Song Index

Below is an index of every known song Liz Phair has recorded up to this point in her career.

Songs are listed in alphabetical order and contain additional background information where known/available, the song’s first official appearance, and the year it was made available. For unreleased songs, the year in which is was recorded is listed. Additional updates to this page will occur over time.

Title	Notes	1st App.
6’1″	The first track from Exile in Guyville, written specifically for the album. Also a mainstay on Liz’s setlists. “To me, it’s the encapsulation of what the rest of the record is going to be delivering. It’s got that bravado that I manifest. Sometimes it’s real and sometimes I’m putting it on the rest of the songs. It’s standing up to the boy; it’s standing up to the guy.” – Liz Phair	1993
Alice Springs	The thirteenth track from Whip-Smart, and likely the last song written for the album, as it was omitted from the album’s credits (although it appears in the track listing). Liz performed this regularly touring her 1995 solo tour and on radio performances during this time, although it’s rarely surfaced since.	1994
And He Slayed Her	The ninth track from Funstyle, whose title is a play on Andy Slater, a former Capitol Records chief executive with whom Liz did not get along. Although Liz didn’t release physical singles from Funstyle, a video was shot for this song.	2010
Animal Girl	The third track from Liz’s first EP, Juvenilia. Recorded live for VPRO-Holland, Liz wrote the song for radio personality Lotje IJzerans. “‘Animal Girl’ is about growing out of puberty and needing gratification. It’s also about a situational romance that never seemed to happen on the days when I was free.” – Liz Phair	1995
Ant in Alaska	Girly-Sound track which first appeared on the second tape, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. Later re-recorded and released for the Exile in Guyville 15th anniversary reissue in 2008.	2008
Apple Tree	Unreleased song from the Julie Johnson film soundtrack. Liz contributed three songs to the 2001 film which starred Lili Taylor and Courtney Love, but the soundtrack was ultimately shelved. Only a small portion of this song was ever available online.	Unreleased 2001
Avalanche (Stereo Romance)	An unreleased track Liz sent to Ken Lee to post on Mesmerizing as an exclusive track in 2012. Recorded in 2010 during the Funstyle sessions, but omitted from the album. Madi Diaz provides background vocals.	Unreleased 2012
Ba Ba Ba	The seventh song found on Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. Liz has mentioned this is her favorite song from the album. “I love the trick of it. I love how it starts then it so effectively finishes on the line, ‘it’s the end of us.’ The song is emblematic of how I try to be around guys I like. You go from person in the scene who’s trying so hard to be likable, then you realize, ‘I fucked up again.’ I feel like this song has some of my best poetry, where I sing about the sound of gravel underneath my feet as I’m sent out the door, and he has wings on his back. I reference the Garden of Eden. Every time I hear that song, I cry because it’s about me trying to be the girl I know everyone wants in the beginning, and the girl who leaves is the person I truly am once again—not fitting in, not making it right, and having that artist’s intelligence, too.” — Liz Phair “I’m hooking up with someone, it’s a new romance, I’m very excited about it. And in the space of a single song, it starts and is already over before it even began. I think of it as a boomerang song, because where you think it’s going and the person you think I am at the beginning of the song is sort of my ambassador self, the more appealing broadly to mainstream people, like, ‘I’m happy. Yay. Woo.’ And then, by the end of the song, I’m back to my usual self and the relationship is already over.” — Liz Phair	2021
Baby Got Going	The seventh song found on Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. Co-written with producer Scott Litt, the song is largely considered a standout on the album for its foot-stomping tempo and old-western vibe.	1998
Bad Kitty	The twelfth song from Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. Some behind-the-scenes of the mixing process using Dolby Atmos can be heard through producer Brad Wood’s 2021 interview with Produce Like a Pro. “‘Bad Kitty’ is just embracing the mess that is my life. It’s an ongoing theme I have that I will always be out of place no matter where I go or who I try to be. And the manifestos that people think that I have, or that I have the answers, I really don’t. At the end, it’s the poem of just no helmet, no brake, no net, no rope, no more cocaine. You don’t really believe that I’m never going to do those things, do you? That’s really a kind of a throwing your hands up: I am a bad kitty. To this world, that’s how I am perceived. That’s how I identify myself as. It’s not such a bad thing, really—I get nine more lives. But at the same time, it doesn’t all make sense. It’s my emotional state and that’s how I make art. And it doesn’t always have to make sense. One thing does not have to be like, ‘Now I will never do this, and now I will do this.’” — Liz Phair	2021
Bang! Bang!	The seventh song from Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle.	2010
Bars of the Bed	Outtake from whitechocolatespaceegg. Studio versions were recorded in 1996 and 1997 as contenders for the album before it was ultimately cut. The song is largely a faster, more rock-oriented cover The Star-Spangled Banner. Eventually the track was unofficially released on the WCSE Sessions through efforts made by Ken Lee in 1999.	1999
Batmobile	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third tape, Sooty, in 1991. It made its first official release on 1995’s Juvenilia as the sixth track. Would later be released on the Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset in 2018 completely remastered.	1995
Beat is Up	The eighth song from Liz’s firth album, Funstyle. “That was actually in reaction to the fact that I’m a mom, a full-on mom. Not a young mom. My son’s almost 14 so I’ve been doing that for a minute. There are so many people in America who are just ferociously positive. “Yes, I’m doing great! How are you,” you know, that kind of thing. “Our children are involved in water polo, and soccer! They’re constantly on the go and constantly being better and better and better!” I love to poke fun at that. At the same time I’m guilty of it myself. I think it’s sort of running away of the basic unpredictability of life, and the fact that none of us really know how long you can go along being positive all the time before life kicks your ass. There’s a lot of falsehood about it, too. That’s what the Indian guy is doing for me, you know. “You haven’t slept with your husband in a while, you’re drinking and taking pills,” it’s just something I’ve noticed in a lot of us these days, and I think it’s funny.” — Liz Phair	2010
Beginning to See the Light	Written around October/November 1994 and perhaps best heard on Liz’s appearance on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on December 8, 1994 as in-studio performance. Also heard at various live performances during Liz’s solo tour in 1995 to support Whip-Smart. The song has never been officially released.	1994
Big Tall Man	The second song from Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg, and regularly performed during her tour in 1998 and 1999. Earlier studio versions appear on the WCSE Sessions. “[‘Big Tall Man’ was written] when I was pregnant. I was reading all these books, because you can’t drink coffee, you can’t do drugs, you can’t do anything. You are so sober it hurts. It got into this intuition book, trying to channel your deeper self and dreams and stuff, ’cause you have these vivid dreams when you’re pregnant. The book said to channel someone and write down all these exercises. That’s sort of what writing songs to me is anyway—regurgitating some subconscious thing that surprises you. So I channeled Scott Litt, my record producer, and then read him the little poem, and he’s like, ‘That’s your song right there.'” — Liz Phair	1998
Blood Keeper	Outtake from whitechocolatespaceegg. Recorded originally in 1997, although never officially released. Eventually leaked through the WCSE Sessions which were made available to fans in 1999. Liz surprised fans by performing the song live during 2018 concert performances. Speedy Ortiz covered the song in 2018 and released it as a digital single.	1999
Bollywood	The second song from Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle, and often referred to as “the one where Liz raps.” “I was just trying to be obnoxious. I’m a huge listener of many different styles of music, and rap is definitely one of them. It’s not like it’s anything new for mw. That was a funny thing about the Girlysound tapes—I was ripping off rap artists back then.” — Liz Phair	2010
Bomb	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third tape, Sooty, in 1991. The song was later reworked, edited, and became much less dark on the retitled “Stratford-On-Guy” for Exile in Guyville. The original version became an official digital single for the release of the boxset Girly-Sound to Guyville in 2018.	2018
Bouncer’s Conversation	Outtake from Liz Phair. Originally recorded in 1999 after Liz finished touring for whitechocolatespaceegg. Liz performed it during that tour, introducing it as “Conversation Overheard Between Two Bouncers.” The song was an early contender for Liz’s fourth album when working with Michael Penn, but was eventually removed during re-works of the album with Capitol. A studio version was eventually released on comeandgetit EP.	2003
