“‘Waitress In The Sky’ has been misconstrued since day one. It came from my sister, who was a flight attendant, and she used the phrase in disgust, explaining that she was treated like a waitress in the sky. So I took the role of the demanding bastard in the aeroplane who expects the flight attendant to be a nurse and a maid. Some took it as a slam, but it was me trying to speak through her experiences. Nobody ever threw a drink on me over it."
—Paul Westerberg
Oh ho ho.
It's funny, what I took to be the class consciousness of the lyric always appealed to me, but I had trouble with what a jerk the narrator seemed to be. Not that his resentment was necessarily without some justification, but how he appeared to be taking it out on the wrong person.
And now I know why all that was. My oh my.
Damn, I had this one wrong too. Yet another revelation from Reason to Believe. Thanks boys.
ReplyDeleteI think I like it better as Paul's disgust with his sister though so I might try to mis-remember this one.
Thanks Davey! It's what we're here for. More to the point, it's what Scott's here for. I am largely just eye-candy.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree. I always figured the song was Paul's disgust as well. Just at some random flight attendant who irritated him. Scott's right - the class consciousness is always there, yet it kinda eluded me. Largely because I am kind of dumb.