Jill Sobule – Bitter.

“Everyone thought that I wrote that first verse about Jewel. I honestly didn’t.”

Jill Sobule is best known for the song I Kissed a Girl and rightly so. Containing, as it does, an infectious melody, a Dinosaur Jr.-style wobbly guitar solo and experimental lesbianism. It short, it has everything I look for in a track – plus it has an infectious melody and a Dinosaur Jr.-style wobbly guitar solo.

She also caused a bit of a stir with this song from the album Happy Town. I have to say I’m one of the ‘everyone’ who thinks it is about Jewel. The first time Jewel and Sobule shared a bill was a small gig at the South by Southwest festival. Jewel was first on the bill and ended up running off stage and crying after an indifferent reception from record execs. The second time they played the same event was at Lillith Fair. Sobule took to the stage half an hour before the festival was due to start and Jewel was headlining. Plus, there’s no denying the generosity of Jewel’s jumper-bumps.

That wasn’t the only trouble she caused with the song. Her record company were none too pleased with the language on the track. I’ll let her finish the tale. “They wanted me to replace "bitch" with something that Wal-Mart would be okay with. I went back in the studio and replaced the offending word with... ‘cunt’. I thought it was funny. They didn’t.”

Jill Sobule – Bitter

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