California	Girly-Sound track originally recorded on the third tape, Sooty. Also known as “(Why I Left) California.” It’s the only song from Liz’s Girly-Sound songs to make an appearance on three official releases; its first being Juvenilia in 1995, the second disc for Funstyle in 2010, and most recently, on the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	1995
Can’t Get Out of What I’m Into	Re-worked version of “Gigolo” from Girly-Sound. Recorded for Somebody’s Miracle, but only appeared on advance promotional copies of the album.	2005
Canary	The eighth song off of Exile in Guyville—and one that Liz plays piano vs guitar. “I think a lot of people get something different out of that song, but it’s the only piano song that I’m playing. It’s about the loss of innocence and facing the pressures of being a young woman in the world and what men want from you while you’re still kind of on the cusp of your childhood. There’s a period of time where you pretend to still be a little girl, but you’re confronting all this bullshit in the world that is suddenly your new role. Kind of like the Reviving Ophelia kind of moment. I think of that as a very real song because a lot of the songs on Exile in Guyville have a tough front, and “Canary” is much more like my real internal [monologue], the way it plays out in my mind quietly and silently.” — Liz Phair	1993
Carnivore	A one-off single for the Minty Fresh label, released in late 1993 after the recording of Exile in Guville. The track was originally intended to be a single for the Simple Machine record label, but Liz was unable to complete it by their deadline. She then gave it to Jim Powers as a bit of a consolation prize for signing with Matador instead of Minty Fresh. “Carnivore” was released solely as a 7″ single along with “Carnivore (Raw).” It would later be made available on the Japanese compilation, Get Yer La-La’s Out in 1996.	1993
Carnivore (Raw)	A one-off single for the Minty Fresh label, released in late 1993 after the recording of Exile in Guville. The track was originally intended to be a single for the Simple Machine record label, but Liz was unable to complete it by their deadline. She then gave it to Jim Powers as a bit of a consolation prize for signing with Matador instead of Minty Fresh. “Carnivore” was released solely as a 7″ single along with “Carnivore (Raw).” It would later be made available on the Japanese compilation, Get Yer La-La’s Out in 1996.	1993
Chopsticks	The first track off of Liz’s second album, Whip-Smart. “Chopsticks” is one of a handful of songs from the album that originated as one of her Girly-Sound tracks. The Girly-Sound version was recorded on the third tape, Sooty, in 1991, and largely remained unchanged when it appeared on Whip-Smart.	1994
Cinco De Mayo	The eighth track off of Whip-Smart, and one of the album’s pop standouts. The song made regular appearances during her 1995 solo tour and occasionally pops up in more recent performances.	1994
Clean	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. It was later re-recorded and re-named to “Never Said,” for Liz’s debut, Exile in Guyville, in 1993 and became one of her most popular songs. It didn’t receive an official release in its original format until the 2018 Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset was released.	2018
Closer to You	The ninth song off of Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Combo Platter	Appeared as the b-side on most versions of the Supernova single in 1994. Curiously, this song is a mash-up of three of Liz’s Girly-Sound tracks; “Money,” “In Love w/ Yself,” and “Johnny Sunshine,” (the latter played backward). For many fans, this was their first exposure to any of Liz’s original Girly-Sound material prior to leaked cassettes or subsequent official releases.	1994
Count On My Love	The sixth song off of Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Crater Lake	The twelfth song from Whip-Smart. Liz has remarked that this song was one of the quickest songs she’s ever written. “For me, ‘Crater Lake’ is about those nights that I would go out and drink too much and come back to an apartment, or something. I had an edge.” – Liz Phair	1994
Dance of the Seven Veils	The fourth track from Exile in Guyville. “In this, Johnny was actually not the romantic lead. He was the roommate who was basically – and rightfully so – convinced that I had bitten off more than I could chew and this was going to be a disaster. It was my sort of Salome lie. “Just you wait ’till the end of the play. Let’s see who comes out on top.” — Liz Phair	1993
Dead Shark	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded for Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh, the first cassette, but later appeared on Juvenilia, making it one of the first Girly-Sound songs to be officially released. It was also remastered and included on the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	1995
Desperado Theme	An instrumental track first heard on earlier running orders for Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. It can be heard on the ’96 Shelved Demos and the WCSE Sessions.	Unreleased 1996
Divorce Song	The twelfth song from Exile in Guyville. “Divorce Song” is also another staple Liz song, and a permanent fixture in most of her live performances. It originally appeared as a Girly-Sound track on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh. Liz described the inspiration of the song, as well as its construction, in detail on a 2018 episode of Song Exploder. “It’s an ordinary person doing ordinary things, and the action in the song is really just about relating to another person. It feels like an action-packed song. You’ve done a lot, you’ve been a lot, you’ve seen a lot, you’ve heard a lot, but really it’s just two personalities trying to be intimate and bumping up against each other on a road trip and that’s all that happens. So much of what happens in our lives that we feel so deeply is really no action at all. The stuff that’s in movies never happens. There’s rarely an earthquake, there’s rarely, like, a break-in, and most of your day, you feel like you had drama, but it’s just these micro-interactions with people. “Divorce Song” is very much about that.” — Liz Phair	1993
Dogs of L.A.	The ninth song from Whip-Smart, and one Liz has remarked came together really fast. “That was actually—we got high and ran a Super-8 camera, up in L.A. There’s a park with a little Buddha up at the top of the park. Everyone was like—the industry. Which it is, in some sense. But we had a dog with us that we were dragging around everywhere. The whole day felt like a story. And when I got home from that trip, I didn’t need to write this at all, I just started writing it. And it was one of those songs that came out. Only a few come out fully written.” — Liz Phair	1994
Don’t Apologize	An outtake from Liz’s 2003 self-titled album, “Don’t Apologize” was an early contender for the album when it was under the working title of An Evening With… Liz later contributed a studio version of the song to Peter Yorn’s Trampoline Records: Greatest Hits Vol. II compilation.	2003
Don’t Have Time	An extremely underrated song that Liz contributed to the Higher Learning soundtrack in 1995. Liz and Brad recorded it at Idful Studios in late 1994 after returning from New York City to perform on Letterman. The song was later nominated for “Best Female Rock Vocal Performance” at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”	1995
Don’t Holdyrbreath	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh in 1991. Prior to any official release, this song was often referred to “If I Ever Pay You Back.” It’s one of a handful of Liz’s earlier Girly-Sound songs that have yet to be re-recorded. It was eventually released as the ninth track on the second disc of Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle, in 2010—although styled as “Don’t Hold Your Breath.” Later, was remastered and included as part of the Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset in 2018.	2010
Dosage	The eleventh song from Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “Dosage” serves as a sequel of sorts to Liz’s 1998 single, “Polyester Bride,” where Liz revisits the bar where Henry the bartender had offered advice when she was younger. “I think of it as a modern-day ‘Polyester Bride’ in that I wrote it with the idea of going back to that bar, where Henry the bartender gave me all that good advice when I was young, and coming back as an older woman and seeing a young woman who is basically in the position I used to be in. So, I’m now looking at myself in the younger person who’s wasted, giving her advice, but also saying, ‘By the way, you’re doing fine. Nobody has it all together. Even now, at my age, none of those decisions were even the impactful ones.’” — Liz Phair	2021
Dotted Line	“Dotted Line” is a song Liz co-wrote with Academy Award Winner A.R. Rahman for the film People Like Us in 2012. The film’s director, Alex Kurtzman, sought out Liz specifically after listening to her older albums and felt it related well the film’s overall theme and specifically, one of its characters.	2012
Down	“Down” is an unreleased track that Liz likely wrote sometime in 2000 or 2001. In the spring of 2001, she worked with director Rodney Ascher to create a video for the song, which was shot entirely in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. The entire video was shot with stills, and later animated together for a stop-motion effect. Capitol Records later released a VHS promo compilation titled This Is the Modern World, which featured the video, plus others by Coldplay, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd. View the video ›	Unreleased 2001
