Deep Cuts

“A perfect song has stronger bones. Lyrics, chords, melody. It can be played differently, produced differently, and it will almost always be great.”

In this passage, Brickley establishes the symbolic connection between music and human relationships. The core of a song is the basis of its perfection, allowing the musician to drape different approaches over it and still elicit a strong emotional reaction. Similarly, Joe and Percy’s connection is driven by their shared love of music, even as their relationship goes through different phases of tension, estrangement, and reconciliation.

“Joe’s song was quiet but with full instrumentation, programmed drums, heavy reverb. A little Elliott Smith in the guitar styling. The lyrics were pleasantly inscrutable, with themes of gossip (‘The night lit up with talk of your talk’), betrayal (‘Let’s both be Judases, see where it takes us’), and looming heartbreak (‘Awoke to the memory of the possibility of the worst’).”

Brickley tries to provide a sense of what Joe’s music sounds like by alluding to the work of real-life musician Elliott Smith. The citation of lyrics and specific musical qualities like “heavy reverb” similarly evoke the idea of Joe’s music, even in the “silent” medium of literature. At the same time, the author establishes what Joe is able to achieve on his own before Percy exerts her influence.

“I felt with some certainty that I was watching a star—that the reaction I was having would be the reaction of anyone with eyes and ears, of hordes of college girls and sensitive young dads across America; I was not special. It gave me a surge of vertigo, like I’d leaned too far over the edge of a balcony.”

This passage marks the moment when Percy recognizes Joe’s talent. Tellingly, she identifies this quality by locating herself in the fantasy of Joe’s superstardom. She does not rise with him, but watches him from the side, among the thousands of talentless people who are forced to witness his ascent. Brickley reinforces Percy’s emotional state by using tactile imagery—the feeling of vertigo—to make her feelings physically vivid.