Finn McCool
In 1976, the hard rock band Kiss released the soft piano ballad “Beth” as the third single from their fourth studio album Destroyer. A marked departure for the band, the song also became their biggest hit, reaching #7 on the US charts, earning gold record status, and becoming a worldwide success.
It seemed that many listeners identified with the subject of the song, who actually had a name, unlike women depicted in many other Kiss songs, who might be referred to only as “Strutter.” On the surface it appears to be a sweet love song about a guy in a band who misses his wife/girlfriend. In fact, that’s the way I had always thought of this song, if I thought of it at all. My only quibble was why the guy couldn’t figure out a way to manage the logistics of his scheduling better to allow for more time at home.
It was only later that I began to realize the misogyny behind this song. As in many other rock songs, the woman is treated like property. She basically has no choice but to accept what the guy has laid out for her, which is basically to wait around for him and be at his beck and call when he does finally show up. There is one line where the singer seems to show some kind of understanding of the woman’s feelings and says, “Beth I know you’re lonely,” but then it’s like “too bad,” as he rejoins with “I hope you’ll be all right” and offers no apology or alternate work schedule. In fact, during the whole song he never manages to come up with any solution at all, always falling back on “Beth, what can I do?”
At this point I would be remiss if I did not mention that the song is being sung by Kiss drummer Peter Criss. The fact that the drummer is telling his wife/girlfriend that it will take “a few more hours” in order for him “to get it right” just sets the stage for some drummer jokes. Now we’ve all met and played with drummers who are sharp as a tack and not only get it right the first time but somehow manage to make everybody else sound better with no discernible effort (or even practice).
But then there are those other drummers. I mean I guess they’re out there and yeah, they don’t really deserve our derision because they are probably doing the best they can do. And yet there are those jokes like:
What’s the difference between a drummer and a drum machine? With a drum machine, you only have to punch the information in once.
How many drummers does it take to screw in a light bulb? One, but the other band members have to show him how to do it.
What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A drummer.
And so on and so on.
Okay, so is the singer of the song a hopeless romantic, a hopeless musician, or a hopeless jerk?
The Columbus, Ohio-based band Scrawl had their own opinion on the song “Beth” with their answer song “Charles,” released in 1990 on the Rough Trade label.
Scrawl was formed in 1985 by Marcy Mays, Sue Harshe, and Carolyn O’Leary and immediately the women in the band faced harsh criticism for … being women in a band. Reviews of the band’s first two albums would generally call them sloppy and wisecrack that they needed to learn how to play their instruments, while other all-male bands with similar aesthetics would be described as “raw” or “edgy.” Facing such sexist double-standards on a regular basis no doubt fueled the writing and recording of “Charles.”
In “Charles,” Scrawl adroitly skewers the song “Beth” by playing up the meanness inherent in Kiss’ lyrics and turning the tables on the husband/boyfriend. They too, “can’t get it right.” When Kiss says, “I can’t come home right now,” Scrawl sees it as a demand to “stay up and wait.” Scrawl also makes it clear that the husband/boyfriend, like the wife/girlfriend in ”Beth,” is expected to provide sexual pleasure upon the arrival of the singer (“It will be worth the wait”). The singer indicates that she will become indignant if the husband/boyfriend is not patiently waiting (“I can’t come home and find you asleep,” “Put out or get out”). The husband/boyfriend is mocked for his subservience (“Charles, you’re some kind of man and when you give, you give on demand”). Scrawl matches Kiss by stating that they too “might be out all night.” Like the singer in the Kiss song, Scrawl also offers no apologies (“That’s the way it goes”).
Beth, I hear you calling and I know you never got an apology or alternate work schedule, but you are heard and at the very least you got an answer song.
The Gullible Ear 