CHAPTER SEVEN : american teenager

( someone saved my life tonight, part i )

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     EDDIE: THE LABEL DROPPED us a week after the tour was cancelled.

     WARREN: They made us pay back our advance and everything.

     MARILYN: The thing is, I knew that we'd be shit out of luck the second we had to cancel the tour, so I started hounding Teddy like crazy. I had these songs I'd written, just for myself, ones that didn't fit the sound we'd already curated as The Six, and I started showing them to him, and anyone else who would look and listen. And, eventually, they gave in.

     ME: Which brings us to American Teenager.

MARILYN: [nodding] Which brings us to American Teenager.

American Teenager, Marilyn Dunne's solo debut extended play, released in 1974, a mere week before Billy left rehab. The EP consisted of five songs, with one collaboration, and the remainder of The Six as her instrumentalists, and was a modest success, peaking at number 27 on the US Hot 100. The tracklist is as follows:

1. American Teenager
2. 1950
3. Cinnamon Girl
4. Young And Beautiful
5. Castles Crumbling (ft. Daisy Jones)

     ME: When did Billy first hear the songs? What did he think?

     MARILYN: So, I actually wanted to be the one to show Billy what I'd made, but Graham beat me to it. He was the one who picked Billy up from rehab, and he just started blasting the songs in the car. They got back to the house and I could hear the last parts of Castles Crumbling playing and, man, I was so annoyed. Like, that's my music, goddammit!

     GRAHAM: I was excited, what can I say? My little sister made a whole EP!

     BILLY: It was bittersweet, I guess? I was happy for her— I was so proud of her— but, I missed it. All of it. Graham started talking about [Julia], and there's my little sister singing in the background, and I missed these months watching my daughter grow up and watching my sister take this major step in her career. It all hit at once.

     GRAHAM: Recording the EP with Mari, it kept us practising, but we couldn't just get by like that. I got a job at a body shop.

     WARREN: I was working down at Malibu Harbour cleaning boats, which I loved, and, uh, doing a lot of mushrooms. Which, I also loved.

     EDDIE: Basically, we were back where we started. Worse even... except Mari.

     ME: Are you still upset about it?

     EDDIE: Me? Nah. I mean, holding on to that shit'll be the death of you. But, Billy really fucked us over and, I think Marilyn took advantage of that a bit. Saw a gap and slid right in. I'm sure Billy thought that too.

BILLY: Do not tell Mari this, okay? She hasn't seen it. But, I have the American Teenager record up on the wall in my study. I have her others, as well, but they're all on a shelf, but, y'know, I've gotta have her first one displayed.

ME: I'm so telling her. And, I'm keeping that statement in.

MARILYN: [laughs] Oh, I know he has it on the wall. I've snooped through his entire house.

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a/n:
i KNOW this looks a bit fillery at the moment but i promise it'll come back into play in a bit. y'all will get the significance. + we need some good siblingness with billy and mari after the mess that was the last few chapters.

published : july 21, 2023
word count : 0.6k