Even though this is a love letter to one of my all-time favorite Sonic Youth songs, I have to admit that I already basically told its story through "The Ineffable Me". While that song was one of three revealed in March, "Female Mechanic" first surfaced on June 5th, 1997. Exactly four years earlier, they had unveiled a new batch of songs at the Knitting Factory, short simple ideas that would later lead to Jet Set. This time, they were under the Brooklyn Bridge, and each song was a lengthy instrumental, aside from "Hits of Sunshine". At this point, the song was still known as "Static Overview". They didn't fit it into their Tibetan Freedom Concert set just two nights later, but on June 12th they recorded all six songs for the PBS program Sessions at West 54th. When that performance was cut down to three songs for broadcast in August, "Static Overview" was one of them, and to say it made an impact on me is understating things.

I droned on about that PBS set when I talked about "The Ineffable Me", but to recap: crunchy Kim riff, pounding Steve beat, Thurston going wild with a slide, whammy bar, his whole fist, whatever. Again, I hadn't seen very much pro-shot footage of the band at that stage, so watching Thurston abuse his guitar so effortlessly made me re-evaluate the possibilities of, well, music. I was already in love with "I Love Her All The Time", particularly as demonstrated on The Year Punk Broke (huh, that would have been a good idea for a Valentine's song!), but this somehow seemed more focused, going from wailing noise to actual riffs with relative ease. When they got to the next section, a loooong passage where Kim strikes one chord while Lee and Thurston just droooooone, I was mesmerized, perched right up against the TV screen. Hey, I was 14! As a reminder, these were not the days of YouTube, this was a pretty rare opportunity to see my favorite band play on television. The fact that they were playing 3 songs I'd never heard felt like I was peeking at a Christmas present early. After that lengthy wall of noise, Thurston came back in with a riff that I still love (and so does he, I swear I've heard him play a variation in various post-Sonic tracks). The nuances of Steve's assorted percussion devices and beat switches were also compelling, as was the idea that Lee had put a capo on in the middle of the song. Imagine that! Then it hit the final riff, with Thurston plucking out arpeggiated harmonics and then stomping on what I would later discover was an MXR Blue Box, followed by everyone riding one last chord to the end. I must have watched that VHS tape a thousand times. Well, at least a dozen.

Just a few weeks after that aired, I saw them at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, and they played all those songs and more. It was bittersweet, finally getting to see them again but not hearing any "classics". I'd get used to that. Regardless, they delivered a fantastic hour-long set to a stadium's worth of people cooking in the hot sun. "Static Overview" popped up near the end, and was just as menacing as I'd expected. I already knew all the changes and felt like I was in on something special. (Remember, fourteen.) I was really, really looking forward to their next album.

I'd have to wait a little longer, but A Thousand Leaves dropped in May 1998. The double vinyl may have arrived in people's mail boxes a little earlier, though if I recall mine got redirected to a town with the same name in Australia. Oops! I was underwhelmed by "Contre Le Sexisme", pleased with the new recording of "Sunday", and then came the retitled "Female Mechanic Now On Duty". I couldn't wait to hear the studio version, but...what the fuck was this? Kim's kickass crunchy riff that opens the song had changed! It was subtle, but unmistakeably different - more laidback, less aggressive. Steve's heavy mallet-to-tom attack was subdued, and the whole groove seemed off. It was still sick with noise, Kim's voice sounded awesome and her approach to the vocal was perfect, but...what the fuck happened to that riff?

Here's the deal - I don't know. I've heard nearly every live version from this era, and they never once played it the way it's captured on the album. They premiered it live with vocals on March 19th, 1998 in Austin, Texas (introduced by Kim as "Female Mechanic On Duty Now") and it was played almost nightly, but never with the alternate rhythm that's used on the recorded version. I don't know if that was the very first time they recorded it and it evolved from there, or if she just forgot how to play it that day, or what - but you'd think if that was how they decided it worked best, they would have tried it that way at least once live. So yeah, this love letter has a big asterisk, as all good love letters do.

Much of A Thousand Leaves is said to be cobbled together from multiple takes, and that's certainly obvious - I do wonder how the record would have sounded if it wasn't the inaugural full-length tracked in their own studio. This was my first case of falling in love with live versions and later being somewhat let down by the studio take, which was a lesson that took a long time to learn. Ironically, when I first heard the LP version of "Female Mechanic" I complained that Thurston's harmonic/rumble riff wasn't as clear as it was on the PBS version (I routed my VCR through large stereo speakers). The joke was on me, cuz I later learned they'd taken the ending of the studio version directly from the PBS session! I still think they remixed it to better match the tone of the preceding sections, but at what cost? I suppose it gave me something to bitch about over 25 years later. Yeesh. Some love letter.

