"Who needs to try when things are meant to be"
June 2, 2012 8:02 AM   Subscribe

29/31 by Garfunkel and Oates (the sensational Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci), a song about the same woman from a perspective two years apart. (some NSFW language) [previously 1, 2] [via]
posted by quin (40 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
Why would they come to our concert just to boo us?
posted by Gator at 8:21 AM on June 2, 2012 [2 favorites]


Oh man. I am 30 now.

I totally get this, because I feel like I am in the middle of this transition! And I have an awesome boyfriend! But the ovaries. Ouch.
posted by tulip-socks at 8:25 AM on June 2, 2012


I didn't see that slash at first and I thought "2931 by Garfunkel and Oates" AWESOME! They're doing a future album just like RUSH.

disappointed
posted by Fizz at 8:26 AM on June 2, 2012 [2 favorites]


I think I probably was more optimistic at 29 than at 31, but it has absolutely nothing to do with my declining fertility (which I'd view as a positive thing if it were reliable enough to be useful.)
posted by asperity at 8:29 AM on June 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


They're great!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:31 AM on June 2, 2012


Song would have worked without the 31-year old calling her 29-year old self a cunt.

My fave newer song of theirs is definitely Go Kart Racing.
posted by King Bee at 8:44 AM on June 2, 2012 [2 favorites]


The whole song was well-written, well-performed, and very funny. The biggest laugh for me, though, was when 31 calls 29 an 'arrogant cunt'. It was, as George Carlin used to say, 'simple, honest, direct language'. I'm glad Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci don't have a problem with that.
posted by KHAAAN! at 9:00 AM on June 2, 2012 [18 favorites]


More SLGO anytime.

And what's wrong with 31 calling 29 a cunt?
posted by benito.strauss at 9:01 AM on June 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


I love them so, so much.
posted by ColdChef at 9:08 AM on June 2, 2012 [5 favorites]


Been a fan of their songs ever since Pregnant Women are Smug. I have noticed that posting anything by G&O to Facebook seems to rankle people I would have otherwise thought would enjoy that kind of thing.
posted by deern the headlice at 9:37 AM on June 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


God, they're great.

I'd feel different if they were playing two separate characters, but in this context "you arrogant cunt" pretty well matches negative self-talk of a lot of women I know.

(I'm 28, so life is perfect right now.)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:40 AM on June 2, 2012 [2 favorites]


Just discovered them this week and promptly watched all of their YT videos. LOVE them. I can't get "This Party Just Took a Turn for the Douche" out of my head.
posted by pised at 9:51 AM on June 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Love G&O. Was actually coming in here to post "This Party Just Took a Turn for the Douche", my personal favorite, but see I was beaten to the punch.

So, here's one from the Riki Lindhome solo collection: Accidental Slut

Riki Lindhome also hosts a pretty interesting podcast focusing on "breaking into the business" stories from various comedians, actors, etc.
posted by The Gooch at 10:36 AM on June 2, 2012 [4 favorites]


I've been a fan for a long time, love hearing they have a new song out. Don't have any problem with using the word 'cunt'.

I'd have never guessed it was really her until I looked it up on IMDB a few years back, but Riki did a pretty great performance in Last House on the Left. Her hair being dark threw me for a loop.
posted by Malice at 10:38 AM on June 2, 2012


I'd have never guessed it was really her until I looked it up on IMDB a few years back, but Riki did a pretty great performance in Last House on the Left. Her hair being dark threw me for a loop.

I had a similar reaction when doing the same sort of search and realized she was the nasty, white-trash sister in "Million Dollar Baby"
posted by The Gooch at 10:42 AM on June 2, 2012


I had a similar reaction when doing the same sort of search and realized she was the nasty, white-trash sister in "Million Dollar Baby"

Wow! Really! I had no idea. That's awesome. She's a woman of many talents, that's for sure.
posted by Malice at 10:49 AM on June 2, 2012


Love. This.
posted by The Whelk at 10:50 AM on June 2, 2012


sex with ducks

also, i love playing the "spot riki and kate in random bit parts" game.
posted by nadawi at 11:09 AM on June 2, 2012 [2 favorites]




I love them... just turned 30 and there's definitely that vibe amongst friends. 31 doesn't realize she'll be just fine when the first round of divorcees her age hits the market! Also, 29 there was all this dread of being 30, then you hit 30 and you realize nothing is fucking different.

I used to cringe at cunt as my all-time most-hated word, but lots of usage by awesome female singers and comedians over the years has shown me that it can be hilarious.

Spit-take: "There's another secret..."
posted by Sayuri. at 11:30 AM on June 2, 2012


I'm about the same now, at 31, as I was at 29. Either that's because I'm living with the same pretty great guy in a pretty great city, OR IT COULD BE BECAUSE I'VE ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING OF A DOWNER.