Easy	Girly-Sound track. Appeared on the third cassette, Sooty, in 1991. As of yet, it’s never been re-recorded. It was officially released on the Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset in 2018.	2018
Easy Target	Girly-Sound track. Appeared on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS, in 1991. As of yet, it’s never been re-recorded. It was officially released on the Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset in 2018.	2018
Elvis Song	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh in 1991 as the ninth track. It’s one of a handful of Liz’s earlier Girly-Sound songs that have yet to be re-recorded. It was eventually released as the third track on the second disc of Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle, in 2010. Later, was remastered and included as part of the Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset in 2018.	2010
Erecting a Movie Star	Liz provided vocals to this track written by Shudder to Think for the film, First Love, Last Rites. Despite not being written by Liz, the song fits within the idiosyncratic nature of Liz’s earlier work.	1998
Everything (Between Us)	The thirteenth track on Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Everything to Me	The eighth track on Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle. This song was also the sole single from the album for which a video was made. It peaked at #27 on the Adult Top 40 and #99 on the Pop 100. Read more ›	2005
Explain It To Me	The seventh song from Exile in Guyville. “I love the songwriting. I think of that as a perfect little jewel song. It does so very little. Some songs, when I write them, come out completely formed, and I don’t have to work on them at all, and “Explain It to Me” was like that. It just sort of fell out of me. It’s about a ruined rock hero and seeing one of your greatest figures at their weakest, I guess.” — Liz Phair	1993
Extraordinary	The first song from Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair, in 2003. “Extraordinary” was also the second single from the album, following “Why Can’t I?,” and one of four co-written by The Matrix. Liz recorded two videos for the song; the original was shot in black/white was used as promotional video. The second version was featured on the film, Raising Helen. “Extraordinary” peaked at #14 on the Adult Top 40 and #28 on the Mainstream Top 40. It reach #111 on the US on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under Hot 100” chart.	2003
Faded	Unreleased song from the Julie Johnson film soundtrack. Liz contributed three songs to the 2001 film which starred Lili Taylor and Courtney Love, but the soundtrack was ultimately shelved. Only a small portion of this song was ever available online.	Unreleased 2001
Faith & Tenderness	An outtake from Funstyle, “Faith & Tenderness” is a non-album track that Liz contributed to City Sounds: Volume 2, a digital-only music compilation released by retail company Banana Republic to customers during the summer of 2009.	2009
Fantasize	The fourteenth song from 1998’s whitechocolatespaceegg. “Fantasize” is a shorter song that was an early contender for the album that didn’t change too much from its earlier recorded versions to its final conception. The earlier versions of the song can be heard on the ’96 Shelved Demos and WCSE Sessions that were made available to fans in 1999.	1998
Favorite	The ninth song on Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair. This is one of four songs Liz co-wrote with The Matrix producing team.	2003
Fine Again	An outtake from the Liz Phair recording sessions. “Fine Again” was likely included in one of the original running orders for Liz’s fourth album when Michael Penn was the primary producer. It’s assumed that Capitol Records thought this song and others were too idiosyncratic and not likely to garner Liz any hits. “Fine Again” ended up as a b-side on the commercial single for “Why Can’t I?” the month prior to the album’s official release. It was also included on the comeandgetit EP, which was originally released as a digital-only download which accompanied the release of the full album.	2003
Firewalker	The eighth song on Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair. “Firewalker” was one of the older songs included on the album, as Liz performed a version of it as early as 1999 while performing shows that year.	2003
Flower	Girly-Sound track. The original version was recorded on the third tape, Sooty. The track was re-recorded with slightly different lyrics—but still very provocative—and a much more chilling instrumentation and placed as the fourteenth track from Exile in Guyville. It’s a frequent song that Liz performs during live performances. “What’s beautiful about this is the contrast, like the menacing sound of the guitar. I mean it sounds like the guitar, the electricity is turned up so high through this. It sounds like it’s crackling on the edge, like a transformer blowing up outside your house or something. It sounds that menacing. Then you have this little, tiny girl voice singing these blue, filthy lyrics about wanting to give blow jobs and stuff. That encapsulates the Girly-Sound project that came before Guyville that was all about how the young female voice carries the least amount of authority of any voice in society. What does it take before you listen to what she’s saying? What is she allowed to say?” “I felt like everywhere I turned, people were denying my experience of my own sexuality. I was very interested in sex. I wasn’t promiscuous, but I was as interested as any boy that I knew. Also, it was the era of AIDS, so I was highly conscious of health.” “I got tired of reading articles justifying social norms with these really limp studies about how animals behave. They hadn’t studied the female brain enough at that point, and they were still trying to tell you that you didn’t have a G-spot and that women were less interested in sex, and I’m like, “Maybe because they married a guy for security and they’re just not into him.” Like, there are other explanations.” “I felt like it was really important to want overtly and to lust and to be able to own my own sexuality. I was scared to do it, but I felt like it was important to take the territory back for myself.” — Liz Phair	1993
Freak of Nature	An outtake from the whitechocolatespaceegg recording sessions. “Freak of Nature” was included during earlier running orders of the album, but ultimately scrapped from the final album. However, a final, studio version was contributed to the Local 101 Volume 1 compilation.	1998
Friend of Mine	The thirteenth track from Liz’s self-titled album, Liz Phair, in 2003. It was later covered by fellow indie-queen and friend Juliana Hatfield for her self-titled album of cover songs. Liz and Juliana would join together to the sing the song the Royale in Boston in 2018.	2003
Fuck and Run	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS in 1991 as the third track on side A. It was selected and re-recorded for Exile in Guyville as the tenth track. It’s one of Liz’s most popular songs and is a mainstay in her live setlists. “I’m always interested by the way I used my voice back then. It’s just so laid back. I almost feel like “Fuck and Run” has a bit of spoken word to it in a funny way. It’s classic pop song, but the things I’m saying are so nakedly emotional and I’m saying this in this deadpan delivery. It’s just such a strange contrast. The song, to me, is probably the most emblematic of what made people like my music in the first place, with these stories that you wouldn’t think that you would be privy to or that you wouldn’t expect to hear are just absolutely laid down in a kind of classic rock or pop song format. Like, “There you go. Yep, just sat up in bed. I’m not quite sure who this guy is, but, like, I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again.” You never heard those stories in popular culture.” — Liz Phair	1993
Fuck or Die	Girly-Sound track. Recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh, as the last song on side B. The sexually frank song contains lyrics that parody “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash. It is one of two songs from the Girly-Sound cassettes that weren’t included in the 2018 boxset Girly-Sound to Guyville due to licensing issues from the Cash family estate.	Unreleased 1991
Gigolo	Girly-Sound track. First appeared on third cassette, Sooty. Originally referred to as “Can’t Get Out What I’m Into,” the title “Gigolo” wasn’t widely known until many years later. Later re-worked for Somebody’s Miracle, although the studio version was cut from the official release and only appeared on advance copies of the album. The Girly-Sound version was eventually released on the Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset in 2018.	2018
Girls! Girls! Girls!	Girly-Sound track. Originally styled as “GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS” and included on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS, as the last track on Side A. The original version is nearly seven minutes long and includes additional lyrics. It was selected for Exile in Guyville and styled as “Girls! Girls! Girls!” as the eleventh track, but edited substantially to be just over two minutes. “What I love about this song that very few people comment on is the obnoxious sort of stand-up comic in the back that I’m being. I’m being second vocal where I’m imitating the narrator, which is also me. [Laughs] I’m dragging my own vocal. I love it because I’m basically talking about being able to get away with murder, turning the tables on the stuff that you’ve seen that I’ve been upset about before. Earlier in the record, you can tell it’s hard to be a woman in a man’s world, and then you get to this song, and you see how the knife cuts both ways. You can manipulate the system to your advantage, as well, which women, we do both. We try to live a certain way, but when it gets really hard we sometimes flip the tables. We use it to our advantage, and then we go back to trying to make the world the way it ought to be.” — Liz Phair	1993
