FEATURE:
Protection
Not Erasing Women’s Involvement in Their Own Work
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WHEN on Twitter yesterday…
IN THIS PHOTO: Tracey Thorn/PHOTO CREDIT: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer
I saw a post by Eric Alper that was met with some angry reaction. It said this: “Massive Attack's "Protection" was originally written for Madonna, but due to scheduling conflicts, Tracey Thorn of Everything but the Girl ended up lending her iconic vocals to the track”. Massive Attack’s Protection album turned thirty on 26th September. The title track opens the album. It memorably features the vocals of the legendary Tracey Thorn. The Everything But the Girl lead not only sung the vocals but penned the melody and the lyrics. Her response took no prisoners: “That's a very weird take. I didn't "lend my vocals" to the track, I wrote the entire melody and lyrics. It's an entirely collaborative track, so not really true to suggest that it existed already as a song and might have been sung by someone else”. Four years later, Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser co-wrote the iconic Teardrop. From Massive Attack, Mezzanine, would anyone say that she ‘lending her vocals to the track”, iconic or not?! She probably would get that! The issue is that many people – and not just men, most they are the vast majority – assume that women that sing on songs by other artists are merely showing up to sing. No agency or credit. They are wheeled in to make a song sound a particular way but dismissed and marginalised when it comes to their creative input. You can see what Tracey Thorn meant! She was not a ringer or in vogue singer who Massive Attack though could do something good with the track. Her melody and lyrics make the song what it is! One of the best Massive Attack tracks ever (just behind Unfinished Sympathy in my view), the title cut of one of their greatest albums was made what it was by Tracey Thorn. It is diminishing and almost sexist to think that it was only her vocal that went into the track! In fact, Shara Nelson, who sung on the timeless Unfinished Sympathy, co-wrote the song. These incredible women whose words and ladies essentially provided the heartbeat and bones of Massive Attack’s finest moments.
It is not only misguided voices like Eric Alper that undervalue and almost dismiss women’s contributions. Even this anniversary feature for Massive Attack’s Protection mentions Tracey Thorn once. As a contributor. Think about women like her and what they helped to build. So many genius songs through the years are credited to male acts/bands and we forget the women who sung on them did a lot more than that! There are articles that explore the women written out of Indie history. Those who have practically been erased from Pop. Even if women have been dominated Pop and other genres for years now – and most of the new breed coming through is defined by female brilliance -, we still consider the genres (and all others) to be defined by men. That they make the greatest music. I remember a lot of those incredible Dance and Pop tracks from decades ago where you had this amazing woman singing. How they often were vastly underpaid and credited. Maybe not having their names down as songwriters. Seen as props or almost a gimmick. Sometimes sexualised and reduced to their gender. In essence, they were considered to be novelty and a voice. In many cases these amazing women helped write the songs and, inarguably, where the driving force behind them. Are we still living in a time when music is still male-centric?! It definitely seems to be the same when it comes to female collaborations. I think it goes further than this. Even in the modern time, there is sexism and misogyny running through the industry. In terms of the incredible women songwriters and their huge input into music. What galled me so much about the Eric Alper/Tracey Thorn interaction is that this sort of attitude pervades. Thorn could argue and dissect this much better than me. The way women’s creativity and value is so undermined and ignored. If you have a woman singing the song, that is all she is. Assumed that the blood and soul of a track is made by men. As we can hear in tracks like Protection, that is not the case!
It brings to mind books such as This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music. This book is female writers penning essays about women who inspire them. It is important that the narrative is changed. That women’s contributions and incredible work is recognised. Not assuming that women are secondary, supplementary or silent. Not only has that post by Eric Alper unintentionally opened up debate and a new conversation about how women are still seen and viewed in music. In terms of these classic songs that feature women on vocals. Not assuming they were produced and written for by men. Giving a lot more weight to female pioneers and innovators. These amazing artists that offers get snubbed and disrespected. I feel that the Eric Alper tweet was a blunder or misworded. That he meant to celebrate Tracey Thorn’s amazing vocal, whilst forgetting that she also wrote the melody and lyrics. Do people still see women as singers but no genuine writers and composers? This assumption men are the wheels and driving force. That certainly needs to be addressed and reversed. From women fronting House classics to those through Disco and Techno that have gone unpaid and under-valued, right alongside to women being underrepresented today, there is an issue through the industry and through society. The depth, value and worth of female songwriters and creativities. We need to stop with this ignorance. If nothing else, I hope that the celebration of Massive Attack’s Protection recognises the amazing woman who made the title track the stunning and moving classic it is. Tracey Thorn is not the only woman who’s true value and creativity is truncated and reduced to one thing. It has been going on for decades and it needs to stop. Phenomenal and inspiring women through music should be given…
THE credit they deserve!