F--k Was I

Album: Batten the Hatches (2005)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • A track from Jenny Owen Youngs' first album, "F--k Was I" was unlikely to show up on radio stations or family friendly fare, but it fit well on the Showtime series Weeds, which is about a woman of questionable morality who sells marijuana to earn her living. The song appeared in the first episode of the show's second season, which aired August 14, 2006. The song was also included on Weeds: Music from the Original Series, Volume 2.
  • In our interview with Jenny Owen Youngs, the New Jersey-raised singer described the inspiration for this song as "horrible, horrible, horrible decision making," adding that it was "just your classic love gone wrong hell."
  • Jenny wrote this song when she was a student at Purchase College in New York, and didn't anticipate the song becoming her most popular and one she'd have to perform on stage many years later. "'F--k' used to be a really important part of my vocabulary," she told us in 2013. "It still is important, but I use it a lot less than I did as a younger, angrier person. I would say it's more uncomfortable now. It's weird, you spend so much time with the songs that you make, writing them and then recording them, and then performing them.

    I've been playing that song for a bunch of years, and I feel like it's my responsibility to play it as long as I feel like I can do a good job. Some nights it just is a total wreck, but I like to play the songs that people really respond to, because there's nothing worse than a band who you go see them and they won't play, for lack of a better word, their hits. That's always kind of a bummer. I don't want to shoo people who pay to come out and see me, I want to play the songs. But now it feels weirder to perform it because I don't have the sailor mouth that I once did. So it always feel a little funny.

    I'm an adult now. [Laughing] So excessive swearing is just a funny thing to get up on stage and do now as a grownup."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Wedding Bell Blues

Wedding Bell BluesSong Writing

When a song describes a wedding, it's rarely something to celebrate - with one big exception.

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Queen

QueenFact or Fiction

Scaramouch, a hoople and a superhero soundtrack - see if you can spot the real Queen stories.

Barry Dean ("Pontoon," "Diamond Rings And Old Barstools")

Barry Dean ("Pontoon," "Diamond Rings And Old Barstools")Songwriter Interviews

A top country songwriter, Barry talks about writing hits for Little Big Town, Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.