Search - Jane Child :: Do Whatcha Do / No Solution

"Do What'cha (gotta)Do" and track this down!

Eso | Oakdale | 02/12/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Released commerically in the fall of '93, Child's second radio offering from "Here Not There" was one of the Stevie Wonder-inspired dance/funk numbers entitled "Do What'cha Do". The real appeal of the CD-Single for the fans who already owned "Here Not There" was that a non-album cut entitled "No Solution" was featured. It was a progressive punk/rock cut that owed a lot to its distortion - both musically and thematically. It was a complex piece.Child's vocal was muffled, garbled and distorted to great effect punctuating the message that self-loathing, masochism and abuse are all deplorable activities but that our ignorance about the psyche of those afflicted by and of those who perpetrate this pain on others almost makes us in some way sort of the "insufferable" ones. The lyrical hyberole enhanced by the muffled voice of Child only serves to reenforce Jane's point. "And when they tied you and up and RAAPed you/You liked it/You LIIKED it/Oh You LIKED IT!...And when they talk of retribution/No Solution". Obviously, in the mind of many of those committing heinous acts that the song brings to mind, it does not matter what punishment you inflict on them to deter this behavior - they like pain and torture is their cup of tea whether it is inflicted on them or on others by them so the distorted voice could be that of the psychopath portrayed for whom the fear of retribution is not a concern. Another interpretation of the line is simply that it is sung to the listener as a means of stating the absurdity of how society thinks it can reform these people. Jane sings that "You liked it" only to show how it is just as absurd to think that "sick" people will be deterred by violent punishment as it is that the victim "liiked it". The song is a great and novel social commentary on how society treats the ills of abuse and how senseless not only the acts are but how some of our views on how we think we may control it are. Jane may not be advocating a non-violent approach to punishing offendors; she merely implies the senseless violence will continue regardless of what we think we can do to control it. Sometimes violence breeds violence and that is yet another spin on the song. Some contend that violence begets violence - that if we sanction violence as a means to punish that that sort of state sanctioned approach makes us almost as bad as the perpetrator. It is as if we need to look more closely at how we as a society impact the issue. If anything, she intelligently stimulates further investigation into its causes - another thought-provoking track from one of the more thoughtful women in music today. It is worth mentioning that in a strange twist in contrast to the darkness of "No Solution's" message, the CD-single's cover is of a pretty flower in a pot courtesy of WB design artist Deborah Norcross who also had a hand in the artwork for Me'shell N'Degeocello's debut CD."