"I was trying to write one of those 'garage-rock' pop songs; the kind of song you might find on a Nuggets collection."
-- Brad Page

"The Perfect Girl" was written by Brad Page in 1996, and was one of the handful of songs first tackled by Ten Story Love. It was, in fact, an initial blueprint for the band, containing all the elements of the Ten Story Love sound: the straight-forward, no-nonsense chord changes that seem instantly comfortable, the quirky subject matter for the lyrics, and a chorus that's infectiously simple.

Scot's guitar delivers the main 'riff', while Brad plays the solo. An acoustic guitar in "nashville" tuning makes a brief appearance during the bridge.

"The music came together pretty quickly, which is pretty unusual for me. But once I had the 'hook' for the chorus and the title, it was a question of where do I go with the rest of the lyrics. Todd Rundgren wrote a song called 'There Goes My Inspiration' where he name-drops famous artists, so I kinda nicked the idea and used famous works of art as a way to 'measure' the Perfect Girl.
-- Brad Page

Van Gogh's "Night Café"

The paintings mentioned by name in the song: "3 Women At The Spring" by Picasso, Van Gogh's "Night Café", Joan Mitchell's "The Goodbye Door", "Lavender Mist" by Jackson Pollack, Dali's well-known "Persistence Of Memory", and Jean Honoré Fragonard's "The Swing" (which some may remember as the inspiration for Little Feat's Sailing Shoes LP cover).

Fragonard's "The Swing"

Each painting was chosen for a particular feature; the vibrant red that makes "The Night Café" come alive; the earthiness of Picasso's "3 Women At The Spring"; the titillation of "The Swing", which was considered a sexy painting for its time. "The Goodbye Door" was chosen simply for its title.

"It wasn't easy to work this stuff into a song. 'Fragonard' is tough enough to pronounce by itself, let alone trying to sing it-- I'm sure I butchered it. But it beats singing 'You are so beautiful to me'."
-- Brad Page

"The Perfect Girl" © 1998 Brad Page