My Top 1000 Songs #458: Gepetto

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Another remarkable (and underappreciated) cut from Belly's 1993 debut, Star. And while I give a slight edge to "Feed The Tree," "Gepetto" is comparably catchy, another demonstration of Tanya Donelly's sublime pop chops that she never had a chance to flex with Throwing Muses or the Breeders. Like "Tree," it's got that 90s alt.rock skew to it, a tricky off-beat vibe; and similarly cryptic lyrics--"decapitated all my dolls" is such a wonderfully odd, striking image--plus a Donelly vocal delivery that just blows you over.

Alternative video:

Live in the studio, 2018:

Great live performance on the original short-lived Jon Stewart show:

BTW, I'm still loving the imaginary Belly/Breeders hybrid album I created, what might've resulted had Donelly stuck with the Breeders and shared songwriting/vocal duties with Kim Deal in a true partnership; check it out.