Unclear.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 1:12 PM on June 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Maybe it's just because I'm in my late 30s, when both 29 and 31 seem young and dumb, but this song kind of irritated me. Quick, let's define ourselves by our ovaries! Gosh, 31 sure is ooooooooooooooooold.
posted by jess at 1:33 PM on June 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


See, I don't think that you are supposed to take 31 as any better or realistic person than 29. They're both assholes. 29 is a manic pixie dreamgirl asshole and 31 is a bitter ovaries-are-shriveling asshole. No, of course you shouldn't be defining yourself by your fertility (and based on my number of pregnant friends who are several years older, 31 is not ovaries-are-shriveling time anyway). Of course your life isn't really over at 31. If there was any doubt, I think 31's use of the c-word pretty much illustrates that she's not the hero of this story (contrary to other commenters, I don't think it's an appropriate or funny word, although I see why she used it there).

Both 29 and 31 are stereotypes that offer societal commentary. Neither is a particularly good person who the audience is supposed to want to be.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:56 PM on June 2, 2012 [5 favorites]


This is totally one of those enjoy the link and skip the discussion MeFi posts.
posted by George_Spiggott at 2:17 PM on June 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


I also enjoyed Save the Rich.
posted by muckster at 2:23 PM on June 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


31 needs some perspective. Looking back on that part of my life from 48 all I can say is, well, last week was my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and I was the youngest of the 30 people in the room. 31 has no fucking idea.
posted by localroger at 2:32 PM on June 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


localroger, I'm 48, too, and I can only assume those older people in the room where thinking, "Oh, he's 48 and thinks he knows what's going on. Isn't that cute?"

BTW, men go through this, too - except, since our reproductive organs aren't such haradasses about the calendar, the spread is wider than 29/31. Sucks to be 48 and wishing you had ___. So, in that respect, this song truly is universal.

Except for teenagers, who think you're dumb.
posted by IAmBroom at 2:56 PM on June 2, 2012


King Bee: "Song would have worked without the 31-year old calling her 29-year old self a cunt."

King Bee, are you my mother? "I don't see why they have to use such... raw language!"
posted by IAmBroom at 3:04 PM on June 2, 2012 [2 favorites]


All of their songs are really good, and very funny, and for me very hard to watch. I actually stopped the FPP half way through and had to go back to hear it through the cunt remark (which was totally spot on, appropriate, and funny.)

But all of their songs give me that creepy Marcelle Clements "the dog is us" feeling.
posted by localroger at 3:27 PM on June 2, 2012


IamBroom, I was estranged from my (once upon a time gaslighting control-freak) parents for nearly two decades, so the majority of the people in that room hadn't seen me since I was in my early teens. It's more that they were all looking at me clearly remembering me as being 14 when I haven't thought of myself as being 14 since I was about 8.

But the litany of stuff to expect as things slide downhill in my soon to be entered declining years was not for the faint of heart.
posted by localroger at 3:32 PM on June 2, 2012


Marcelle Clements "the dog is us"

Man, I must have first read that essay twenty years ago and have never forgotten it.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:06 PM on June 2, 2012


I got married at 29 and had my first baby by 31.

Single-at-31 gets to sleep as much as she likes, go out in the evenings, have disposable income, has no raspberry-ripple effect on her abdomen, leaves her makeup out on her dressing table, has never had her brand new salon sized bottle of conditioner tipped down the shower drain, can "pop out" of the house whenever she likes, and never has to think about anyone's bowel motions but her own.

I just want to knock her teeth down her throat. I need to go and take another Happy Mummy pill.
posted by Catch at 4:08 PM on June 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Oh dear. Sorry guys. I have this single, older, sister, and I think something personal just bubbled over there.
posted by Catch at 4:10 PM on June 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


My sister asked me what it was like to turn 30.

"Just like 29," I said, "only fatter."
posted by Malor at 4:11 PM on June 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


Slight derail: Some time ago, a Dorkbot London regular (hi Richard!) noticed something in personal ads. The ages of female posters are not uniformly distributed, but cluster just before the ages of 30 and 40.

Flickr photo is a self-link of sorts. Please let me know gently if it's not within bounds.
posted by kandinski at 6:16 PM on June 2, 2012


And men's height clusters just above six feet. So easy to round slightly.

I was much more pessimistic at 29 than I am at 31. At 29 I'd been involuntarily single for five years, and had actually *stopped* online dating because it was so useless. Also perhaps importantly, I was just coming up on applications for new jobs, and pretty freaked out about the process.

I love most of their stuff, but the total lack of resonance here killed this for me.
posted by nat at 7:38 AM on June 3, 2012


One of my favorite things is the name of Kate Micucci's regular show in L.A.: "Playin' with Micucci."
posted by mokin at 8:08 AM on June 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


Kate's facial expressions whenever Riki starts yelling is what really sells this.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 8:49 AM on June 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


Funny and well executed but a bit too on-the-nose for my taste. I like something a bit more sly.
posted by msalt at 11:22 AM on June 3, 2012


I enjoy it, but I've noticed that women lose that shiny-optimism thing around 25 rather than 31. 29 is when the 31 behavior kicks in.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:50 PM on June 3, 2012


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