BA-baa

Aldous Harding, “Old Peel” | 2021

Aldous Harding’s 2021 art-folk single is, on one level, a paean to lyric pronunciation that communicates our ability to feel more than we can say. The surrealist lines, enunciated loosely then tightly then loosely again, match like items curated separately and set in the same room. They are true to the beat and heart without us really understanding why: “Hot clown and the creek is turning,” “sheets of Easter” and “feet of Easter,” “streets of favor” and “cheats of labour.” 

The song centers on the chorus/refrain, “Old peel, no deal / I won’t speak if you call me BA-baa.” (← There are seven babies in the song, each pronounced a little differently, most with a flourish of the short “a.”)

The chorus/refrain could be read (and has been hypothesized) as a rejection of a former lover, an “old peel” to which there will be no returning: “No deal.” In this hypothesis, the second line solidifies the resolve of the speaker, if not explicitly stating, “I will even refuse to speak to you if you dare to utter, in our secret way, that one, specific pet name.”

Maybe that interpretation is correct.

However, knowing how ex-lovers communicate, it could also be read as the opposite:

“I promise not to speak. I’ll be willing to toss aside our differences if you display familiar tenderness to me. I miss the way you called me ‘baby.’”

Like the song itself, the meaning of “baby” defies certainty.