Second Look: Regina Spektor's "Genius Next Door" - Best Track From Far?

I know I just posted a review of Regina Spektor's lovely new disc Far just last week. The more I listen to the disc, which has been in heavy (almost non-stop) rotation since I purchased it, the more I fall in love with a few tracks. None more than "Genius Next Door" - the kind of song that reminds me why I love Regina so damn much.

I purchased 2006's Begin To Hope several months after hearing "Fidelity" on the VH1. With it's beautiful pop-art video, I knew this crazy Russian lady was my kinda female singer-songwriter. If it had been a cassette, I would have worn that shit out. From the crazy piano beat on "Edit" to the haunting Billie Holiday tribute "Lady Sings The Blues" to the crazy French verse of "Apres Moi" I loved every song (except for "Field Below", I just could not get into that song) but "Samson" was my song. Regina's delicate voice opens the song with a line that does not stop hurting - "You are my sweetest downfall, I loved you first." The scherenschnitte-inspired video is pure magic, the song is heartbreaking beautiful. It owes a debt to Cohen's "Hallelujah", the placing of oneself in a biblical narrative is markedly similar. But I could not stop playing the song, over and over.

After that, I picked up Spektor's major label debut. Soviet Kitsch was not as polished, and lyrically, the single "Us" seemed like a sadly lacking prototype for "Samson". But songs like the punk goof "Your Honor" and a weird little song "Poor Little Rich Boy" featuring a percussion section made up of Regina banging a drumstick against a piano bench while she played were a great introduction to the more experimental side we'd see honed to pop perfection on Far. There was one song that grabbed me in the same way "Samson" had. "Chemo Limo" is a dream narrative, the classical-style piano underscoring a haunting lyric about a mother who can "afford chemo like I can afford a limo, and on any given day I'd rather ride a limousine." So she dreams about a final ride with her four children in a limo, and while this sounds like pure silliness, it's at once an eloquent indictment of the lack of universal health care and heartrending tale of a mother about to orphan her children.

I was a little disappointed that Far didn't seem to feature a song with such stunning grasp of narrative and emotion as "Samson" or "Chemo Limo." But the more I listened, I realized "Genius Next Door" is that song. The storyline is hard to follow, overnight a lake becomes as "thick as butter" and the kids keep swimming in it. Including the title character, who is busing tables when we meet him. He has a secret, and he likes swimming in his skivvies after stripping by the dumpster. One morning, the news crews show up and the genius dreams that the "antidote is orgasm." On the surface, I couldn't tell you what any of that means. But the way the story unfolds, the level of detail and the bright passion in Regina's vocals and piano playing provides a strange gravitas to the proceedings. And the chorus "If you just hold in your breath, 'til you come back up in full/hold your breath 'til you thought it through, you fool" seems to be a metaphor, perhaps the genius next door is college drop-out who is waisting his life as a bus boy in a lakeside resort town? Or maybe I'm just coloring the lyrics with own backstory.

That is what makes "Genius Next Door" so brilliant. Despite the care in crafting this storyline, Regina allows us to read our own experiences into her song. It's a beautiful thing.