Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Little Dawn

I’ve long considered Ted Leo one of the nicest guys in indie rock (I mean, based on reputation and his Twitter account; sadly, I’ve still yet to actually meet him), but when it comes to the most well-known track off Shake the Sheets, Ian put it best in the notes for his “Over Our Bodies” mix:

Ted Leo seems like a standup guy. So what the holy hell is he doing writing a song that veers uncomfortably close to being pro-anorexia (yes, “Ana” and “Mia” are not girls)? I get that he’s probably just inhabiting a character, but giving a lyric that’s about how starving yourself is somehow noble such an anthemic chorus makes me very, very uneasy.

“Me and Mia” was the first Ted Leo song I ever heard. He and the Pharmacists have long been favorites of mine, and “Me and Mia” is one of the best TL/Rx songs. But there’s a bit of shadow hanging over it. The reason I first heard it was because my erstwhile girlfriend was listening to it in a bout of self-loathing. I gradually understood that it was about eating disorders, but I didn’t really pick up on the more unsettling bits at the time. A few months (or maybe a year or two) later, after I’d become a Ted Leo stan, I tried talking to her about the band and found out that it was the only song of theirs she had ever heard. A search of the “Me and Mia” tag on tumblr brings up a lot of “thinspiration” posts and gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach.

Well Little Dawn walks on, and she thinks she don’t belong under starry heights
So take a sigh as long as the war’s been going on in your heart tonight

And I guess that’s an extended intro to why I find “Little Dawn” so powerful. Because it’s not only catchy enough to rival “Me and Mia”, but while both songs contain calls to action, “And if you want to make it right, go on and put your plan in motion” isn’t unsettling in the same way as “Do you believe in something beautiful? Then get up and be it” is, at least given the different contexts of the songs. Especially considering that the former line just appears once, in the opening verse, whereas the latter is the opening of the chorus. And where the chorus of “Me and Mia” contains more troubling themes, that of “Little Dawn” offers only comfort:

But on the days and nights you try to breathe
and you can’t believe you still walk the streets
Stretch out your weary hand to me - it’s alright

And if you’re not content to just believe
And if you don’t consent to just let it be
Stretch out your legs and dance with me all night

I mean, I don’t like to use the word very often, particularly when talking about music, since I don’t want the term to become any more cliché and devalued than it already is, but this is a very cathartic song for me.

It’s alright.

He quietly repeats that simple phrase 149 times in the song’s last two minutes, by my count. And, at least while it’s still going, I can’t help but believe him.