Lion is the fifth album by American musician, comedian, and actor Stephen Lynch, released in 2012. The first half of the album was recorded at Studio G! (Nashville, Tennessee) and the second half of the album was recorded live from Symphony Space (New York City).
Lynch told interviewer Dylan Gadino, "I wanted this album to have the Americana flavor to it that I love so much in the music of, say, Neil Young or Patty Griffin or Ray LaMontagne. I think it does... And, I'm confident the songs are still funny, if a bit subtler than some of my earlier work. Astute listeners will detect a slight shift of direction, comedy-wise. Musically, it's the best work I've ever done. I'm a little bit in love with it." Jason McGorty wrote that the album is "close to perfecting the genre."
Background Lynch told interviewer John Liberty, an online journalist, that he was "riding his bicycle while listening to his iPod on shuffle when it randomly selected an old mix from his last studio album." Lynch told Mr. Liberty, "I realized how much I didn't like it." Therefore, he "set out to create a musically satisfying album first. The jokes came second." Lynch added, "Really, I just wanted to make a great record of music you could listen to without paying attention to the words... I threw a lot away. I wasn't going to settle for something just because it was funny. I wanted it to resonate with me."
He told interviewer Keith BieryGolick, Managing Editor of The News Record, "I realize that I wrote most of the old material, at least from the first two-and-a-half records, when I was so young. I was probably a teenager or in my early 20s. So it gives me sort of douche-chills when I listen to them now because I'm definitely a different person from who I was back then." Lynch added, "It took me a long time to sort of figure out what kind of musician I was. That's why I took so long to write this record, because I wanted to do it right this time... I wanted it to be the kind of thing I would listen to if I hadn't written it myself." BieryGolick wrote that the album is "his most mature": "That acceptance of growth and maturation has again left Lynch at a crossroads between what people expect of him, and what he actually wants to do." Lynch told him, "I'm not trying to write a jazz fusion record, but I'm also trying not to write 13 novelty songs. It's sort of a doubly hard task to not only try to write a good song, but then lyrically you have to garner a certain response from people, which is laughter — and if you don't, then it doesn't matter how good the song is, it's sort of a failure." Lynch added, "There's a chance that some people will be like, 'You're not singing songs about gerbils in your ass' but that's OK. They don't have to like it. There will hopefully be other people who will."
Lynch also told BieryGolick, "I don’t consider myself a guitar-comedian because my goal isn't to make people laugh by using a guitar as a prop. I'm just a songwriter who happens to have an end goal of being funny when I play my songs. To me, it's always about the song, and it's all about the songwriting and the craftsmanship of the song. That has to be there. If not, you're just a guy who can get up on stage and do a parody of a song or an impression of somebody." In his review, BieryGolick wrote, "With Lion, Lynch proves to be much more than that."
Lynch's lyrical reputation
Reviewer Nick A. Zaino III wrote: "Lynch has always reveled in that contrast between sweet music and scatological content." Keith BieryGolick wrote, "He began performing humorous songs at clubs and underground music venues in Manhattan after moving to New York in 1996. Lynch made it big by using his angelic, choirboy voice to push the envelope with songs about 'Special' friends ("I'd play soldier/ He'd eat dirt/ I liked math, and the spelling bee / Ed liked talking to a tree") and a 'Gerbil' used for unsavory purposes ("I bought a gerbil at the petting zoo / If Richard Gere can do it I can too")." (Both songs are from the 2000 album A Little Bit Special.)
John Seaborn Gray, likewise, said in a review of a 2009 concert, "Lynch's songs certainly help to establish the tone. Beautifully written, the clash between the coarse, often shocking subject matter with the serene and lovely music lends a spirit of playful anarchy to the show. Nothing is sacred, and nothing is to be taken too seriously." Gray added, "It is the talent of a veteran comic to chastise his audience and make them happy for it. No matter how many unruly, drunken fans shouted for their favorite songs, Lynch was able to head them off with ... a short, sharp retort ("I am not a jukebox, assholes!") without seeming resentful..."
Grant V. Ziegler, Editor-in-Chief of The North Lake College News-Register, gives another sample of Lynch's combined notoriety and prestige: "Envision two beautiful angels coming down from heaven and having the prettiest voices you've ever heard. But instead of them speaking softly to you with encouraging words they fill your ears with obscenities while singing about the most offensive topics known to humankind." He adds that Lynch is a "self-proclaimed 'musician trapped in the body of a comedian'." Ziegler writes, ruefully, in a review of a March, 2013 concert: "Unfortunately, most of the audience was only familiar with Lynch's older material..."
Music and lyrics Half of the album was recorded in studio, and the other half performed live. Nick Zaino writes that, on Lion, Lynch "offers both studio and live versions of 13 tracks and takes the musical side of musical comedy a step further, making it an equal partner with the comedy. Fans of Americana and acoustic musical could listen to the studio half of Lion and hear a delicate, finely produced album. That is, if they could ignore the lyrics about Juggalos, queer tattoos and a monumental case of whiskey dick."
