Nicholas Urie: Bad Girl?

People can find inspiration for art in some surprising places. This happens because creative types tend to see relationships between objects that seem quite unlike. Nicholas Urie's use of human speech as source material isn't exactly new. For example, Steve Reich created "Different Trains" from pieces of conversation overheard on train trips between Los Angeles and New York. Ah, but just look at the title the CD. Yes, the basic ingredients did indeed come from Internet dating sites. The song's title "Bad Girl?" doesn't exactly telegraph this, but the lines "I am familiar with the forms/Of female discipline" do get you closer.

The song opens with Christine Correa's pure voice singing a proud ascending passage: "I am a forty-two year old/Good looking and sexy..." The band kicks in with a sort of naughty march and we're transported directly into a horny and desperate Broadway play of the mind. I mean that in the best possible way. Urie's stellar ensemble is quite malleable, equally comfortable with both that thematic march and the swingin', straight ahead jazz that's played later. Oh and there's some bump & grind burlesque right near the end as Correa gets down to business, singing about "good ol' fashioned discipline" and "spanking fun." Hmmm, a cold shower might be necessary after this track.