Girls’ Room	The sixteenth song from 1998’s whitechocolatespaceegg. “Girls’ Room” was an early contender for the album that didn’t change too much from its earlier recorded versions to its final conception. The earlier versions of the song can be heard on the ’96 Shelved Demos and WCSE Sessions that were made available to fans in 1999.	1998
Giving It All to You	The fourteenth and final track from Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Glory	The third track from Exile in Guyville. “I love the organ on “Glory.” It’s talking about this sort of intimidating rock dude that everyone knows – someone that’s legendary in the scene. I’m talking about how his tongue snakes out in the club and there’s just kind of, like, this wispy, high organ that I always associate with the character’s tongue just kind of running through the song. I love that.” — Liz Phair	1993
Go On Ahead	The tenth song from 1998’s whitechocolatespaceegg. The song was written about Liz’s feelings on her marriage and the changes it went through after her son’s birth. “Go On Ahead” didn’t appear on earlier cuts of the album, likely being one of the newer songs recorded before the album was released.	1998
Go West	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh in 1991 as the fifth song on Side A. Later chosen and re-recorded for 1994’s Whip-Smart and appearing as track seven. Liz has referred to this song as her ode to San Francisco, referencing the “lost year” she spent in the city prior to writing the bulk of the Girly-Sound material back in Chicago.	1994
Good Love Never Dies	The fourteenth and final track on the 2003 self-titled album.	2003
Good Side	“Good Side” marks Liz’s first original song in nearly a decade. Released in late 2019 as a lead single from her seventh album, Soberish, it marked not only her newest music in year, but also a reunion with Brad Wood. When Soberish eventually was released in the summer of 2021, “Good Side” was featured as the fifth track. “I think it’s really more about maturity in relationships instead of fuck and running, I’m saying, ‘hey, let’s stop it here while we both still like each other. Because we know this isn’t really going anywhere. And before feeling get hurt, let’s just stop before anyone behaves badly.'” — Liz Phair “‘Good Side’ is my mature ‘F**k and Run.’ Instead of being in a pithy funk about my hookup, I can just kind of say to myself, ‘Well, he got a pretty good impression of me. So, no harm, no foul.’” — Liz Phair	2019
Got My Own Thing	The fifth song from Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Greased Lightning	A b-side from the whitechocolatespaceegg recording sessions. Included as the second track on the Japanese import single for Polyester Bride in 1998. Was also included as side-B of the jukebox single.	1998
Gunshy	The sixteenth track from Exile in Guyville. “Gunshy” is one of the more underrated tracks from the debut, but a personal favorite of mine. ““Gunshy” I connect to “Canary” because it’s more of that true-confession, diary-entry singing. There’s no pretense or bravado. It’s really saying, “I don’t know if I am cut out to do what it seems to be that society wants women to do.” It’s the little things, the little habits that I can’t handle. It’s the fear of being married and the fear of being in that role. It’s a confession as opposed to other songs that are proclaiming loudly.” “And I like the way it’s produced to echo that sentiment. It’s very small and creepy, and it feels the way you feel when you feel like The Truman Show is happening. That’s not a good analogy. Let me think. Stepford Wives – the town is all in on it and you’re suddenly realizing that you feel like an alien.” — Liz Phair	1993
H.W.C.	The eleventh track from Liz’s self-titled album, Liz Phair. This song—along with the songs written with The Matrix—received a lot of the buzz when the album was released, namely for its subject matter. “It’s about what it feels like when you’re really in love and having great hot monkey sex. For so long, men ejaculating has been such a touchy issue for feminism, because of AIDS, because people are wary of sharing bodily fluids. But when you’re really in love and having great sex, that’s part of what you want. My parents haven’t heard it yet.” — Liz Phair	2003
Hallelujah	A rare cover version of the famous song written by Leonard Cohen. Liz recorded and released this through her YouTube channel in 2018. It’s never been officially released. “A tribute to a remarkable Canadian songwriter and philosopher-poet, a thank you, and a farewell. Recorded on a rainy night by candlelight. Produced by Marc Dauer.” — Liz Phair	Unreleased 2018
Headache	The eleventh song on Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. “Headache” is an underrated standout and one of the earlier contenders during the making of the album. “I was making that with Brad, and I remember the day we made it. That feeling that we created something that was original that had kind of arrived.” — Liz Phair	1998
Hello Sailor	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS in 1991. It was officially released in the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2018
Help Me Mary	The second track from Exile in Guyville. “The Rolling Stones’ “Rip This Joint” was the corresponding song to this one. [Their song] was all about sort of the attitude of these rock guys that would just kind of roll into town, create trouble, sleep with other people’s girlfriends and leave a big mess behind. I was writing about my own experiences hosting [laughs] these spontaneous gatherings of rock dudes and how just hidden my real self was in that male scene. There weren’t that many women in the scene and, like, everybody either was like a girlfriend or a den mother.” — Liz Phair The song “Help Me Mary” was written about an apartment I shared in Wicker Park with John Henderson, who ran the label Feel Good All Over. We weren’t together, he just let me move in with him in the hopes that we could make a record together and because I was recently recalled from San Francisco by my parents because I’d run out of money and was currently living at home, going berserk in the suburbs, at 23. All through that period, I felt frustrated creatively. These guys in the neighborhood, band types, music aficionados, were always telling me what sounds were good, what to like. I hated the way I never felt able to just be myself and be taken seriously. I was a girl they might like to date, someone who was supposed to admire them and follow their guidance in all matters of taste, conversation style, party etiquette. It was extremely oppressive. They all thought chicks were dumb. Or smart, but not smart like them. They would come over, leeringly drunk, and tumble into our small living room and be a nuisance. I would end up in my bedroom, practically driven away, just to get out of their geeky space. — Liz Phair	1993
Hey Lou	The second single and third track from Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “Hey Lou” was written as a nod to the relationship between Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. “’Hey Lou’ imagines a day in the life of two music legends, whose union was an inspiration for rock bands and a source of curiosity for die hard romantics.” — Liz Phair “[Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson] are icons to me. Independent of each other, they were huge influences early on in my life. I just loved both of their music when I was a teenager. Both were making groundbreaking, compelling art. And then, when they got together as a couple, it just seemed impossible: How can these two titans coexist in an ordinary life? And it was really an accidental inspiration that turned into a real sort of love letter to two challenging, difficult artists who, by all accounts, had a very peaceful, loving relationship. So, I’m fascinated.” — Liz Phair A video was also released for the song, featuring puppets in the likeness of Reed and Anderson. More info ›	2021
Ho Ho Ho	An original holiday song included in Amazon’s All is Bright holiday playlist. “I’ve always wanted to write a dystopian Christmas song. Holidays are a time of emotional turbulence, of unpredictable highs and lows. The retail and advertising sectors bill it as the greatest time of the year, but some seasons you are saddled with a real clunker! I find that both touching and funny. I tried to contrast chirpy, cheery elements with a depressing story line, a là David Sedaris’s “SantaLand Diaries,” the Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping,” and that timeless classic, “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.'” — Liz Phair	2014
Hurricane Cindy	“Hurricane Cindy” was one of Liz’s early-career b-sides that she introduced in live performances and radio shows during promotion for Whip-Smart. Inspired by supermodel Cindy Crawford, Liz has switched up the lyrics a few times, but an officially released version made it onto the Japanese import version of whitechocolatespaceegg. “Of all the supermodels — which, I have to say, I do follow because I grew up reading Vogue, Elle, and whatever — she’s the one that I watch because I can relate. There’s something about it. I just intuitively know what she’s thinking when she says what she says. I read an interview with her in Details, and I thought it was absolutely profound. Every time I read about Cindy I rip out the page and I’m like, ‘I understand!'” — Liz Phair	1998
