If you know me, you know that me and Brandy Norwood go together real bad. Like, real bad. Today’s Song & Story is for her and a literary queen.
In Keyed, a deep cut that didn’t make the Human album, Brandy could have ended the chorus on “I’ll just key your car”. Musically, the notes resolve. Poetically, the line rhymes with the one that came before it. Instead, she chooses to give us extra sauce and just a sprinkle of a love crime by tacking on an extra measure and five extra words to the ending of the chorus: “a little in the back”.
In Sula, Toni Morrison overflows past the ending too—past death itself. When the novel’s main character dies, Morrison takes us into her thoughts:
“Well, I’ll be damned… it didn’t even hurt. Wait’ll I tell Nell.”
The first time I read that line, I paused to breathe. I was flabbergasted. Flummoxed, really.
Brandy cheekily keys her ex’s car. Morrison cheekily keys death.
My GOATs for a reason!
Watch me talk about this on TikTok.