Lynch told Mr. Liberty, "In general, the album is a little less frenetic, it's softer. More thoughtful. There are more spaces between the jokes..." Many of the songs are almost ballad-like, in comparison with older, more rocking songs such as "Craig" and "Kitten" (a.k.a. "Kill a Kitten").
For some of the change in the sound of the music, Zaino credits Lynch's working with guitarist and Nashville producer Doug Lancio (who has collaborated with Patty Griffin, Steve Earle and John Hiatt). About the B-side recorded live, Zaino said, "The live disc sparkles musically as well, proving the smooth sound isn't just studio trickery. Lynch, [Courtney] Jaye and a few backing musicians change the arrangements slightly from the studio versions."
"Tattoo" In a review of a March, 2013 concert, Grant Ziegler wrote that the song might become "a new fan favorite." Of the crowd's response, he said, "It directly offended nearly half of the audience, as it was about the horrible tattoos people get nowadays. From attacking Japanese typography, tribal marks, lower back tattoos and any other generic overused logo, this song systematically offended just about everyone's body art. This was the first song of the night where Courtney Jaye joined in and immediately the audience could recognize the chemistry between her and Lynch. Their duets were nearly perfect, aside from one or two minor lyrical flubs. But never before has anyone heard such beautiful voices sing such vile material together." Ellie Rulon-Miller described it in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian at University of Massachusetts Amherst: "a quiet yet upbeat-sounding song about the various types of common embarrassing tattoos. Jaye's harmonies add a lot of humor to the song; her voice is made for alternative-pop and is undeniably pretty, yet she is using it to harmonize with lines like 'Your child's name with the words 'be strong' would be beautiful, but they spelled 'strong' wrong.'"
Keith BieryGolick wrote, "In the album's opening track, 'Tattoo,' he sings, 'You think that symbol in Japanese / Means strength or honor/ Ni**a please/ It means queer tattoo.' Earlier in his career, 'Tattoo' would have been about gay tattoos, but now it's about tattoos in line with the literal meaning of the word — odd or bad." Lynch told him in an interview, "You know what I decided when I wrote that song, I decided for too long the word queer has been domain of the bullies, the bigots and the homophobes of the world. I'm taking that shit back. I'm going to restore it to its original glory, because that is such a great word."
"No Meat" Keith BieryGolick wrote, "Even with his newfound maturity, old habits die hard — especially on the song 'No Meat,' which is about Lynch's recently adopted vegan lifestyle. 'A handful of trail mix, mmmm what a treat / How about some soy yogurt served in a bowl? / I'd rather eat a hobo's asshole,' he sang. The song also provides the album's best line, one which hopefully will be adopted by meat-lovers nationwide, when Lynch sings, 'Tofurkey tofuck yourself / I want some meat.'"
"So This Is Outer Space?" Jason McGorty wrote, "'So This Is Outer Space?' slows things down a bit, but not a complete waste. While the chorus clearly now says 'You're on Acid' I originally thought it said 'You're at Macy's' which I still think is a bit funnier. The punchlines in the versus generally concern acid-related clichés like face-melting and brain-eating spiders but the bridge is where things become a bit interesting when we're introduced to the monkey character Ramon. The musical change here is a bit drastic and truly sounds Jonathan Coulton inspired".
"Lorelei" Reviewer Nick Zaino wrote that Lynch "isn't afraid to write a beautiful number like 'Lorelei', one that wouldn't sound out of place next to Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch singing Down from the Mountain. 'Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby' on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack." Zaino added, somewhat disapprovingly, that "Lorelai" is "a litany of women the narrator has been with, plus their deficiencies. (Mary Claire's is especially disturbing.)" Grant Ziegler wrote of a March, 2013 concert, "'Lorelei' disgusted and amused the audience, as the lyrics were all about Lynch's ex-girlfriends who had one sort of deformity or another." Rulon-Miller wrote that the "piano-driven tune about a few women with defects such as a lazy eye and unusual body odor, turns into a ballad of sorts. An organ makes a subtle entrance, giving it a subtle blues feel. While musically the song is enjoyable, it falls short lyrically as Lynch's humor falls flat."
"Lion" Georgette Gilmore described the song as a man "telling his potential paramour all the things he won't be doing for her (he ain't fightin' no Lion)." Rulon-Miller wrote, "One highlight on the album is the title track, a musical duel between two men for the heart of a woman. Lynch has done a similar duet in the past; 'Best Friend Song' [from his album Superhero] featured Lynch's friend Mark Teich and also highlighted differences between the two singers, ending with Lynch scream-singing that he wanted to sleep with Teich's young sister. 'Lion' has a poppy, sing-along feel to it."
"Tennessee"