Song Review: "Savory" by Jawbox

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There’s something so wrenching and honest when it comes to love songs. I’m not talking about those typical poppy love songs, well, not entirely, but I’m talking about those raw and guttural love songs only a punk-emo band can pull off.

Sunny Day Real Estate did it, Jawbreaker was all about it, and Jimmy Eat World made a career out of love songs. Post-hardcore legends Jawbox (of no relation to their other Jaw counterpart) nailed, and I mean totally nailed, the edgy rawness love song in their grunge inspired masterpiece “Savory”.

From the onset of the scratchy chords, heart, infatuation, and deeply cryptic lyrics describing the love of another take center stage and plummet through a barrage of mid-90s alt-emo power. Simply put, “Savory” is equal parts love, angst, and immaculate songwriting.

Frontman and emo veteran J. Robbins gave an in-depth breakdown of the song last year on how he wrote it. In the article, written by Mischa Pearlman of Kerrang, Robbins notes simply the song was pieced together by saying “The chorus of the song was little more of a jammed-out thing”.

Simple or not, “Savory” is brilliantly played and expertly layered with the guitar overdubs and the remarkable echo effect of Robbins’ throat-shredding yell before the song breaks down into a beautiful cacophony of guitar and drum playing reminiscent of Nirvana’s “In Bloom”.

When it comes to the partial emo leaning of “Savory” it’s not hard to guess where that came from. J. Robbins, now renown as a famous music producer, spent his early days with Government Issue; a D.C. based hardcore outfit that was a part of the city’s Revolution Summer in 1985. Carrying that hardcore-emo aesthetic, Robbins implemented those themes into the works of Jawbox.

When it comes down to it, “Savory” is best known for the deeply cryptic lyrics that depict the newfound love of another with lines like “Hey angel, fly over and bless me/See you feign surprise”. Now, what that means I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve always thought of it as being an expression of infatuation of the beauty of the supposed love. It’s a description that Robbins has said in retrospect “makes the song kind of sexy.”

I love this song, quite a lot, and the visceral nature of the song. The bass playing of Kim Coletta is blissful and driving; it sounds like early Pixies where Kim Deal’s playing sings along with the chorus and pushes the song into a more aggressive and bleak direction. “Savory”, and its accompanying album, For Your Own Special Sweetheart, are nothing if not a near perfect amalgam of the grunge mainstream and burgeoning second wave of emo.

Jawbox didn’t set out to shape the music scene; they were a great assortment of talented musicians from various backgrounds who were looking to incorporate as many of their influences as they could. The earliest days of Jawbox found them at a crossroads of punk and alt rock, and by Robbins sprinkling his emocore experiences, the group then somehow found themselves alongside Jawbreaker and Nirvana in terms of the alternative takeover.

Just two years after the release of Sweetheart Jawbox called it quits. A year prior Jawbreaker crumbled away and in 1994 Nirvana broke up following the death of Kurt Cobain it was like the hardcore-grunge-emo empire had faded away. With MTV rotating the music video of “Savory”, Jawbox gained a fair amount of notoriety but it wasn’t enough to keep them afloat.

Some twenty years later, however, Jawbox is back on and playing the hell out of “Savory”, as evidenced by their performance On Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2009.

To me, it is an exciting prospect to have these highly influential bands reforming so I can possibly see them live and have a bigger incentive to talk and write about them. I don’t know what the future holds for J. Robbins and company but I sure hope it is on the level of Sweetheart and “Savory”.