Speaking of "Bitch", the press kit for A Thousand Leaves offers a clue as to the song's meaning: "It's worth mentioning," says Kim. "That the song, 'Female Mechanic on Duty' was inspired by 'Bitch' by that famous Lilith-type female singer, Meredith Brooks. It's an answer song." She offers a similar take when introducing it at the Loreley Festival on June 20th: "This song is for all the girls who don't wanna be mothers or lovers or, uh, bitches or...I don't know, anything!"

Live versions are my go-to for this awesome song, since they bring an energy that just isn't present on the LP take. I love the droning midsection and the "Touch the fire in the rain..." bit on the record, but I can't get past the oddball rhythmic shift in the primary riff. Certain live versions make it apparent why they chose to snip the ending from the PBS take, since they often had issues cueing the start and finish of the last section (the song ends on a single Kim open string following the entire band killing one chord for nearly a minute straight). Lee addressed this in the August 1998 Guitar Player feature: "That song has the only bit of music that wasn't recorded in our studio. Towards the end, there's a part where this other section comes jarring in. That stuff was recorded when we played this live TV show called Sessions at West 54th Street. We really loved the way the taping came out, so we just spliced part of our TV performance into the song. "Female Mechanic" has that episodic thing going on. Each one of the song's sections could be used to write a completely different song - if we were a normal band, that is!"

They played the song nightly on the February 1999 European tour, and laid it to rest in NYC on February 27th. Since "Hits of Sunshine" didn't make it past 1998, this actually makes "Female Mechanic" the last song to be performed using the EGDGED tuning that Kim came up with prior to Goo, and Thurston used heavily all through the 90s. Since they never played anything like "Dirty Boots" or "Purr" or "Skink" or "The Diamond Sea" again, and Thurston had fallen for CGDGxx, it was left behind in 1999.

I know there's some pretty good video footage of various 1998 shows, including the pro-shot Loreley set discussed earlier (with continental separation between the band and the crowd), but I wanted to share two takes I filmed in Seattle in May 1998. They did back-to-back nights at the Moore Theatre, which is attached to the Moore Hotel. Somehow my mom agreed to take me down for the two shows, and I guess it seemed logical to stay at the adjoining hotel. I borrowed a fancy video camera from my school's multi-media department, including three big brick batteries that I had to make sure were charged, with the intention of filming both nights. I succeeded, but neglected to realize that any stupid comments or excited utterances I made ("YEEEEAHHHHHH!!!", etc) would be likewise preserved, and make playback a little embarrassing. I'd been working on a mix of both nights combined into one, using the less shaky footage and some soundboard audio to smooth it out. I put that on the backburner when both shows appeared, to my surprise, during the big SY torrent flood of 2020. Plus, much better videos are available from this tour, so it didn't seem necessary anymore. I'll still use the relevant songs if I do anymore Thousand Leaves features, but I appreciate that the footage is kinda chaotic. Hey, if you wanted to know what it was like to be in the first or second row during this tour, here you go.

Equally as embarassing as my dumb teenage interjections was my dumb teenage bravado somehow leading me backstage while the band was soundchecking, which I could hear from inside the hotel. I was looking to see if there was somewhere I could plug in my video camera during the show so I didn't have to gamble on the batteries, but was not expecting to suddenly walk onstage while the band was working. I was a fifteen-year-old dork with bad Kurt Cobain hair who clearly did not belong, and was quickly ushered out. Later, I recall chasing Thurston up the street to quiz him about his MXR Blue Box, which I'd become enamored with due to its usage on both "Female Mechanic" and "Anagrama". This was back when Harvey Levin was still just the guy who hung around outside The People's Court, but I went full TMZ on his ass just to get some precious information. Of course, looking back I can only cringe and accept that I was somehow destined to be a giant fucking Sonic Youth nerd, and apparently never grow out of it. Really, this entire site is a love letter to the band's music, and while my teenage enthusiasm makes me shudder, I can't deny that it helped me create one hell of a resource, and it still brings me joy to share all this crap with you (yes, you!) decades later.

