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Black Dress

by Melissa Ferrick

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about

Black Dress came at me the way many of my favorite songs do, with the first line. “You say I’m either too much or not enough” is my inner critique talking, and the next line, You say I'm self-obsessed, a borderline narcissist,” came from the woman I was seeing at the time who enjoyed half-jokingly diagnosing me; she is a therapist. I knew I needed a short line to end the first verse in order to paint the protagonist and antagonist as equals. I thought about what was the same between us and I wrote, “But you can't stop yourself.” YES! It felt so good to get that line because it clarified that, in this song, there is no bad guy.  Production wise, we took a cue from The Wallflowers, One Headlight, and Phoebe Bridgers’s Motion Sickness (among many others), by not hitting any cymbals - you never get the release that comes with a crash cymbal. The groove is relentless, just like our attraction was. Even though my co-producer, Dave, is a drummer, I played drums on the track because they needed to convey the level of passion and frustration that is at the song's core.  Black Dress is a song about infatuation and desire, it’s about being all wrapped up in someone new. Sonically, it conveys the exhilaration and power I felt being with her. It’s a song without apology, without regret, and without shame.

lyrics

You say I’m either too much
Or not enough
You say I’m self obsessed
Boarder-line narcissist
But you can’t stop yourself

You never shut up
About the research
About our past and
The fact the stars are stacked against us

But you’re hotter than a black dress
My lover my analyst
Ya you’re hotter than a black dress
Let’s burn until there’s nothing left

Pull me in and pull me out
Keep me on the edge of us
Stare me down start me up
Take me home take it off kiss me full on my mouth

Ya you’re hotter than a black dress
My lover my analyst
Ya you’re hotter than a black dress
Let’s burn until there’s nothing left
Burn until there’s nothing left
Hotter than a black dress

Heavy like a mountain
Hungry like the sea
Radical and wild
We are just what we wanna be

Magical shapeshifters
Movers of hearts
Yes truth is a superpower
And the truth is what we got
Yes truth is a superpower
And the truth is what we’ve got

You’re hotter than a black dress
My lover my analyst
Ya you’re hotter than a black dress
My lover my analyst
Ya you’re hotter than a black dress
Let’s burn until there’s nothing left
Burn until there’s nothing left
Hotter than a black dress
Burn until there’s nothing left
Hotter than a black dress

credits

released August 15, 2023
Produced and Mixed by: Dave Brophy and M. Ferrick
Engineer: Dave Brophy

Guitars, Vocals, Drums: M. Ferrick
Bass: Joe McMahon
Recorded at: Studio Solitaire

Right On Records Publishing BMI 2023

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Melissa Ferrick Boston, Massachusetts

Ferrick is a Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University in the Music Industry Department. They've released seventeen albums over the last twenty-five years and won numerous awards for songwriting, production, and performance. Ferrick holds an Ed.M from Harvard University. They've toured with Morrissey, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, Paul Westerberg, Ani DiFranco and many others. ... more

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