#1,559: Better Than Ezra – “Rosealia”

Better Than Ezra are mostly remembered as being one hit wonders, but they did have seven songs to appear on the Modern Rock chart in the 90s. Some of those songs are good, one of them is “Good,” and then there’s “Rosealia,” which is all the way down here for two reasons. First, the way the singer Kevin (not Ezra, who he’s better than) Griffin sings “Where have you gone my Ro-Se-A-Li-A” smacks of Broadway over-pronunciation so much, I hear it in my head as being sung by Ethel Merman. Then in verse two, he addresses the titular Rosealia – who is escaping an abusive relationship – by using the same cadence to ask, “What has he done, my Señorita?”, which is a truly unfortunate way for a white dude to address the situation depicted in the song. Ezra would never.