I’ll Get You High	An unreleased track that Liz performed live at a few shows during her solo Whip-Smart tour in 1995. Some of the lyrics were performed in the style of the Flintstones’ theme song.	Unreleased 1995
I’m Like That	An outtake from the whitechocolatespaceegg sessions. A demo version of this song appeared on the ’96 Shelved Demos and an instrumental version was included in the WCSE Sessions — both unofficial releases. A final version has never been officially released.	Unreleased 1996
In Love w/Yself	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh in 1991. Also styled as “In Love With Yourself.” Portions of the original version appeared on “Combo Platter,” the b-side to the Supernova single in 1994; it was mashed up with the Girly-Sound tracks “Money” and “Johnny Sunshine” (the latter played backward toward the end of the track). The full version was eventually released on 2010’s Funstyle, featured on the second disc of Girly-Sound songs that accompanied the retail release of the album. It was later remastered and included as part of the 2018 Girly-Sound to Guyville boxset.	2010
In There	The fourth track off of Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “In There” was also the fourth official single from the album, released digitally on May 11, 2021. The song also features Casey Rice on guitar, who contributed to Liz’s earlier two albums. “It’s like you’ve been saying no to someone for a while and when they start to lose interest because they’ve been rejected a number of times, you’re like, ‘Goddamn it. I miss them.’ And then, you have to break in with your own inability to commit or your own inability to open yourself up to someone. Because for the longest time you could just say no, and you felt like they’d keep coming. And now you are realizing that you’ve said no, and it might be you that has the problem.” — Liz Phair	2021
Insanity	Outtake from the Liz Phair recording sessions. Digital-only single that was released in 2003 through iTunes.	Digital-Only 2003
Instrumental	Like the title implies, this was an instrumental track that was featured as one of the bonus tracks on the Exile in Guyville 15th anniversary reissue in 2008.	2008
Instrumentals	Likely not intended to be plural, this is an alternate instrumental song found only on advance promotional copies of the Exile in Guyville 15th anniversary reissue. A different instrumental track was included on retail versions of this release.	2008
It’s Sweet	The fourth track off of Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair.	2003
Jealousy	The eleventh track from 1994’s Whip-Smart. “Jealousy” is a substantially re-worked version of Girly-Sound track, “Thrax,” but the lyrics were edited to keep it more of a focused rock song. “Jealousy” was slated to the album’s third single, but was instead added as the first track for the Juvenilia EP which came out in the summer of 1995. A video was shot for the song.	1994
Jeremy Engle	An outtake from the Liz Phair recording sessions. “Jeremy Engle” was likely included in an original running order for Liz’s fourth album when Michael Penn was the primary producer. It’s assumed that Capitol Records thought this song and others were too idiosyncratic and not likely to garner Liz any hits. Thankfully, “Jeremy Engle” ended up as a b-side on the commercial single for “Why Can’t I?” the month prior to the album’s official release. It was also included on the comeandgetit EP, which was originally released as a digital-only download which accompanied the release of the full album. “That’s my most favorite well-written song. That’s a song that friends of mine have adored and been really annoyed that they just can’t get it somewhere.” — Liz Phair	2003
Johnny Feelgood	The fourth track from whitechocolatespaceegg. “Johnny Feelgood” was also slated to be the album’s second single, but a commercial release never materialized.	1998
Johnny Sunshine	Girly-Sound track. Originally appeared on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh. Selected and re-worked for Exile in Guyville as the fifteenth track. The original Girly-Sound version was included in the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville. “This is one of my favorite examples of Brad’s drumming. It’s one of my favorites. He just has a way. It’s a continuing loop, but he makes it, he breaks it up, and he adds, again. I think you can hear his jazz flavor in it. There’s that great separate vocal that I’m doing. It reminds me of the songs I learned at summer camp when I was young when one of the part of the cabin would sing one part of the song [laughs], the other one would do the counter melody. This was [the counterpart to] the Rolling Stones’ “All Down the Line” in my saga. They’ve just been in their disagreement moment and now the guy is checking out and hitting the road. He’s going back out on tour. I liken “Johnny Sunshine” to investing all this stuff in this relationship and then you’re just taking off. It’s that feeling of abandonment that you feel when you’re like, “Fine! Go! I don’t care.” Then, of course, you break into the truth of it, which is that she’s devastated.” — Liz Phair	1993
Lazy Dreamer	The seventh song on Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle. “‘Lazy Dreamer’ is about my boyfriend, who’s younger than I am. Sometimes he reminds me of a teenager. Some men have that boyishness; they’re like puppies.” — Liz Phair	2005
Leap of Innocence	The first track on Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Little Digger	The seventh song from 2003’s Liz Phair. “Little Digger” is a personal song that Liz wrote for her son, imagining his perspective seeing his mother navigating through new relationships after a divorce.	2003
Lonely St.	The tenth song on Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “That is a very modern love song, because it sort of speaks to, yes, we can be connected by a screen, but what I really need is for you to be lying next to me, whispering in my ear. And there’s a sense of sadness in the relationship, but also a sense of isolation that we get by in our modern world with a substitute for what we really need, which is actual intimacy.” — Liz Phair	2021
Lost Tonight	The twelfth song on Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Love is Nothing	The sixth song from Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg.	1998
Love Song	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded for the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. “Love Song” was also among the ten Girly-Sound tracks selected as the second disc for 2010’s Funstyle. It would later be remastered and included on the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2010
Love/Hate	The tenth song off of Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair. Originally title “Love/Hate Transmission,” this song is one of the older songs from that album, as Liz performed early versions of it during her 1999 Lilith Fair performances. is quoted by Liz as being about masturbation.	2003
May Queen	The fourteenth and final track on 1994’s Whip-Smart. Liz performed this song fairly regularly during earlier live shows, but not as frequently in later shows. “I don’t know if I have a favorite song. I change. I really, really, really like “May Queen”. It’s funny, it doesn’t come out so well in the set. It’s hard to do solo. But I love it on the album. There’s something about it that I really like.” — Liz Phair	1994
Mesmerizing	The ninth song on Exile in Guyville and one of Liz’s mainstays in her live setlists. “Did you know there’s a dog at the end of it? Her name is Piggy. It’s Casey Rice’s dog, and she was the Australian sheepherding dog. She was just hilarious. Not a pretty dog. And she would always grab hold of stuff and just not let it go, and so at the end of the song, Casey is actually lifting her off of the ground while she’s holding onto a chew toy because she doesn’t want to let go and she’s just going [growls]. It’s really cute. It’s the last thing that you can hear. You can hear her dog tags jangling.” — Liz Phair	1993
Miss Fortune	Liz wrote and performed the theme song for the short-lived 2000 TV series, Cursed, which starred Steven Weber. The series was later re-named The Weber Show and was canceled after one season. The theme song has never been officially released separately from the series.	Unreleased 2000
Miss Lucy	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh. Some of the lyrics borrow from the popular nursery rhyme/playground song, “Miss Susie Had a Steamboat,” although Lucy, Mary, and other names are often used in replace of Susie. The song was officially released in 2018 when it was included on the boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2018
Miss Mary Mack	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. The song was officially released in 2010 as the first track on the second disc for Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle. A remastered version was included on the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2010
Miss September	The fourth song from Liz’s fifth album, Funstyle.	2010
Money	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh in 1990-1991. In 1994, it was one of the three Girly-Sound tracks that was mashed up to become Combo Platter on the Supernova single, making it one of the first songs from Girly-Sound that many fans heard for the first time. In 1998, a re-recorded version of the song was retitled as “Shitloads of Money” and was included on Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. In 2018, the original Girly-Sound version was included in the boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	1994
