The Juliana Hatfield Three, "My Sister" (1993)

The opening lyrics of each verse respectively, “I hate my sister, she’s such a bitch / I love my sister; she’s the best! / I miss my sister; why’d she go?” were such a whole-ass mood for me at 13 years old, despite the fact that, like Hatfield, I do not in fact have a sister. I think part of what I loved about this song was the innocent sort of voyeurism it provided, the opportunity to imagine being a teenage girl with a big sister. Having an older brother, I could relate on some levels to the complexities of sibling dynamics, but sisterhood seemed different somehow, and I wanted to understand why. Also, they just seemed way cooler than we were.

I imagine that given the breadth of her creative output, and its status as somewhat of a one-hit-wonder, this might be a song Hatfield feels conflicted about performing, or about the reactions of fans who only know her for the one song. When I saw her live at Trees in Deep Ellum in the very late 90s, I was still one of those fans. I admit it. I didn’t know much of the rest of her work, I never owned an album, hadn’t kept up with her since, and didn’t even know or remember the connection to the Lemonheads. But “My Sister” was so pivotal for me when it came out and I didn’t care if it made me “one of those fans” – it meant so much to me even all those years later – finally old enough to go see a show – to get to see her perform even though I really only went for that one song. What I do however regret, is offering her a spoonful of the vanilla milkshake I bought right after the show at the coffee shop across the street, when she was cool enough to hang outside to meet fans and sign stuff, and I did that. I’ll never forget the face she made as she politely declined. What the fuck is wrong with me. I’m pretty sure one of the friends that I went with that night though got sick and vomited into his sweater and successfully hid it from the rest of us, for a while, anyway, carrying it around wrapped up in a secret bundle that we eventually convinced him to just throw into a passing dumpster. So at least I didn’t do that.

Anyway, Hatfield’s recent album entirely of Police covers is the best thing to happen to “Roxanne” since Moulin Rouge.

Up next: Neneh Cherry, "Buffalo Stance"

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