‘Merrily caroling stereophonic’: Home Economics class with Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom’s new song “Home Economics” doesn’t yet have official lyrics, but it’s too enticing not to jot down a few thoughts. When I started writing about “The Air Again”, I found it helpful to take a newspaper-like approach, so the story unfolds with a new date as I get the time. I’ll try that out here. All the usual caveats for this new music apply — hopefully my ears don’t mislead me too much on the words, but you’ve been warned!
May 18, 2024
Joanna Newsom debuted a new song at her performance last night in Hollywood. And boy, was it a fun one! It’s called “Home Economics”, as confirmed by the setlist.
It’s no surprise that JN gives us a feminist spin on this gender-role-reinforcing mainstay of 1800s and 1900s education. The 1862 Morrill Act, signed into law by President Lincoln, helped pave the way for more access to education among other things. One of the land-grant schools that was established as a result was Cornell University, which wrote this:
New scholarship in American women’s history suggests that home economics was a progressive field that brought science to the farm home and women into higher education and leadership positions in public education, academia, government and industry.
In the song, we hear about “cans for the summer”, and even the statement:
That’s the cornerstone
of ordinary home
economics!
But later, we hear Newsom twist the definition, eventually ending up with some lessons on what can be bought or sold:
And I cannot tell you tell you no lies,
children, you cannot sell or buy
what cannot be owned.
That’s the probity of home
economics.
Ultimately, we see the speaker turn back to the reality of economics, in yet another pun on “home economics”:
And I can’t pay my loans
without playing in these home
economics!
I need to give it some time and a few more listens to say something more cogent, but check back here for a few thoughts.
June 10, 2024
In the flurry of last month’s performances, and the debut of “Rovenshere” (which I’ve enjoyed delving into), I feel like I’ve been neglecting “Home Economics” for too long. That said, it’s also given me an opportunity to listen a few more times, both to the original performance and subsequent ones.
First things first — I’m pretty sure I misheard “cans for the summer”, but that’s the risk in all of this! After a few more listens, I think Newsom is singing about appointments and obligations:
We’ve got doctors, and plumbers,
and camps for the summer
to cancel, reschedule,
and promise.
Not the first or the last time I’ll need to “atone for all my wrongness”!
The song is titled “Home Economics”, but as I alluded to before, Newsom begins to introduce financial terminology that plays on the ideas of “economics” and the economics of home.
I’d like to think my ears are working for this line, which captures the dual meaning well.
Cue the gramophone;
let your Mama hammer home
economics.
Let’s look at a few references to economics, then. We hear:
Lower the shades
on the terms of the trade
And are reminded of the macroeconomics expression “Terms of Trade” (also called TOT), which refers to the balance of imports and exports for a given country. It also refers to the terms set out in a trade between two countries, where ideally you’d want to strike a deal that’s mutually beneficial to both parties, and plays to each of their strengths. In some respects, it touches on the relative perceived value of what each party is bringing to the table…which feels connected to the founding premise of home economics to raise the standing of women’s work.
At another point, we hear:
Here come my failures
assailing me, merrily caroling
stereophonic,
This may seem obvious, but those “failures” could certainly refer to a personal failure or shortcoming. But the term “failure” is also an economics term. Sometimes it refers to economic failures like financial crises or recessions. While we’re talking about balance, though, I’m more drawn to the econ term “market failure”, or an imbalance between supply and demand. Investopedia writes,
When markets fail, the individual incentives for rational behavior do not lead to rational outcomes for the group. In other words, each individual makes the correct decision for themselves, but those prove to be the wrong decisions for the group as a whole.
One of the most notable examples of market failure is poverty. In fact, we hear about that at one point in the song:
And this hunger and scarcity,
it just doesn’t seem fair to me.
The word choice is again charged with economic concepts — “fairness”, “scarcity”, and how to navigate them are studied and debated by economists.
In another line, I believe I hear the speaker contemplating their “return on investment” in slightly different words:
Where’s the rest all gone that
I’ve invested in these home economics?
Later, we continue to hear layered meanings in the words Newsom chooses, such as “return to the earth with no purchase upon it”.
For context, I hear —
I’m only one in a long list
who birth and who nurse
and who serve and return to the earth
with no purchase upon it.
— which would imply that the speaker is a woman, and more specifically a mother.
Here, the first reference is to a woman being buried (“return[ed] to the earth”) without a grip upon it — that is, since she is dead, she has lost her hold on life and the earth.
The second interpretation revolves around ownership, and possibly land ownership. The woman has “no purchase upon” the earth — whether that is no purchases at all, or no purchases of earth/land.
And a third layer (there may be more!) refers to an antiquated way of saying someone made their living.
I’ve already mentioned the play on selling, buying, and ownership in the line below. All of which are financial terms, obviously. We also see layering in the term “property” (originally I was torn between that and “probity”, which was intriguing in itself) here:
And I cannot tell you no lies,
children, you cannot sell or buy
what cannot be owned.
That’s a property of home economics.
“Property” meaning both “a possession” (real assets like land or goods) and “a characteristic”. We’re used to hearing about mathematical properties, material properties, philosophical properties, or chemical properties. Similarly, the speaker tells the “children” about a home economic property.
I’ll make a nod to one more financial terminology passage, at the end of the song:
And I can’t pay my loans
without trading in these home
economics!
We could extract many interpretations here, though I’m reluctant to do too much without official lyrics for the whole song. I initially heard “playing in”, but a few other performances more clearly sound like “trading in”. If that’s the case, the expression carries its own ambiguities and layers, ranging from “participating in” to “giving up in exchange”.
I do intend to write more. In the meantime, happy listening!