Mother’s Little Helper	Liz’s cover of the Rolling Stones track which was included in the music soundtrack for Desperate Housewives.	2005
My Bionic Eyes	The twelfth song on Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair.	2003
My My	The fifth song from Liz’s fifth album, Funstyle.	2010
Nashville	The sixth song on Liz’s second album, Whip-Smart. An underrated gem that Liz doesn’t often perform live.	1994
Never Said	The fifth song from Liz’s debut album, Exile in Guyville. “Never Said” was a re-recorded version of the Girly-Sound track, “Clean,” but re-worked and re-titled for Exile in Guyville. It was also the album’s first single and a video was released in 1993, although a retail release for the song was never made available. It’s considered a classic by fans and is a mainstay in her live performances. “[This was] just kind of like about the music scene and how catty it was. People were always getting upset about something that someone had said about their band or whatever the latest gossip was. To me, I love the way that song is speaking in a rock shorthand. Like, “I ain’t done nothing wrong, I never said nothing.” There’s something insouciant and punk rock to just overtly speak in street language or street lingo or something. There’s just something that I always liked about that. And Brad’s knotty, lo-fi drums are so good on that. Casey’s ringing guitar he’s just basically playing one note over and over again. It’s like [singing guitar part] ding, ding, ding, ding, which is brilliant. Brad might have written that. I’m not sure who is getting credit for what, but there’s just something so lackadaisical about our delivery. Even in the drums, I always thought he had a great drum fill. It’s just knotty and laid back, full of attitude that I really like.” — Liz Phair	1993
Oh My God	An outtake from whitechocolatespaceegg. “Oh My God” is an extremely short song that was included in earlier running orders for the album in both demo and studio recordings, but didn’t make the final cut of the album. Interestingly, Liz performed this song live and acoustic on Squirt TV in 1996, pairing it “That’s the Way I Like It.”	Unreleased 1996
Oh, Bangladesh	The sixth song from Liz’s fifth album, Funstyle.	2010
One Less Thing	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh. The song was officially released on the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2018
Only Son	The ninth song from Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. “Only Son” was included in the original version of the album that was submitted to Matador in 1997. The earlier version of the song was included on the unofficially released WCSE Sessions in 1997 and featured alternate vocals and different lyrics in the chorus.	1998
Open Season	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third cassette, Sooty. Prior to the official tracklisting of Liz’s Girly-Sound tracks, this was often referred to by fans as “Beg Me.” The song was officially released on the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2018
Perfect Misfit	An original song Liz contributed to the soundtrack to the 2007 film, Nancy Drew. The song was co-written and produced by Ralph Sall.	2007
Perfect World	The third track on Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. “Perfect World” was an early contender for the album and was ultimately selected for the final album.	1998
Polyester Bride	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS, “Polyester Bride” was nearly eight minutes long and was one of the more elusive Girly-Sound tracks, many fans not realizing it was an older song until after whitechocolatespaceegg was released. It was re-worked and selected as the fifth song and first single from Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg.	1998
Quiet	Unreleased song that Liz performed live for the first time on April 19, 2016 in Austin, TX.	Unreleased 2016
Rain Scene	The closing track on Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “I was here in my house, and I had bought a 3D microphone thing that I can put on my ears that will record surround sound of whatever space I’m in. And I knew I wanted the approaching storm of ‘Sheridan Road’ to break. I wanted the storm to actually release at the end of the album. So, this unexpected rain happened here in Southern California, and I just practically threw clothes on and threw this thing on. And I was, like, yelling to my son, ‘I’m going out in the rain! I’m going to record the rain!’ And I just stomped up and down the street around my house, recording puddles and me splashing in puddles. And I had Brad edit it in such a way that it took on a flavor of synthesizer of manipulated sounds at the end, and then I wrote a little song about it.” — Liz Phair	2021
Rapids	The official title of this song is not known, but was part of a set of songs labeled “4th Album Roughs,” indicating it was an outtake from the Liz Phair sessions. Only a two-minute snippet of this song was ever available online before it was pulled.	Unreleased 2003
The Real Goodbye	Unreleased outtake from the Funstyle sessions that leaked in 2013 along with “Woman.” Briefly made available online through streaming services before being removed.	Unreleased 2010
Red Light Fever	The second song from Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair. An alternate version of this song surfaced through file-sharing networks under the title “4th Album Roughs” when the album was originally under the working title, Happy Tragic Thing, but was quickly pulled. It’s known that Liz recorded several different versions of many songs during the recording process for the self-titled album.	2003
Ride	The twelfth song on Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. “Ride” was also one of the earliest songs written for the album. An early demo and alternate studio cuts can be found on ’96 Shelved Demos and WCSE Sessions respectively.	1998
Rock Me	The fifth song from Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair. “Rock Me” was intended to be the third single from the album, but promotion for the album had fizzled before it could materialize.	2003
Rocket Boy	“Rocket Boy” is one of Liz’s early-career singles, originally released on the soundtrack to the coming-of-age drama, Stealing Beauty. Co-written with Jim Ellison, the song was also an early contender for whitechocolatespaceegg. A US and French promotional single for the song was released in 1996 to coincide with the release of the soundtrack. A video was also released.	1996
Russian Girl	Unreleased track from the recording sessions for Liz’s third album, ˆˆwhitechocolatespaceegg. “Russian Girl” was one of the earlier contenders, but was ultimately cut from the final tracklisting. Demos and earlier studio session recordings can be heard on ’96 Shelved Demos and WCSE Sessions. The song has never been officially released.	Unreleased 1996
Satisfied	The tenth song from Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle.	2010
Say You	A previously-unreleased outtake from the Exile in Guyville sessions. Originally written by Lynn Tait, the song was featured as a bonus track on the Exile in Guyville reissue in 2008.	2008
Shallow Opportunities	An outtake from the Liz Phair recording sessions. Was likely included in an original running order for Liz’s fourth album when Michael Penn was the primary producer. It’s assumed that Capitol Records thought this song and others were too idiosyncratic and not likely to garner Liz any hits. It was ultimately included on the comeandgetit EP, which was originally released as a digital-only download which accompanied the release of the full album.	2003
Shane	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh in 1991. Later re-worked and selected as track five on 1994’s Whip-Smart. The song is allegedly inspired by Liz’s friend, Shane Dubow, who is pictured in one of the polaroids from the Exile in Guyville album artwork.	1994
Shatter	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. Was re-worked and included as track thirteen on 1993’s Exile in Guyville. The original Girly-Sound version has never been officially released, as it was one of two songs (“Fuck or Die” being the other) that was omitted from the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville, due to licensing issues. ““Shatter” is such a beautiful pause in the album. It’s a winsome guitar sound. I did a lot of things on Guyville that I think are interesting songwriting-wise where I’d break songs in two; it happens on “Johnny Sunshine,” and it happens on “Shatter.” It’s like two separate songs, kind of matched up together, so you get this whole part. There’s also a feedback element, which we were using a lot. I mean, a lot of times Brad doesn’t even use a bass line. He never even suggested putting a bass on some of these songs because the things I’m playing in the guitar are melodically complex and there were so many elements. I was basically hinting at bass notes in a lot of my guitar playing and I think he just wanted to let my guitar-playing stand as the complexity. There’s a lot of words being sung, and I really appreciated that on “Shatter” because he captured my freeform guitar playing that is hardly ever evident on any other record.” — Liz Phair	1993
