Who hasn't had a librarian fantasy? Jim James sure has.
The My Morning Jacket singer has an ode to the librarian on Evil Urges, in which he describes how a simple little bookworm morphs into a sexy librarian just by taking off her glasses and letting down her hair. (Hey, in our librarian fantasies, the glasses stay on. But that's neither here nor there.)
In the song, James imagines this librarian listening to the Carpenters low on an AM radio in a nearly vacant library. "Since we got the Interweb, these hardly get used," he sings about the stacks of books. But then he spies her: "So I watch you thru the bookcase... You and I at dinner, spending time, then to sleep."
What do actual librarians make of having a rock star intrigued by them? We walked across the courtyard, toward the Louisville library.
Natalie Thompson, 28
"It's about time somebody recognized. A boy put it on a mixtape for me. It was pretty cute. It kinda makes me swoon."
Rainey Wyatt, 28
"I think it's nice that they're celebrating librarians. I don't think it quite encompasses everything about a librarian, though. It fits that stereotype - either you're bookish or you're a sexy librarian, nothing more."
Beth Nahenski, 45
"My husband and I were at the Nachbar a few weekends ago, and we saw it on the jukebox. I said, 'I wonder what that sounds like?' It was pretty funny. My husband's a librarian, also. But it didn't sound like they were singing to him. (laughs) Something about 'putting your hair down'? A few stereotypes there... Actually, I loved the song. I like My Morning Jacket."
James "J.J." Jackson, 58
"For me, it probably wouldn't (relate). I'm definitely not stereotypical. I, myself, since I'm not the quote-unquote typical librarian, I break the mold. As I grew up, that was the mold - you know, they had the bun on the head, pencil in their hair, telling people 'shhh!' (Today) it's much different."
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c. 2008 Velocity Weekly