I used the videos I shot to figure out much of the A Thousand Leaves material back then, and of course the PBS performance helped as well. I've tried to expand on some of the "just go crazy!" instructions with actual notes to play, plus I'd been missing some of Thurston's finer riffs and the more intricate pieces of Lee's part. Really, I just wanted to celebrate a song I love so much, and I hope y'all don't mind my self indulgent blather. I try to space out the more "personal" features, but sometimes it's fun to reminisce about what a song means to me and not just what it means in the grand scheme of their body of work. Otherwise, I fear these "articles" will just seem like AI-written interpretations of the Song Database. If you have any comments or corrections, I'd love to hear them as always. Sonic Love to anyone who still visits this site and...

A SECTION				00:00-02:37

Kim starts the song:

B---------0-0-0-7-8-8----------0-0-0-7-3-3---
G---------0-0-0-7-8-8----------0-0-0-7-3-3---
G---------0-0-0-7-8-8----------0-0-0-7-3-3---  x 17
D--------------------------------------------
A--5\7-7----------------5\7-7----------------
D--5\7-7----------------5\7-7----------------

She plays the riff 4 times with no vocals, 4 times with vocals, 2 times with no vocals, then 7 times
with vocals. When she sings "cuz I'm supposed to dare", she turns a phaser on, leaving it on til
the next section.

Kill the treble so the higher strings aren't "bright".

Thurston comes in halfway during Kim's opening riff. He is just pushing a slide
against his strings to make plinky noise.

At 0:21 he starts playing modulated harmonics (probably Hendrix Octave Fuzz?)

D---------                           ---*7*-------*5*---   turn on wah, hold 5th fret 
E---------   		             -------------------    as kim starts singing
G---------                           -------------------
D---------                           -------------------
G---------                           -------------------
E---*5*--- raise and return w/ bar   -------------------

He sustains the high 5th fret harmonic with some Wah/Vol assistance and lets it feedback
while Kim sings the start of the first verse.

Around 0:47 he plays a non-harmonic:

D-----------                    ---*19*--------*5*----  then he just kinda lets
E-----------                    ----------------------    some feedback swell
G-----------                    ----------------------       until he goes clean...
D---17~~~--- hold w/ nasty wah  ----------------------
G-----------                    ----------------------
E-----------                    ----------------------

At 1:16 he starts his main clean riff:

D--------------------0-----------------------12-------
E----------------------9------------------------------
G-------9-9------0---------------9-9--0---12----------
D-----------11-----11----------------11---------------
G---9--------------------12---9------------------12---
E---0-------------------------0-----------------------

He plays a variation of that, usually closer to the 2nd part with the 12th fret picked out.

He continues while Kim starts her second verse. At 2:01 he changes to a new riff, which you may need
to listen for the timing of the strumming:

D---7--7-7-5-5-5-5-7---2-2-2-2-5-7--7-7-7-7--12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-14---14-14-14-14-17-17-17-17-19---
E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D---7--7-7-5-5-5-5-7---2-2-2-2-5-7--7-7-7-7--12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-14---14-14-14-14-17-17-17-17-19---
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 2:10 he just holds that last chord at the 19th fret, aggressively trem picking. He starts to add in
a few other notes around the 17-19th frets of the D strings, then goes wild up the fretboard with
distorted wah feedback. This blends into the next section.
                 
Lee comes in after Kim has played her full riff once.

A-----------------
G-----------------
G---0^2-2-2------- 
D---0^2-2-2------- x 4		on live versions, he'd add the 3rd fret sometimes
G---0^2-2-2-------
G---0^2-2-2-------

A---------------------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------------------
G---0^2-2-2-------------------0^2-2-2--------------------- repeat variation x 6
D---0^2-2-2---------7--5~~~---0^2-2-2---------7-----------
G---0^2-2-2-----\9------------0^2-2-2-----\9-----7b--3~~~-
G---0^2-2-2-------------------0^2-2-2---------------------

A----------------
G----------------
G---0^2---------- x 2
D---0^2----------
G---0^2----------
G---0^2----------

"I wanna paint my face..."

A------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------
G-----------9~~~~----------9~~-------------
D-------------------------------11~~~~~----
G---9~~~~-----------9~~~~------------------
G------------------------------------------

w/ massive phaser:

A----------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------
G--------------------------9~~----------- variation  x 3
D-----------------------------11~~~~~----
G---9~~~~-----------9~~~~----------------
G----------------------------------------

The phaser gets more exaggerated as he plays, to the point where it obscures the note
he's actually playing. 