Sheridan Road	The sixth song from Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “I can literally see us on the scooter with our hair blowing, driving down Sheridan Road. That didn’t happen. I made that up. But everything about that song, every image in that song — a lot of which did happen — is totally visual to me. It was already playing like a movie in my mind: this trip down a road that’s so familiar in your hometown, that one road that over the years changes but you have so many memories there. It is such a main artery and traveling it with a person who’s been with you on a lot of those different journeys, and describing a very ordinary day that somehow, because it’s between the two of you over this long period of time of having that same ordinary day, is really special. It’s really emblematic of a relationship. It’s a love song to Chicago and a love song to my life and loves in that town.” — Liz Phair “That inspiration came from a longtime partner that also grew up in the same area [in Chicago] that I did. And there’s this particular road in it, Sheridan Road, that is the main artery connecting the suburbs to downtown. And every time you want to go home or any time you want to go out, you travel on this road. So, our being together on this road in the song brings up all the different life experiences that we’ve had. And yet, we’ve walked the same walk all our lives, but his life is totally different from mine. He’s got special places and I’ve got special places. How could we have been growing up in the same place the whole time and not have been aware of each other?” — Liz Phair	2021
She’s Gone	Unreleased song from the Julie Johnson film soundtrack. Liz contributed three songs to the 2001 film which starred Lili Taylor and Courtney Love, but the soundtrack was ultimately shelved. Only a small portion of this song was ever available online.	Unreleased 2001
Shitloads of Money	The fifteenth song from Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. The song is a re-worked version of the Girly-Sound track, “Money.”	1998
Six Dick Pimp	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh in 1991 and styled as “6 Dick Pimp.” Also known as “Willie the Six Dick Pimp” prior to its official title. The song was an outtake during the Whip-Smart sessions and was officially released on the Brain Candy soundtrack in 1996. “It’s a really funny song. It’s about this guy, a man with male prostitutes, who is going around the country, who steals my boyfriend, and I’m chasing him down.” — Liz Phair	1996
Slave	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third cassette, Sooty, as the fourth track on Side A. Also known as “Sometimes a Dream (Is What Makes You a Slave)” prior to its official title. Part of the song borrows the popular children’s song “Bubblegum, Bubblegum In A Dish” line. It’s one of a few Girly-Sound tracks that have never been re-recorded, however it was remastered and included on the 2018 boxset Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2018
Smoke	The first track from Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle, in 2010.	2010
Soap Star Joe	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS in 1991 as the fifth track on Side A. Was later selected and re-worked as the sixth track on Exile in Guyville. “When I was in my twenties, I was always dating older men, and they would always pick me up in cars and take me to dinner. I felt like I was always sitting in the interior of some dude’s car on my way to or from dinner and just how weirdly generic it all felt. Like, every Friday, Saturday night, someone was taking you out somewhere. I just had all these thoughts and feelings that I never shared, and it kind of came out in my songwriting, and “Soap Star Joe” is a perfect example. I’m kind of skewering the guy, but at the same time, I’m also lovingly aware of his plight in a weird way.” — Liz Phair	1993
Soberish	The title track off of Soberish was one of the earlier songs written for the album. Liz performed it a few times in live appearances prior to the album’s announcement. “I feel like we’re all doing the best we can right now. I feel like we, as a country, have gone through a time period that was very dark and difficult and an existential threat, so to speak. So, a lot of people felt the need to stay connected with reality without actually being entirely sober. How much of reality can I stand to absorb and how much do I need to push away from me and keep myself insulated from? ‘Soberish’ is just a more romantic and innocent way to look at that. I used to be the kind of person that could do this sober, but right now I need a shot.” — Liz Phair	2021
Somebody’s Miracle	The title track from Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.
Soul Sucker	The ninth song from Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “You know when, if on a certain night, you have a hookup with someone and you like that person and it was perfectly fine, but it was just, like, that night. And then you keep running into them in your real world, and maybe they weren’t the person that you would be most excited for people to see that you hooked up with. You’re in your more elegant persona, and then here comes your hookup from back in the day. And you’re like, ‘I don’t know who this is. I don’t know.’ Like that.” — Liz Phair	2021
South Dakota	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third cassette, Sooty. The song was officially released with a small batch of selected Girly-Sound songs on Liz’s first EP, Juvenilia, in 1995. It was also included in the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville. “Totally juvenile, embarrassing, and all of that, but there’s no getting around a spooky atmosphere. I think I’m Iggy Pop and I’m writing Funhouse.” — Liz Phair	1995
Spanish Doors	The first song from Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “Spanish Doors” also served as the third official single for the album, after “Good Side” and “Hey Lou.” A video was unveiled on April 30, 2021. In additional to the album version, an edited version was also made available, which trimmed thirty seconds off the song, but featured different production settings. This version was used for the official video and pushed to radio. “Anyone who’s a fan of my music knows that I’m fascinated by ordinary moments in conversations that somehow take on greater significance in the larger scope of a person’s life—how simply one piece of information can rock your world. And I really resonated with the idea that [my friend, whose divorce inspired the song], was in a public place when she found out that she was no longer going to be living the life that she was accustomed to. And how jumbled your internal landscape can be when you’re dealing with denial—‘I don’t want to face this.’ Bargaining, maybe there’s a way out of this. Devastation, in the sense that everything’s going to change and there’s nothing you can do about it. The stages of grief. How can you put that into a pop song? That’s the tricky challenge.” — Liz Phair	2021
Spoiled Peach	An unreleased and uncredited song Liz wrote for the rebooted television series, 90210. The song appeared in season 1 episode 3 titled “Zero Tolerance” in 2009.	Unreleased 2009
Stars and Planets	The third track from Somebody’s Miracle. “‘Stars and Planets’ is a very special song to me because it kind of explains who I think I am as an artist. The concept of the song is that when we look up in the night sky and we look at the scope of the universe and we look at these beautiful, bright stars. But they’re actually planets—they’re not stars. And I use that clever little trick to talk about people who aspire to be famous, or aspire to be what I have. I talk about young women coming in behind me … wanting what I had. And they’re missing the point. ‘Stars and Planets’ is really talking about fame and how some people that shine the brightest… are not really that invested in the star-making business. Just ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And that’s what I’ve always wanted to be.” — Liz Phair	2005
Strange Loop	The eighteenth and final track from 1993’s Exile in Guyville. “I must have been using a Peavey amp still. I had this little shitty amp that I wouldn’t get rid of because it’s a very high, weird guitar tone that I have. It’s very natural and simple. But it stands out as the last song. This is a reconciliation song. It’s about saying, “Yeah, OK, we’ve been through a lot of shit. You’re fucked up, and I’m fucked up.” There’s a sense of having moved past the Sturm und Drang. We’ve gotten some distance from it all and it’s conciliatory in a weird way. It’s a great way to end the record to have it fall apart at the end. There’s this great outro where we’re all just jamming because it has been a long journey. It’s been 18 songs, and we’re just kind of whizzing through this improvised end section, and then I had the idea that we’d just have the instruments just fall apart at the end of the whole cycle, and I’ve always been very proud of that.” — Liz Phair	1993
Stratford-On-Guy	The seventeenth track from 1993’s Exile in Guyville. The song is a re-working of the Girly-Sound track, “Bomb.” It also served as the second single from her Exile in Guyville and a video was released in 1993. “When I lived in England as a young seven-year-old, and we went to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit where Shakespeare lived. [The name came from] the whole pretentiousness of the guy scene that Urge Overkill dubbed Guyville and we all ended up calling Guyville. That preciousness of it was really important to the tastemakers who lived there, and I wanted to give it that kind of pretentious name like [in British accent] “Stratford-On-Guy.'” They felt like they were the arbiters of cool and “Stratford-on-Guy” is me waking up as I travel out of there and just getting out of that neighborhood and it all falls off of you. It all just falls away. There is this sense that you’re literally at 30,000 feet above the scene that you are so involved in and this relationship you’re so involved in and it’s just a literal perspective shift above it. A lot of the bullshit just falls away.” — Liz Phair	1993
