Joan of Arc

LORELAI: Sookie, I need coffee to go.
SOOKIE: [holding her head in her hands] There’s fresh over there.
LORELAI: Ooh, good. [picks up an empty pot] Fresh in my first lifetime as Joan of Arc.

Joan of Arc (c1412-1431) is a Catholic saint who is a patron of France, and considered a heroine in her home country for her role in the Hundred Years War, where she led the French army to victory. Since the Middle Ages, women have seen her as an inspiring example of a brave and active woman.

It is somehow typical of Lorelai that even in a joke, she imagines her first lifetime as a national heroine and proto-feminist icon.

Artie Shaw

DRELLA: I am the Artie Shaw of harpists.

Artie Shaw (1910-2004) was an American musician who grew up in Connecticut, widely regarded as one of the greatest jazz clarinetists of all time. He led one of the most popular big bands through the 1930s and ’40s, and is best known for his 1938 recording of Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine.

A serious artist, Shaw was a perfectionist who was known for forming bands, working to make them successful, and then quickly disbanding them. In 1954 he stopped playing the clarinet, explaining that he had taken the instrument as far as it could go. After World War II, Shaw gradually withdrew from the world of music to pursue a writing career.

This comment may explain why we never see Drella again after this episode – like Artie Shaw, she simply felt she had achieved the pinnacle of success as a harpist and stopped playing. Of course, given her constant rudeness to staff and customers, it is quite believable that Lorelai sacked her. Artie Shaw was apparently a very difficult person as well.

The actor portraying Drella, Alex Borstein, was originally cast as Sookie on Gilmore Girls, playing her in the original, unaired pilot. Borstein was unable to continue in the role as she was still contracted to the sketch comedy show MADtv. Although busy voicing Lois Griffin on Family Guy, Borstein managed to appear as various characters on Gilmore Girls from time to time.

Mozart

Lorelai suggests that Drella play some Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era, who wrote more than 600 works which are regarded as some of the greatest symphonies, operas, choral works, and chamber music of all time. He is extremely popular to this day.

Lorelai’s Forbidden Musical Artists

After stopping Drella from playing Black Sabbath, Lorelai also bans her from playing any compositions by Steely Dan, Boston, and Queen.

Steely Dan is an American jazz rock band founded in 1972 by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Their biggest hit is Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, peaking at #4 in 1974. Steely Dan broke up in 1981; after reuniting in 1993 they continued touring together until the death of Walter Becker in 2017. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Boston is an American rock band founded in 1976 by Tom Scholz, with many of their songs becoming staples on classic rock radio. Their biggest hits include More Than a Feeling (1976), Don’t Look Back (1978), and Amanda (1981).

Queen is a British rock band founded in 1970, with their classic line-up being Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. They became a success with their self-titled album in 1974, and the 1975 A Night at the Opera brought them international acclaim. Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) was their first single to go to #1, still regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. They are one of the biggest-selling bands ever, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Iron Man

This is the song Drella plays on the harp at the Independence Inn, and is berated for it by Lorelai. It’s a 1970 heavy metal song by British band Black Sabbath, from their album Paranoid. Iron Man peaked in the US at #52 in 1972, and is considered one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time.

Rory’s snack

RORY: Here.
LANE: Oh my God bless you!

Rory hands Lane the rest of her Snickers bar, a candy snack made by Mars which has nougat, caramel and peanuts covered in milk chocolate.

Lane’s snack

RORY: What is that?
LANE: 12 calories.

Lane is eating a puffed rice cake, a packaged snack food used as a low-fat low-calorie substitute for bread or crackers. They are actually 35 calories, so either Lane is exaggerating or else somehow Mrs. Kim has found a brand of rice cakes with less than half the usual calories.

Marco Polo

Rory and Lane call out to each other so that Rory can find Lane among the clutter of the overstocked antique store. Marco Polo is a game of tag played in a swimming pool which is similar to blind man’s buff. The player who is “It” closes their eyes and shouts “Marco!”, while attempting to find the other players by their voices, as they respond with “Polo!”. It is not known why the game uses the name of the explorer Marco Polo, and it apparently has no connection with the game of water polo. The game dates to perhaps the 1960s.

Run interference

LORELAI: Will you help me push other people out of the way if they’re going for my size [at the shoe sale]?
RORY: I’ll even run interference for you.

To run interference is a term from American football or gridiron, meaning to legally block opponents in order to create a clear path for the ball carrier. As as idiom, it means to help someone while they perform a task without directly intervening, such as deflecting attention away from them so they can work in peace. Rory may be literally planning to block people at the shoe sale though, giving Lorelai a clear path to the sales desk.

“You go girl”

RORY: You go girl.

Originally black American street slang meant as a sign of encouragement to a female. It went mainstream after being popularised by Oprah Winfrey on her talk show. After this it often became used ironically, as Rory just did.