Hitchcock's Women
from The Professor of Rap by The Professor of Rap
about
Tippi Hedren gave perhaps the single greatest performance in film history in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1962 film, “The Birds,” an apocalyptic tale about bird attacks on a small California coastal town, Bodega Bay. At the time, no moviegoer or Hitchcock fan knew that Hitch had a long history of sexual intimidation, compulsive humiliation and obsessive filth-talk toward his leading ladies. We, the audience, saw him as the eccentric, avuncular director who appeared in his own delightfully paranoiac suspense melodramas and as a host of a gothic television show, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” But even as a thirteen year old, I knew that something was wrong with the filming of “The Birds.” Both Look and Life magazines, the two most popular photo magazines of the time, featured articles on Ms. Hedren and “The Birds.” I remember looking at a black-and-white photo in, I think, Look, in which Ms. Hedren was about to have a bird crash into her face. I also recall thinking that something was wrong about this photo, and wondering (much like one wonders at the circus) who would subject herself to such terrifying abuse. The abuse was so much greater than my intimations.
After Hitchcock’s death in 1980, stories about his sexual madness began to emerge, and no story was as terrifying as that of his destruction of Ms. Hedren’s career. The tale which I’ve attempted to tell in the song “Hitchcock’s Women” is well suited to the rap vernacular. It is a story of the outrageous degradation of a brilliant, unattainable woman at the hands of an all-powerful artist.
Ms. Hedren survived the ruination of her career and she did something movie stars seldom do. She did something else. Now, as the force behind the Shambala Preserve, she provides a refuge in southern California for abandoned, abused and unwanted lions, tigers, leopards and cougars. Please consider making a donation here: www.shambala.org/member.htm
After Hitchcock’s death in 1980, stories about his sexual madness began to emerge, and no story was as terrifying as that of his destruction of Ms. Hedren’s career. The tale which I’ve attempted to tell in the song “Hitchcock’s Women” is well suited to the rap vernacular. It is a story of the outrageous degradation of a brilliant, unattainable woman at the hands of an all-powerful artist.
Ms. Hedren survived the ruination of her career and she did something movie stars seldom do. She did something else. Now, as the force behind the Shambala Preserve, she provides a refuge in southern California for abandoned, abused and unwanted lions, tigers, leopards and cougars. Please consider making a donation here: www.shambala.org/member.htm
lyrics
Alfred Hitchcock had just one thought:
That women kill when men are caught.
Love and fear are all the same
To Hitchcock in his lover's game.
Would Cary Grant kill Joan Fontaine?
Would Kim drive Jimmy Stewart mad?
Would Eva Marie be a femme fatale?
Should Janet Leigh go through torture porn hell?
Novak's killed twice,
Vera Miles goes insane,
And Theresa Wright's
Almost tossed off a train.
The most special effects of
The Master of Suspense
Are reserved for Tippi Hedren,
With a love so tense,
So polluted, so knotted,
So shameful, that Hitch
Tried to disfigure
His love object / His bitch.
"Women are bad, very bad," thought Hitch,
"They deserve what they get,"
"Ya gotta kill that itch."
"Women are bad, very bad," thought Hitch,
"They deserve what they get,"
"Ya gotta kill that itch."
Hitch was watching
The Today Show
When he saw Tippi,
His next ho.
He put her under contract
For seven years
Of pain and hell and rage and fear.
He chose her clothes; he changed her name.
Then "The Birds" changed the game.
"The Birds" changed the game.
Remember that scene when she goes
To the attic? That scene that creates
An audience panic?
Hitch told her he’d only have mechanical birds,
But he threw real ones right straight at her.
The exhaustion and the terror.
The exhaustion and the terror.
The exhaustion and the terror you see were real,
And so were the facial scars time had to heal.
He had his Kim Novak, his Janet Leigh.
Hitch created and destroyed Hedren every day.
Small comfort that for almost a week
Ravens and crows had rubber-banded beaks.
Small comfort that for almost a week
Ravens and crows had rubber-banded beaks
That pecked at her eyes so that we could say
“She’s an icy actress. Looks like a cold Leigh."
She had enough. She wanted out.
"I'll ruin your career," Hitch started to shout.
He did.
He did.
He ruined her career.
A single mother with rent to pay.
She had nothing to say.
He ruined her career.
He did.
He did.
Can I... Can I bring in the lovebirds, Mitch?
They haven't harmed anyone.
That women kill when men are caught.
Love and fear are all the same
To Hitchcock in his lover's game.
Would Cary Grant kill Joan Fontaine?
Would Kim drive Jimmy Stewart mad?
Would Eva Marie be a femme fatale?
Should Janet Leigh go through torture porn hell?
Novak's killed twice,
Vera Miles goes insane,
And Theresa Wright's
Almost tossed off a train.
The most special effects of
The Master of Suspense
Are reserved for Tippi Hedren,
With a love so tense,
So polluted, so knotted,
So shameful, that Hitch
Tried to disfigure
His love object / His bitch.
"Women are bad, very bad," thought Hitch,
"They deserve what they get,"
"Ya gotta kill that itch."
"Women are bad, very bad," thought Hitch,
"They deserve what they get,"
"Ya gotta kill that itch."
Hitch was watching
The Today Show
When he saw Tippi,
His next ho.
He put her under contract
For seven years
Of pain and hell and rage and fear.
He chose her clothes; he changed her name.
Then "The Birds" changed the game.
"The Birds" changed the game.
Remember that scene when she goes
To the attic? That scene that creates
An audience panic?
Hitch told her he’d only have mechanical birds,
But he threw real ones right straight at her.
The exhaustion and the terror.
The exhaustion and the terror.
The exhaustion and the terror you see were real,
And so were the facial scars time had to heal.
He had his Kim Novak, his Janet Leigh.
Hitch created and destroyed Hedren every day.
Small comfort that for almost a week
Ravens and crows had rubber-banded beaks.
Small comfort that for almost a week
Ravens and crows had rubber-banded beaks
That pecked at her eyes so that we could say
“She’s an icy actress. Looks like a cold Leigh."
She had enough. She wanted out.
"I'll ruin your career," Hitch started to shout.
He did.
He did.
He ruined her career.
A single mother with rent to pay.
She had nothing to say.
He ruined her career.
He did.
He did.
Can I... Can I bring in the lovebirds, Mitch?
They haven't harmed anyone.
credits
from The Professor of Rap,
released May 21, 2010
Borek/McNeil
Borek/McNeil
license
all rights reserved
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The Professor of Rap Rochester
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Aug 2008
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