household name (see I'm a little bit of everything all rolled into one) and I resorted to identify the four women by name or just calling them "the Babes" - which I thought then and still think is a bit silly. Fortunately, in my later years as program director and when other students were doing the folk shifts, these people didn't see anything wrong with saying, "bitch" and went ahead and did.
And I don't think anyone bitched about it.
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TV Talk
(Sally Fingerett)
The Four Bitchin' Babes
From the album Fax It! Charge It! Don't Ask Me What's For Dinner!
1995
I heard about this man, wanted a wife and some children
The problem with this man is he used to be a woman
Now he wants a family, someone to understand
There she is sitting with him, wants a husband and some children
The situation here is she's not a real woman
There they are together the man who was a woman
The woman who was a man
How do I know? I've seen it on the . . .
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
Then there was this woman, who had a quirky daughter
Forty times a day the kid sticks her hands in water
Doctors say the young girl is trying just to cleanse her soul
She's a prisoner in the bathroom,
Stuck inside the bathroom,
Compulsive in the bathroom,
They film her from the bathroom
Mom would like to use the bathroom now and then you know!
Where does she go? On the . . .
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
One day Oprah's heavy,
Next day Oprah's skinny,
Next day Oprah's heavy,
Next day Oprah's skinny,
Jenny Jones had big boobs,
Now Jenny's big boobs are gone
Where'd they go? (I don't know)
One day Oprah's heavy,
Next day Oprah's skinny,
Next day Oprah's heavy,
Next day Oprah's skinny,
I'm checking in with Donahue,
He's got a nice dress on.
What's going on? On the . . .
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
They've got mothers who are dating daughters' boyfriends
Mothers who are dating daughters' girlfriends
Mothers who are dating guys who like to dress like priests
There are ninety-year-old bikers
With the rings in their noses
Then there's the bulimic eating up the roses
The anorexic brought along her feeding hoses
Oh, the things they show.
On the . . .
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
I'm just a simple woman with simple complications
I can be lazy, lacking motivation
Today I am a voyeur,
I cannot let go
I view the TV for holistic meditation
Compared to some, my life, it is perfection
Does anybody understand our attraction to people who suffer so?
Hope I never know or you'll see me on the . . .
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
Talk, Talk, TV Talk, Talk Show