When Kim sings "make you go squish" he seems to drop off into low feedback for a bit,
returning at 2:24 with his previous riff (a little sloppier than this, but same idea).

A---------------------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------------------
G---0^2-2-2-------------------0^2-2-2--------------------- repeat variation x 2
D---0^2-2-2---------7--5~~~---0^2-2-2---------7-----------
G---0^2-2-2-----\9------------0^2-2-2-----\9-----7b--3~~~-
G---0^2-2-2-------------------0^2-2-2---------------------

B SECTION				02:37-04:58

Kim strikes one chord over and over, flicking her pickup switch back and forth each time.

B---2---
G---2---
G---2---
D---2---
A-------
D-------

Thurston begins this section with aggressive distorted wah noise randomly attacking the highest
notes, but quickly settles into a loooooong pulsating feedback wail. This is pretty much a 
free for all, he lets his guitar feedback while slightly adjusting his Wah/Vol to change the
way it tremolos or whatever. This ringing is held for nearly 2 minutes.

Lee:

A----------------------------------------
G----------------------------------------
G---0^2-2-2------------------------------  it sounds like he might be toggling pickups
D---0^2-2-2---------7--------------------   while feeding back.. at this point he puts
G---0^2-2-2-----\9-----7b--3~~~----0~~~~-    a capo on the 2nd fret
G---0^2-2-2------------------------0~~~~-

After getting the capo on the 2nd fret, he hits the open strings and just lets the
feedback ring for a looooong time.

C SECTION				04:58-06:16

Kim holds one chord, coming in after Thurston has played his riff twice. At first she
just strikes it a few times, then builds into the steady rhythm:

B-----------------------------------------------------
G---9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9---
G---9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9---
D---9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9--- etc
A-----------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------

Thurston cuts the wall of noise with a clean riff:

D------------------------0--------
E--------------------------9------
G---------9-9--------0------------
D-----9-9-9-9-11--11---11---------
G--9--9-9----------9---------12---
E--0------------------------------

At 5:36 he changes it slightly:

D----------------12-----------
E---------------------12------
G------9---0------------------
D---------11--0-----0---------
G---9-------------------------
E---0-------------------------

Then he goes back to the previous riff. At the very end of this section he just builds on:

D-------
E-------
G-------
D-------
G---9---
E---0---

Lee turns on his ring modulator and delay and keeps playing a G note with varying degrees
of octave/pitch manipulation (still with capo at 2nd fret). There's a couple other notes
you can add for variety:

A---------------------
G---------------------
G---10--------9-------
D-----------------8---
G---------------------
G---------------------

At 5:44 he starts with this clean riff:

A--------------------------------------------------
G-----------------5\4-2^0--------------------------
G---7\4-4---4-4-4----------5\7--7\4-4--4-4\5-5\7---
D--------------------------------------------------
G---7\4-4---4-4-4----------5\7--7\4-4--4-4\5-5\7---
G--------------------------------------------------

D SECTION				06:16-07:43

This is where the PBS version kicks in.

Kim keeps at the same chord:

B-----------------------------------------------------
G---9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9---
G---9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9---
D---9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9--- etc
A-----------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------

End on:

B-------
G-------
G---0---
D-------
A-------
D-------

Thurston:

D-------------------------------*12*--
E-----------------------*12*----------
G---------------*12*--------*12*------  step on BLUE BOX
D-------*12*-------------------------- 
G-----------*12*----------------------
E---*12*------------------------------

He ends by playing a steady chord at the 12th fret, with more emphasis on the higher notes.
Sometimes the high G and low D bleed in but the high E and high D strings are clearer.

D---12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12--- etc
E----0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0---
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He does not play the final note (but if you wanted to, it's a G).

Lee barres the 7th fret and picks out notes softly:

A----------7------
G-------------7---
G-------7---------  repeat variation
D-----7-----------
G---7-------------  
G-----------------

Sometimes he adds extra notes to the arpeggiation:

A---7---
G---10--  
G---9---
D---7---
G---7---
G---7---

At 6:52 or so he just starts playing the full 7th fret chord until 7:31, or you can
play the chord above with the dissonant notes. You can also play it as a barre with
an extra note on the A string:

A--(8)--
G---7---
G---7---
D---7---
G---7---
G---7---

He does not play the final note with Kim.



text + tab by Chris Lawrence