Right Where You Always Wanted To Be

Veruca Salt “Shutterbug”

It took me about 20 years to realize that this song is probably called “Shutterbug” because it’s a series of snapshots of people in small, pivotal moments. The chorus changes perspective with each iteration – “it’s her thrill” when it’s about a girl on tv who’s “a fool for the last living rock king;” it’s about “your thrill” when she’s addressing her power over a lover; it’s “my thrill” when she flips it to focus on the power they have over her. I love the way the verses build a tension that switches to euphoria at the start of the chorus, but then reverts back to a grinding tension: She can’t change. You can’t change. I can’t change. CHANGE! CHANGE! That last repetition sounds different depending on my mood – sometimes it’s like begging for change, sometimes it’s like cheering it on. Today it just sounds like slamming into a wall, over and over, and hoping each impact breaks through it somehow.

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