\n<\/p>\n
In Greta Gerwig\u2019s Barbieland<\/a>, where every day is the best day ever, pop stars like Lizzo, Dua Lipa and Charli XCX provide a bouncy soundtrack as the live-action dolls go about their cheery, blissful lives. That is, until Margot Robbie\u2019s \u201cstereotypical\u201d Barbie cues a record scratch with a rare and shocking existential query: \u201cDo you guys ever think about dying?\u201d<\/p>\n To resolve this disruption to her otherwise perfect life, she hops in her pink Corvette and belts along to a track filled with strummed acoustic guitars and close harmonies. \u201cThere\u2019s more than one answer to these questions, pointing me in a crooked line,\u201d she sings with a smile, before thrusting a manicured pointer in the air.<\/p>\n Barbie\u2019s song of choice on her way to the Real World is the Indigo Girls\u2019 \u201cCloser to Fine.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The Indigo Girls, a folk duo from Georgia who have released 15 studio albums since 1987, featured \u201cCloser to Fine\u201d as the opening track on their self-titled 1989 LP. Emily Saliers wrote the song after she and her fellow singer and guitarist, Amy Ray, graduated from Emory University in Atlanta and were regularly playing a local bar called the Little Five Points Pub. It became a staple of the Girls\u2019 live show that spread thanks to college radio play and an opening slot on tour with another Georgia band, R.E.M.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a song about seeking, Saliers said by phone this month: \u201cI searched here and I searched there, and if I just try to take it easy and get a little bit of knowledge and wisdom from different sources, then I\u2019m going to be closer to fine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cCloser to Fine,\u201d with its four-chord verses, octave-jumping chorus and slightly inscrutable lyrics, has been a staple of dorm room singalongs, karaoke excursions and car rides for years, and it is the Indigo Girls\u2019 most identifiable tune. \u201cIndigo Girls,\u201d their first album for a major label, went double platinum and won a Grammy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got a very easy melody and really easy chorus, and the chorus repeats,\u201d Saliers said. \u201cWhen you get to a chorus of a song that you\u2019re into and you can just sing it at the top of your lungs, I think just structurally, melodically, it\u2019s really a road trip song and I think that\u2019s why you see it in those kinds of scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n Ray said \u201cCloser to Fine\u201d represents 80 percent of the band\u2019s licensing, but the duo are generally told very little about how their music will be used. They don\u2019t allow commercials, but have had successful soundtrack and onscreen placements in films like \u201cPhiladelphia\u201d and TV shows including \u201cThe Office\u201d and \u201cTransparent.\u201d In 1995, the duo starred as Whoopi Goldberg\u2019s house band in the movie \u201cBoys on the Side.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was really important at that time for us to reach more people,\u201d Ray said in a phone interview. \u201cThose kinds of things are just invaluable for an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n The Indigo Girls have a similar hope for \u201cBarbie,\u201d already a global phenomenon with powerhouse marketing and intergenerational brand recognition. A \u201cCloser to Fine\u201d cover by Brandi and Catherine Carlile appears on the expanded edition of the movie\u2019s soundtrack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI always felt that song was really defining of who they were in that era,\u201d Brandi Carlile said in an interview. \u201cThat, even more than lesbians, what they were was intellectuals. They were offering up a life beyond the life that young people knew. And it\u2019s a very young person\u2019s song,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s about seeking out more than you thought you believed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Still, given little context in an initial call from their manager, Saliers said she was nervous. \u201cI didn\u2019t know who was directing it or anything, and I was like, \u2018Oh, this is about Barbie? We better check to make sure this is kosher,\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cBut as it turned out, it\u2019s in the hands of Greta and it\u2019s just this amazing thing that happened. It was a complete surprise to me and Amy.\u201d<\/p>\n Ray called it a gift: \u201cIt\u2019s just absolutely wonderful that they\u2019re using it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCloser to Fine\u201d recurs in the film three times and appears in its official trailer, but it\u2019s been recirculating in pop culture organically, too. In March, a video of the comedian Tig Notaro singing it on a party bus alongside a crew that included Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach and Sarah Paulson blew up online<\/a>. The band\u2019s latest album, \u201cLook Long,\u201d arrived in 2020, and they have been on a tour (typically closing with the tune) that touches down in Ireland and Britain next month.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t imagine a folk lesbian duo to be in this hot-pink Barbie movie,\u201d said Notaro, who has been a fan since seeing the \u201cCloser to Fine\u201d video on MTV\u2019s alternative rock show \u201c120 Minutes.\u201d \u201cKind of just selfishly and personally, I feel like, \u2018Yeah, we were onto something all these years,\u2019 you know? It\u2019s validating. Obviously it\u2019s been a huge hit forever, but this is so next level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I hear a song like that,\u201d she added, \u201cit feels like just my chest bursts open with joy and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n