OK, let’s get the quippin’ out of the way:

“WOMEN? BUT WE THOUGHT YOU WERE TEH GHEY!”

Ah-dur-hur-hur. It is to laugh. You are, unquestionably, The Master of Comedy.

Now then… TO BUSINESS!

Nellie McKay

Date of Birth: 13 April 1982, London, England, UK

Birth Name: Nell Marie McKay

Height: 5′ 7½” (1.71 m)

VITAL STATISTICS:

The ridiculously musical shark-toothed epitome of the dizzy broad, (or perhaps the loopy dame), McKay currently has four (4) albumns on the market, of which—I am embarrassed to admit— I own only one: here breakout two-disc, “Get Away From Me.” Besides being featured on several movie soundtracks, McKay also boasts a supporting role in P.S. I Love You (dah fug?), and, in 2006, she appeared on Broadway in Threepenny Opera with Alan Cumming and Cyndi Lauper (who would later appear on the track, “Beecharmer,” on McKay’s “Pretty Little Head” albumn) for which she received a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance.

“Eclectic” is probably the first word most critics will reach for when reviewing her work.   Summarizing someone as… uh… thesaurus diverse in style as McKay is sort of criminal, seeing as style on“Get Away From Me” alone ranges from rap (well… ) to some fine crooner work that could have appeared on any of Sinatra Duets, but here goes:

“Like Meatloaf but with smaller tits.”

OH, BURN, MEATLOAF!

That’s what you get for EVERY wedding I’ve had to attend and listen to your godawful song while all the guys sing the guy parts to their girls and all the girls sing the girl parts back to their guys.  Hand to god, ‘Loaf— I see that hackneyed shit one more time, I will find you and cut your fucking turkey wattle off.  And as my friends will attest, I bring knives to weddings.

Now, where was I?

Nellie McKay, right. Her lyrics are always witty and satirical rather than cynical about The Way Things Are.   Some evidence can be witnessed from The Great Wall:

I find it easy to empathize with her young-person-in-the-city-and-a-world-of-worries plight.    She’s got political worries and global worries and worries about whether or not what she is doing is important or worth caring about. But more importantly, I connect with her on one important point: we both want to be dangerous and nobody seems to think we are, gosh darnit. Well, don’t worry, sweatpea, Sony Records thinks your a mighty dangerous gal indeed. She said it herself, she’s a savage inside.

But no, the danger comes in the fact that she’s basically writing and singing show tunes (gay) and singing about insecurities (corny) in a manner that is always white-hot and vital, always fresh out of the left ventricle (awkward) while wearing interesting getups ranging from cabaret line-kicker to 50′s housewife in curlers and yet, she manages to dodge all of my parenthetical minefields to create music that is ::groan:: so catchy and yet, meaningful.

REASON I’D SABOTAGE THIS RELATIONSHIP: Vegan.

Official Site

Further listening

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