“It sums up my feelings”: Blondie’s Debbie Harry once named her “best lyrics ever”
One quick glance around today’s music scene reveals everything we would ever need to know about the lasting influence of Debbie Harry. Though subtle, her post-punk, disco-rock fusion can be found almost everywhere, from the bold visual style of artists like Lady Gaga to the sonic diversity of Madonna. And that’s just scratching the surface, with the next iteration of boundary-pushers, like Chappell Roan, leading the way.
Many of these—particularly the newer artists—won’t necessarily be as aware of their channelling as much as others, but Harry’s influence, whether stemming from her unabashed confidence as a woman in rock or her ability to blend the facts of different genres that hadn’t been done before, is inexplicably everywhere. And it’s all there, hiding in plain sight, a true mark of artistic genius, so deeply rooted that it continues to push the industry forward.
Perhaps what’s most striking is that much of Harry’s treatment in the early years provides a stark mirror of today’s landscape. This mostly regards how female artists are treated, not just in the structure of the business but in interviews, when they’re faced with questions that differ greatly from those of their male peers. While the approach has evolved, and artists are asked more about their art than their reputations, there exist many subtleties between the lines that prove that women in the industry—for the most part—are still not respected as much as they should be.
For instance, in the 1980s, when Harry was repeatedly asked about being a “sex symbol”, her exhausted resignation was obvious. During one particular interview, when pressed by a male interviewer about her stage person and how she injects “sex overtones” into her performance, she said the entire idea was “preposterous” and that she tried “to be natural” with her femininity because she felt “good about it”.
However, beyond her perceived physical appeal, Harry was also an incredibly seasoned artist who knew what it meant to mould concepts to reflect personal experiences or grander statements. Of course, by doing this, she became a target for endless speculation about what her songs were about and why she had written them, but when the focus wasn’t on her sexuality, it drew attention to the nature of her craft in all the right ways.
One such example was ‘Mother’, which many thought was written about her birth mother before she put her up for adoption at just a few months old. While these undertones are there, Harry once admitted it was also inspired by an underground club in Manhattan that she frequented throughout the 1990s. Discussing this during an interview with The Guardian, she acknowledged how it could be perceived while praising it as one of her most lyrically accomplished songs ever.
“I think it’s one of my best lyrics ever,” she explained, adding, “It was about a club called Mother that I used to go to. It sums up my feelings about the place. It has underlying feelings about searching for motherhood, but I don’t necessarily apply it to me.” The song pulls a deep and intense yearning to find something you may not have ever had, making it easy to interpret it as merely a lament on lost motherhood.
However, it also captures longing in a more nuanced way as Harry ventures into a world where her time exists to be wasted, and she distracts herself from the emptiness that lurks within. As she sings in the first line: “In a packed-in-leather life / I was foolish, you were right / All night rookies pass the time / Looking for somewhere to go / Shiny boots are up their thighs.” Packed with multiple possible meanings, the song is both a call for something greater and an ode to enjoying the moment despite the broken heart—the ideal reflection of nightclubbing in the underbelly of Manhattan when partying fills the void.
