I Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye to You

This song by Sam Phillips plays as Lorelai and Rory drive through Stars Hollow on their way to Chilton. It is from Phillips’ 1988 album The Indescribable Wow, which was her first album after switching from Christian pop to mainstream alternative rock, and changing her name from Leslie to Sam. The album was well-received by critics, but did not chart.

Rodeo

LORELAI: [sees Rory looking at her outfit] What?
RORY: Nothing. I just didn’t know the rodeo was in town.

A rodeo is a competitive sporting event based on cattle herding, testing skills in horse riding and handling livestock. The word rodeo (Spanish for “round up”) comes from Latin America, and was adopted by North American cowboys in the 19^th century. Rodeos are particularly popular in the American west, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.

“I don’t have any clean clothes”

Being woken up at 7:10 am instead of 5:45 am sends Lorelai intoa panic. We learn that all her nice clothes are at the drycleaners, and she was planning to pick them up and get dressed in her blue suit with the flippy skirt before she took Rory to school. She fumbles through a drawer, then in the next scene she is hurrying downstairs dressed in cut off denim shorts, a pink tie-dyed tee-shirt, and cowboy boots – apparently the only clean clothes she has to wear.

The trouble is that she opens the closet and we see clothes hanging up in there. Maybe they’re not great clothes, but most of them would be better than going to Rory’s school dressed in denim cut-offs and boots. For that matter, why does she need to wear boots? You don’t send shoes to a dry-cleaner, so she should still have normal shoes to wear. And what time did she plan on going to the dry-cleaner anyway – Rory’s school day starts at around 8 am and it’s a half hour drive, so does the dry-cleaner in Stars Hollow open around 6.30 am?

It’s hard not to reach the conclusion that Lorelai had a very specific outfit in mind – the blue suit with the flippy skirt – and since she isn’t able to wear it due to her own poor time-management skills, is determined to wear something completely unsuitable in a fit of pique.

Apple Venus Volume 2

Lorelai and Rory are on the porch when Lane runs up shouting that she has XTC’s new CD, Apple Venus Volume 2. This refers to Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) by English band XTC, the follow-up or companion to their critically-acclaimed 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1 – originally conceptualised as a double album. Apple Venus Volume 2 went to #40 in the UK, but did not reach the Top 100 in the US.

Apple Venus Volume 2 was released in May 2000, so it was not really a new CD in September/October 2000. It seems to have been Lane’s first opportunity to buy it, however.

As the scene ends, we hear them playing I’m the Man Who Murdered Love, which is the sixth track on the album, and the only single XTC released from it. They seem to have gone straight to the only song they know from the album.