In my opinion, one of the darkest and most hurtful Newman songs. I still think it should have been released.
Anyway, the song is primarily sung by Marie, Johnny Cutler's wife. She sings the entire thing, except for the first two "fuck offs" (which are sung by Johnny). The song takes place the morning of Johnny's birthday, after he's spent the previous night out with his friends celebrating the final night of his 29th year (as stated in "My Daddy Knew Dixie Howell").
Marie tells Susie (their daughter) to sing happy birthday to her hungover father, who simply responds with "fuck off". Marie cracks for a moment to get Johnny to get his act together, and then continues telling Susie to sing happy birthday.
In my opinion, one of the darkest and most hurtful Newman songs. I still think it should have been released.
Anyway, the song is primarily sung by Marie, Johnny Cutler's wife. She sings the entire thing, except for the first two "fuck offs" (which are sung by Johnny). The song takes place the morning of Johnny's birthday, after he's spent the previous night out with his friends celebrating the final night of his 29th year (as stated in "My Daddy Knew Dixie Howell").
Marie tells Susie (their daughter) to sing happy birthday to her hungover father, who simply responds with "fuck off". Marie cracks for a moment to get Johnny to get his act together, and then continues telling Susie to sing happy birthday.
Dark stuff.