Regina Spektor’s favourite lyric of all time: “I always laugh”
From her early days immersed in the blossoming anti-folk scene of the East Village, Regina Spektor quickly established herself as a brilliant lyricist, mastering the elusive art of songwriting and following in the footsteps of the countless iconic wordsmiths who have walked those New York pavements before her. Like any self-respecting music fan, though, she certainly has her favourites.
It was in 1989 that a young Spektor first hit the streets of New York, having emigrated with her family from their home in Soviet-era Moscow, giving her a pretty unique take on life in the biggest of apples.
Despite her training as a classical pianist, going back to her childhood in Russia, a few years in the heart of the Bronx soon introduced Spektor to the enticing realms of punk, hip-hop, and – most importantly, anti-folk, leading her down a rather different artistic avenue which would eventually see her release one of the greatest records of the 2000s, in the form of Soviet Kitsch.
Anti-folk is an often misunderstood and often completely ignored scene in the musical history of New York, but the freedom and DIY ethos inherent in the movement has produced some truly incredible songwriters. Contrary to its genre title, though, anti-folk wasn’t so much a rejection of traditional folk as it was a rejection of the snootiness and snobbery around in the New York folk scene of the 1980s and beyond.
By taking folk back to its DIY roots, in fact, the various names that made up the anti-folk scene were more in line with the likes of Bob Dylan than any of the pretentious folk elitists populating Manhattan’s established folk clubs. It is no surprise, then, that the likes of Regina Spektor has long since worshipped Dylan for his unparalleled and enduring songwriting mastery.
Spektor’s appreciation of Dylan is so great, in fact, that she once cited one of his lyrics as being her favourite of all time, per NME. From the folk hero’s beloved 1965 track ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, Spektor plucked out “Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters” – although she wrongly cited it as “Don’t follow leaders, follow the parking meters” – as being her favourite.
“When he says that I always laugh,” she shared. “I love how his mind works, I love his voice and I just think he’s so fucking funny – he’s got such great joy.” Continuing, “It seems like it’s surreal, but it just makes perfect sense to me – I wouldn’t be able to explain how, but it just does.”
That same description could, of course, apply to a wealth of Dylan’s lyricism from across his illustrious career. He has never been one to make things too obvious or banal, and the surrealism and humour within ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ covers some of his most ingenious moments of 1960s social commentary.
Although Dylan produced a wealth of socially conscious, surrealist masterpieces during his time in 1960s New York, the humorous social commentary of that 1965 song still remains unmatched in the mind of Regina Spektor, and it wouldn’t take a gifted musicologist to link the track to the early origins of anti-folk, either.
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