The Song That Changed My Life: Aimee Mann

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

The Song That Changed My Life is a segment that gives us the chance to talk with some of our favorite artists about the music that made them who they are today. This time around, we're joined by Aimee Mann. Aimee is a singer-songwriter whose career dates back to the 80s when she sang in the new wave band Til Tuesday. But odds are you know Aimee for her solo career. She recently released a record called Queens of the Summer Hotel. The songs on the record started when Aimee was working on a stage version of the book Girl, Interrupted. The stage show hasn't happened, but the record is out now. It's somber, delicate and beautiful. When we asked Aimee about the song that changed her life, she took us back to 1972, to the first time she ever listened – really listened – to lyrics in a pop song. The song was Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again (Naturally).

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:21.0	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn. It heads up about this next segment, there is some talk
0:25.7	about suicide, nothing graphic, just an acknowledgement of it. Anyway, time now for the song that changed
0:32.9	my life, a chance for some of our favorite artists to talk about the music that made them
0:38.1	who they are. On deck, Amy Mann. Amy is a singer-songwriter whose career dates back to the 80s when
0:45.8	she sang in the new wave band Till Tuesday. But you probably know Amy for her solo career.
0:52.8	She earned an Academy Award nomination for her work on Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia.
0:59.8	You look like a perfect fit. You look like a perfect fit. You look like a perfect fit.
1:29.8	Girl in me of a turn a kid. Look at you. Save me.
1:49.4	She's earned two Grammy Awards, including one for Best Folk Album for her 2018 record
1:55.3	Mental Illness. In fact, NPR's Robin Hilton called her the eighth-gradest living songwriter.
2:02.3	Amy has recently followed up Mental Illness with a very different record, Queens of the Summer Hotel.
2:09.3	The songs on the record started when Amy was working on a stage version of the book Girl Interrupted.
2:16.3	The stage show hasn't happened, but the record is out. It's delicate and beautiful.
2:47.3	When we asked Amy about the song that changed her life, she took us back to 1972. The first time she ever listened,
2:57.3	really listened to the lyrics in a pop song. I'll let Amy take it from here.
3:02.3	Hi, this is Amy Mann, and this is a song that changed my life. The first time I heard a lot of the songs I've ever listened to,
3:33.3	I was born again naturally by Gilbert O'Sullivan. I was probably 12 years old. I'm sure I heard it on the radio because
3:40.3	every now and then, maybe my brother would bring in a Beatles record or Sargent Pepper. That kind of stuff was super, super exciting.
4:04.3	It was super exciting. It was just like these bits and pieces here and there that would come into my life.
4:11.3	On the radio, I remember Bad Finger. It was a big favor. I really loved that.
4:18.3	I just didn't know what to do. I was just like a certain kind of 70s pop songwriting. I did like that, even though a lot of it was disposable.
	...

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