Paper Doll

[David]

Originally Posted by DownOnRodeo

Not sure about the music per se, but as for the lyrics alone I could easily believe that Lindsey wrote the verse (which is fairly inane and repetitive) and Stevie wrote the chorus (which has very Stevie lyrics).

I’m fairly certain that it was written on a guitar (not a piano or anything else) — just the way it moves along, bar to bar, modulates on upbeats and downbeats in a really straightforward way with some syncopation on 2 and 4, “communicates” with the bass, and lays rhythm down for the vocal, etc. That song was written on rhythm guitar, and I don’t think Stevie has ever written an up-tempo guitar song. (Sometimes I think she wrote “Angel” on guitar.)

I think many of the words, too, are Lindseyish, but that’s harder to pin down. Now you tell me that I’m crazy/It’s nothin’ that I didn’t know — Lindsey has written a million other songs with that sort of humor and sarcastic self criticism (I didn’t wanna be this late/So don’t make me wait). Stevie doesn’t write stuff like that. She doesn’t admit to her character flaws with quite so much tongue in cheek. But maybe she wrote this lyric to mimic her man’s hippie/mountain man voice. Maybe that’s part of what the song means: Our relationship is hot and cold so often that we can’t even keep up with it, and I’m starting to sound like you.