Stuck On An Island	“Stuck On An Island” was an early contender for Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg, but was ultimately left off the final tracklisting. Fortunately, Liz did record a final studio version of the track and contributed it to Matador Records’ What’s Up Matador compilation in 1997. It can be found on the second disc of the 2-CD set (“Stratford-On-Guy” is included on the first disc). Early demo and studio versions of the track can be heard on ’96 Shelved Demos and WCSE Sessions.	1997
Suckerfish	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third cassette, Sooty. Also known as “Go, Speed Racer” and “Speed Racer” — the latter was how it was stylized when it was officially released as part of a selection of Girly-Sound tracks on the second disc of 2010’s Funstyle. It would later be remastered and included in the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville under its original name.	2010
Supernova	The second song from 1994’s Whip-Smart, and also the first single from the album. “Supernova” was prominently featured on MTV and college radio stations during that year and helped earn Liz a larger following.	1994
Support System	The third track on Liz’s second album, Whip-Smart.	1994
Sweet Jane	Liz’s cover of The Velvet Underground’s classic song. Liz has been a longtime fan of Lou Reed.	Unreleased
Table for One	The tenth song from Somebody’s Miracle. Liz wrote this from the perspective of her brother’s struggles with alcohol. She has cited that this was also her response to “Village Ghetto Land” from Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. “…that was the heartbreaker on Stevie’s album and in that song there’s such an impressive contrast between the lyrics and the courtly chord progression. I was trying to think what was the most devastating thing I experienced in my life, which was the alcoholism that ran in m family. That’s how I do it. It can be anything, my point of view.” — Liz Phair (SF Gate, Oct. 2005)	2005
Take a Look	The sixth song from Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair.	2003
Tell Me I’m a Liar	The official title of this song is not known, but was part of a set of songs labeled “4th Album Roughs,” indicating it was an outtake from the Liz Phair sessions.	Unreleased 2003
The Game	The second song from Liz’s seventh album, Soberish. “The Game” was one of first songs that fans got an early version of during live shows as far back as 2018. It also became the fifth and final single off the album. A video was released on June 3, 2021. “I think most of my romance these days is amped up. It’s not day-to-day, it’s overly large. And sometimes I think ‘The Game’ is really talking about how much you need ordinariness and day-to-dayness in a love relationship. And as exciting as it is to have a kind of a dramatic affair, it gets old, you get tired. You don’t want to keep resurrecting it—you want it to evolve into something more subtle. I think that surprises me.” — Liz Phair	2021
The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)	Released as part of the compilation, Saturday Morning (Cartoons’ Greatest Hits) in 1995. Liz performs the song with Material Issue, which is a cover of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour theme song from the late 60s. The song was also used for a promotional single to promote the album. A video was also created and aired on MTV.	1995
Thrax	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. Officially released in 2018 on the boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2018
Turning Japanese	A cover of the Vapors’ 1980 hit which was released as the second song from Liz’s first EP, Juvenilia. Liz recorded and performed the song with Jim Ellison and his band, Material Issue.	1995
U Hate It	The eleventh and final track off of Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle. “U Hate It” is one of Liz’s more stranger songs, an obvious cheeky jab at those who have criticized her throughout her career. It depicts two critics	2010
Uncle Alvarez	The eighth track on Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. “Uncle Alvarez” was actually officially released a couple of months before the album was released, appearing on the Lilith Fair 98: A Starbucks Blend compilation.	1998
Valentine	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the third cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. The song was officially released on 2010’s Funstyle and then later, a remastered version on the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2010
Wasted	An unreleased song Liz simply says is about drugs. Liz began performing the song in 1994, although never commercially released it. A radio performance of it can be heard during Liz’s appearance on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on December 8, 1994. It was also recorded during Liz’s live performance at The Town Hall in New York City on April 25, 1995, which can be found on the bootleg, Glory.	1994
What Makes You Happy	The thirteenth track from Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg. “What Makes You Happy” was one of the earlier songs recorded for their album. Earlier studio versions can be found on the WCSE Sessions. Liz was also captured on video recording the song during a 1997 promotional video to show that the album was in progress.	1998
Whip-Smart	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded for the third cassette, Sooty. Re-worked to become the tenth track and second single from Liz’s 1994 album, Whip-Smart. The song’s chorus borrows from Malcolm McLaren’s “Double Dutch” from his 1983 album, Duck Rock. Two different promotional singles were issued by Matador, one of which included a remixed version of the song. A video was also released, directed by Liz Phair.	1994
White Babies	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded as the first track on the first cassette, Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word To Ya Muthuh. Unique to other tracks on the Girly-Sound cassettes, “White Babies” technically saw official release on the indie compilation, Chinny Chin Chin: 4 N.Y. Bands in 1991, although the song was shortened was featured Liz singing into an answering machine. The official release of the full-length original didn’t occur until it was included on the second disc of Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle. It was later remastered and included in the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville. Prior to its official title, it was often referred to by fans as “Black Market White Baby Dealer.”	1991 2010
White Chocolate Space Egg	The opening track off of Liz’s third album, whitechocolatespaceegg.	1998
White Bird of Texas	Outtake from whitechocolatespaceegg. Also known as “Waiting for the Bird,” this track was on earlier running orders of Liz’s third album, but was ultimately left off the final tracklisting. It was officially released as a b-side track on the Polyester Bride Japanese single.	1998
Why Can’t I?	The third track from Liz’s fourth album, Liz Phair, and also the first single. The song was one of four that were written by The Matrix, and the press from this album focused a lot on Liz’s collaboration with them and her direction into more polished pop music. “Why Can’t I?” also became Liz’s biggest hit, reaching #7 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40. It peaked at #32 on the Hot 100 and was certified gold. “My hope was that someone would hear the song in the gym and buy the record and then start buying my albums and sort of have an awakening. I pictured someone who just sort of did whatever mainstream told them to do—the woman at the gym who heard the song and bought the song and then slowly started to have uncomfortable thoughts. I like that idea.” — Liz Phair	2003
Why I Lie	The eleventh track on Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Wild-Thing	Girly-Sound track. Originally recorded on the second cassette, GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. Sometimes styled without the hyphen. A re-recorded version was officially released as a bonus track for the Exile in Guyville reissue in 2008. The remastered Girly-Sound version was included in the 2018 boxset, Girly-Sound to Guyville.	2008
Wind and the Mountain	The second track on Liz’s fifth album, Somebody’s Miracle.	2005
Winter Wonderland	Liz covered this classic holiday song in 2003.	2003
Woman	Unreleased outtake from Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle. The song was leaked and made briefly available online, but was removed shortly after.	Unreleased 2010
X-Ray Man	The fourth song from Whip-Smart. A remix version of the song appeared as the b-side for the German cassette single for Supernova. In March 2021, Liz and Brad performed “X-Ray Man” for her Hey Lou, Hey Liz Livestream show. A stripped down, acoustic version of the song is played in the background of the outro of the show. “X-Ray Man is just about those guys at bars who are chatting you up, taking you out, or taking on you dates. And they’re really just kinda on the make all the time. So it was kind of this caustic take down of the male dating hunting animal.” — Liz Phair	1994
You Have No Idea	Likely a Whip-Smart outtake, Liz performed this song at Town Hall in Manhattan on April 25, 1995, but no other known performance of this song is known to exist.	Unreleased 1995
You Should Know Me	The third track from Liz’s sixth album, Funstyle.	2010

Inspiration

It’s no big secret that Liz has borrowed from other artist’s songs, whether it be a subtle (or not-so-subtle) melody or simply a lyrical reference. Below is a list of known references that Liz has used that have been inspired or re-imagined from other songs.