Hedwig is the brainchild of Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell and their band Cheater, struggling musicians of the middle 90s in New York. Influenced by the drag-punk culture and performing in the Squeezebox club, Trask and Mitchell (in cooperation with the band members) developed the concept of Hedwig and eventually made it to the stage and the big screen.
Hedwig is an East German androgynous singer and together with her band “The Angry Inch” plays in bars and restaurants in the US, while her former lover Tommy Gnosis (the last name meaning knowledge in Greek (γνώσις) gnosis, nicknamed by Hedwig), has stolen the songs they had written together and became famous. Hedwig follows Tommy in his tour trying to meet him and in the meantime describes through songs how from a boy in East Berlin she became Hedwig the drag singer.
I was not fortunate enough to see Mitchell, Trask and the lot on stage but I saw Hedwig at the cinema in 2001, in a not so big or central theater of my home town. It was a defining moment in my musical life; the songs and the film echoed influences of Bowie, Lou Reed and glam-rock in general but they were copying nobody, they had an entity of their own.
And they don’t just describe the course of events comprising Hedwig’s life; a multi-complex concept is constructed directly from Hedwig?s blood and flesh, abundant in originality, passion, symbolism, human triumph and pettiness.
The narration could start with nothing else but “Tear me Down”, the perfect introduction in Hedwig?s exciting and troublesome life. The Berlin Wall may have fallen but Hedwig still (and always) stands like an idol, representing the coexistence of opposite forces into one entity. She is at the same time vulnerable and indestructible and wants, craves to be worshipped and celebrates her sufferings singing her wild and shameless songs.
The anthem song “The Origin of Love” is the story of how love came to be as described in Plato’s “Symposium”. Expressional tense is built up as the song progresses and the orchestration and melody line become more and more exciting and culminate with the separation of the dual creature into two humans. Then the song turns sensitive, nearly painful as the two “lonely two-legged creatures” recognize each other and reunite making love.
The exact story of Hedwig’s transformation is given in the “Angry Inch”. The transgender operation fails and what is left of the penis is an inch, an angry one as Hedwig is now trapped in the new non-existent gender which she simultaneously hates and loves. This is the most daring song of the album, suitable to scandalize and offend, juicy and artistic, a truly powerful glam-rock piece pairing with “Tear me down”.
“Wicked little town” has both a Tommy (performed by Trusk) and a Hedwig (performed by Mitchell) version, one for each character’s point of view of their relationship. Tommy’s version is preferable for its more refined production but Hedwig’s version has definitely more interesting vocals and the arrangement reflects the way the song is played in the film, with a piano, two guitars and maracas not in an appropriate concert hall but in a restaurant.
In “Wig in a box” Hedwig melancholically reflects on her current life and explains the transformative importance of her outfits and cosmetics. The song starts slow and then turns more dynamic rock n roll adding comical hints with the little singing ensemble towards the end. It is followed by “The Long Grift”, a playful ballad where Hedwig accuses Tommy for exploiting her, calling him a “gigolo”.
“Hedwig’s Lament”: Although Hedwig is an egocentric and often rude individual she is also a tragic one. She claims our sympathy by almost tearfully describing how she gave away her pieces to various persons including aspects of her. The Lament is a piano based, short song that starts with the same line that “Tear me down” does, extending the description of Hedwig?s passions. It is closely followed by “Exquisite corpse” the most aggressive song of the album, where Hedwig shouts out in a fit of anger that she is a collage of diverse pieces which may fall or break apart at any given moment.
“Midnight Radio” starts very slow and sensitive only to turn up the volume later as a final Hedwig statement where she directly connects herself to known women rock singers and takes her rightful place in rock n roll. It is the last song of the movie and the play but in the album it is followed by “Nailed”, “Sugar Daddy| (juicy country-like song with multiple historic and political references), “Freaks” and “In your arms tonight” (another interesting ballad).
The “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” soundtrack is a collection of exceptional songs held together by a unique concept, which was painstakingly created over a course of several years. It is a work of a lifetime and it deserves to be widely known, much more than it already is. Trask’s songwriting abilities, Mitchell’s storytelling, theatrical and singing flair and (not to be overlooked) Miriam Shor’s powerful back-up vocals came together to give Hedwig to the world. We deeply appreciate it.
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October 13th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I’m on a desperate search for Hedwig & the angry inch guitar tabs and thought i’d try the blog world. Btw nice blog, i love Hedwig!
If anyone knows the chords for In Your Arms Tonight i’d love for you to share them. There are good tabs out there for Origin of Love, Midnight Radio, Wicked Little Town…but not In your arms tonight… :)
May 2nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Now you?re talking dude!!!!
CAn you hear me Tommy?? From the milk less tit you sssucked the very business we call show?.
May 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Hedwig, to me this is like a type of indie done right. What alternative was supposed to sound like. I am a huge glam rock fan and Hedwig is one of my number one favs forever. Love the front of me!!
May 1st, 2009 at 2:35 pm
nice blog, and congratulation for the artist, keep going i will be back.
comment back please
May 1st, 2009 at 7:43 am
Hi
The “artist of the month” used to be in a different place on this blog but that didn’t work well. So we added a new category and moved the two posts here on the main page which can be viewed more easily by the public. :)
May 1st, 2009 at 7:33 am
Nice blog Michael. Curious … why 2 artists of the month in the same month. Hope u make it big in music.
April 30th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Nice..