Courtney Love Vows to "Never Go Hungry Again"

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(Courtney Love in this month's V Magazine)

In a podcast for The Times (UK), Courtney Love debuted new material from her forthcoming sophomore solo album, which has the unfortunate working title of How Dirty Girls Get Clean. The track, “Never Go Hungry Again”, was recorded live and acoustic in Love’s bedroom in Beverly Hills during an interview done exclusively for The Times (UK). Love’s new material has been widely rumoured to have a Dylanesque sound, which she fully delivers on “Never Go Hungry Again”. In this live version, over a succession of G and D chords, her voice is slightly battered & rugged (at the end of the performance Courtney apologizes for her “croaky” voice) - most likely from her much publicized drug battles over the last couple of years. The aesthetic of her voice, however, suits Love’s beaten down, sad, and yet hopeful lyrics (ala Mariane Faithfull’s Broken English). From the imagery-laden Sexton-like musings on her former band Hole’s Live Through This through the gorgeous Plathian horses & waves of Celebrity Skin, lyrics are where Love has always excelled. Even the horrible auto-tune and studio-sheen on her solo debut, America’s Sweetheart, couldn’t mask Love’s lyrical brilliance. On “Hungry” she knocks it outta the park once again, wearing the troubadour hat quite well. Though the song is not defeatist, Love makes concessions she seems to deem necessary for survival.

Waxing on her recent troubles:

“My dress is torn/and I’ve got no jewels
Well I’m hungry for/Life a little less cruel
Some dignity/Not too much sorrow”

“My wings’ on crooked/ and I got no shoes
I rock back and forth/and I wait for you”

The most biting and telling:

“I Don’t Care What it Takes, My friend
I Will Never Go Hungry, Go Hungry Again
I Don’t Care What I have to Pretend
I Will Never Go Hungry, Go Hungry Again”

“And out of it all/ I have survived
From the fires of hell/ I am alive”

“And it’s time to for me, yeah, to take a stand
And it’s time to for me, yeah, to be a man”

Ending it with a classic Courtney caterwaul:

“And the phoenix, she rises
She is sure to descend
She will never go hungry, go hungry again
And you’re looking to me more and more like a godsend
We will never go hungry, go hungry again
And we owe each other nothing
There’s no one left here to offend
We will never go hungry, go hungry again”

From this small preview, Love will be coming back big when the Linda Perry-produced disc is released early next year on Perry’s Custard label.

The interview for The Times (UK) was done in support of Love’s new book, Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love, released in October by Faber & Faber. “Never Go Hungry Again” can be heard during the last six minutes of Part 1.

Further Perusal:
Courtney Love's Dirty Blonde

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/all/19155/Courtney-Love-Vows-to-Never-Go-Hungry-Again/