Marshall Crenshaw – Cynical Girl —-Powerpop Friday

It doesn’t get much better than this. This song was off his self-titled debut album Marshall Crenshaw that peaked at #50 on the Billboard album charts in 1982. Marshall only had one chart hit and that was with Someday, Someway off of this same album…it just shows that life isn’t fair at times. Every song is good on this album…you cannot say that about most albums.

Songs like this… is the reason I do this on Fridays.

Marshall Crenshaw on the song: ‘Cynical Girl’ sounds like it just came off the top of my head in one pass; that’s probably what happened. Quite a few of my songs are like that: I just start singing and playing without any advance thought. But then, with ‘Cynical Girl’ and so many others, the words take time to arrive. I asked another person to take a crack at it first but the guy wrote something that had no cohesion. My idea for the lyrics came to me one day when I was walking out of traffic court, just out of the blue. The lyrics have an oddness to them, and humor too; they said some things that I wanted to say. People have sometimes asked me, ‘Who’s it about?’ ‘Did you find her yet?’, etc. It’s really not about a girl—that’s just off-the-shelf rock-and-roll language. To me, what the song says in a funny way is ‘I hate brain-dead mass-culture [stuff] and I want to hang around with people who feel the same.’ People have always really loved that song and identified with it and of course I love that!”

Cynical Girl

Well I’m goin’ out
I’m goin’ out lookin’ for a cynical girl
Who’s got no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl
Well I hate TV

There’s gotta be somebody other than me
Who’s ready to write it off immediately
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl

Well I’ll know right away by the look in her eye
She harbors no illusions and she’s worldly-wise
And I’ll know when I give her a listen that she
She’s what I’ve been missin’
What I’ve been missin’
I’ll be lost in love

And havin’ some fun with my cynical girl
Who’ll have no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl
Well I’m goin’ out

I’m goin’ out lookin’ for a cynical girl
Who’s got no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl

Yeah I’ll know right away by the look in her eye
She harbors no illusions and she’s worldly-wise
And I’ll know when I give her a listen that she
She’s what I’ve been missin’
What I’ve been missin’
I’ll be lost in love

And havin’ some fun with my cynical girl
Who’ll have no use for the real world
I’m lookin’ for a cynical girl

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

22 thoughts on “Marshall Crenshaw – Cynical Girl —-Powerpop Friday”

  2. I loved Marshall Crenshaw and wish we’d heard more from him. This song is really catchy, but I thought at the time that the lyrics were a bit too mainstream. He blended in rather than standing out.

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    1. I wish mainstream would have played him more. That makes it more confusing on why he didn’t get more air time. His name…I knew but I never heard his music until I got the album.

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  4. I agree with y’all… that’s a good song that should’ve gotten at least some airplay! I have heard his name for years but didn’t really know anything by him until recently.
    I’m gonna go see if I can find the record cover Aphoristical mentions … I’ve had that debate with other records with some fans , ergo that a lousy or bland album cover can indeed limit an album’s appeal and sales , conversely a very eye-catching one will boost sales. Or at least that was the case when there were record stores and people bought their music in them!

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  11. Reblogged this on Observation Blogger and commented:
    The next song in the music library project was found by way of reading my good friend’s music blog so I have reblogged his article here. As Max (Badfinger) attests, Marshall Crenshaw’s Cynical Girl is the perfect Friday Powerpop song. I must listen to Crenshaw’s debut album since Max and ‘Hanspostcards’ couldn’t have written more highly of it. Cheers.

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