Jenny Lewis first came to fame as a child actress, starting at the tender age of three when she appeared in a television commercial for Jell-O, a gelatine dessert. She starred in a number of films and the television series Brooklyn Bridge, however, in musical terms she’s best known for fronting the indie band Rilo Kiley. In 2005, with the band in hiatus, she got together with the Watson Twins, to release the country-soul influenced album “Rabbit Fur Coat”. ‘Rise Up With Fists!!’ is the third track on the record.
It’s a composition which poses questions related to hope, self-reflection and fallibility. At the commencement of the song Lewis considers if people can really change themselves, after all, “It’s like trying to clean the ocean, What, do you think you can drain it?”. The weaknesses of the human condition are explored, whether it’s the pressure some people feel to have plastic surgery to stay young, or to marry for money and “wake up wealthy”. Lewis acknowledges that she’s also been open to temptation and that “There for the grace of God go I”.
The song ends in defiance and confidence, as Lewis declares “And I will rise up with fists, And I will take what’s mine (mine, mine)”. The Watson Twins’ backing vocals are sublime. They turn the song into something deeply spiritual but not religious. This may be an oxymoron, but it’s secular gospel at its very best. This song is right up there with anything that Emmylou Harris and Bobbie Gentry have recorded, and it has inspired everyone from Waxahatchee to First Aid Kit.
Oh goodness, how i love this song! Thanks for reminding me of it. And of the great album was and is. One of my first ventures into the wonderful world of fem-Americana!