One Line

This 2000 love song by PJ Harvey plays after Rory tells Dean that she loves him, and while she kisses him. The song begins, “Do you remember the first kiss?”, and goes on to say, “You never left my mind”, as if this describes what Rory has been thinking all this time. The song is one about needing to feel safe, and this security is what Rory seems to have most missed from her relationship with Dean.

One Line is is the fourth track from Harvey’s album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, generally considered one of her best works, and the winner of the 2001 Mercury Prize. PJ Harvey was the first female solo artist to win the award, and is the only artist to have to won it twice.

PJ Harvey was in Washington DC on September 11 2001, while still on tour with U2, and watched the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon from her hotel window on the same day she was informed she had won the Mercury Prize for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. She naturally found it a very surreal day.

“The concert’s tonight”

TRISTAN: Are we meeting there, or what?
RORY: What are you talking about?
TRISTAN: The concert’s tonight.

In real life, U2 and PJ Harvey performed at the Civic Center in Hartford on Sunday June 3 2001, so it doesn’t match up with the timeline in Gilmore Girls, but is only two or three weeks out.

During their argument, Tristan makes it clear that he thought PJ Harvey was a man, which lets us know that he has no chance with Rory, either now or in the future.

Soul Train

LORELAI: Okay, well, did you date like casual nothing type dating, or did you date like get down, Soul Train kind of a dating?
MAX: Well, I wouldn’t have phrased it that way, but to be honest, it was the latter.

Soul Train is an American dance-music television program which aired from 1971 to 2006. The show mainly featured performances by R&B, soul, dance-pop, and hip-hop artists, but with some funk, jazz, disco, and gospel music as well. The long-running show was extremely influential on the development of African-American musical culture.

Sadness Soot

After Lorelai explains to Rachel that Luke has been doing handyman chores around the house for her, she walks past the Town Troubadour, who starts to sing this song, but is interrupted by the whistling rival troubadour from across the street.

Sadness Soot is from Grant Lee Phillips 2001 album Mobilize, earlier mentioned. The song seems to be giving advice to Rachel, as it talks about embracing solitude without feeling sad, and being able to move on. It fits in with her final decision regarding Luke. Could it also be telling Lorelai not to be afraid to be alone, and that she doesn’t need Max?

Miss Patty’s Ballet Class

MISS PATTY: Flutter flutter, quick quick, flutter flutter, quick quick. And your hearts are broken, your prince has betrayed you, you’ve been shot with an arrow, and now … you’re dead.

Miss Patty’s class is doing Swan Lake, a ballet composed by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet in 1877. The story, based on Russian and/or German folk tales, is about Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse. A handsome prince named Siegfried falls in love with her, but the sorcerer tricks him into agreeing to marry the sorcerer’s daughter, Odile.

Miss Patty seems to describe the ending of the ballet, where Odette is heartbroken over Siegfried’s betrayal, even as she forgives him for it. In most productions, both lovers die in order to break the curse, although by drowning, not getting hit by an arrow – it is early in the ballet where Siegfried nearly shoots Odette, thinking she is a swan.

Miss Patty may have created her own unique ending for her production (a rather grim one to teach children – children’s productions often substitute a “Disney style” happy ending). Then again, the music used in this scene is Lake in the Moonlight, which plays during the first scene of the ballet. She could be telescoping the ballet into a single scene for her class.

The use of Swan Lake expresses Rachel’s fear that Luke has feelings for Lorelai, demonstrating that she feels betrayed and heartbroken over it. In this episode, both Rory and Paris also fear that the boy they like has found a new girlfriend, only in those cases, the fear is unfounded. Swan Lake is yet another work referenced in which doomed love leads to suicide.

Judy Garland and Courtney Love

MADELINE: So I’ve decided I’m now completely into Judy Garland. Did you see the TV movie? Pretty intense.
LOUISE: I think they used my mother’s medicine cabinet in that.
MADELINE: She was the Courtney Love of her day.

Judy Garland, born Frances Gumm (1922-1969) was an American singer, actress, and television hostess. She began performing in vaudeville as a child, and signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer as a teenager; she made more than two dozen movies with them, including The Wizard of Oz in 1939, where she starred as Dorothy Gale.

After being released from her contract, she went on to have a highly successful career as a singer, and hosted The Judy Garland Show. She received numerous accolades, including a Juvenile Academy Award, a Cecil B. Mille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Despite her great success as a performer, the pressure of becoming a star so early in life affected her physical and mental health, and her self-image was poor as she had received so much criticism from movie executives, who thought she was unattractive. As an adult, she suffered from alcohol and substance abuse, as well as financial instability. She died of an accidental dose of sleeping pills, aged 47.

The “TV movie” that Madeline mentions is probably Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, a two-part, four-hour miniseries directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, and based on the 1998 book Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir, written by Lorna Luft, Garland’s daughter. The miniseries starred Judy Davis as the adult Judy Garland, and Davis received both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance. The miniseries was first shown on TV in late February 2001, so Madeline has been “completely into” Judy Garland for around two months.

Louise’s comment suggests that her mother, the mysterious adulteress, also has a problem with addiction to prescription medication.

Courtney Love (born Courtney Harrison in 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and artist. She gained recognition as the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band Hole, formed in 1989, and is perhaps best known for her personal life following her marriage to Kurt Cobain, front man for the grunge rock band Nirvana. She has been very open about her struggles with drug addiction, including to heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and prescription drugs such as Rohypnol.

Apart from both having problems with substance abuse, there is no comparison between the lifetime as a major star that Judy Garland had, and Courtney Love’s career, which makes Madeline’s comment seem ignorant, and disrespectful to Garland, that she’s supposedly “completely into”.

Furthermore, Love’s numerous addictions have led to several legal cases, often including assaulting others or disorderly conduct, while Garland’s substance abuse brought more personal misery. Love has declared herself clean since 2007.

PJ Harvey

TRISTAN: You know what these are? (holds up two tickets)
RORY: They look like tickets.
TRISTAN: To PJ Harvey.
RORY: Wow, you have good taste. I’ll give you that.
TRISTAN: You’re into PJ Harvey, right?
RORY: Yeah, how’d you know?

Polly Jean Harvey, known as PJ Harvey (born 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, writer, and poet, primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, although she can play a wide array of instruments. Beginning her career with band Automatic Diamini, she formed the PJ Harvey Trio, and released the critically-acclaimed debut album Dry.

After another album, the trio split up and Harvey embarked on a solo career, releasing To Bring You My Love in 1995 to universal acclaim and commercial success. PJ Harvey’s relationship with Nick Cave inspired his ballad Into My Arms, and she also has the dark and “gloomy” kind of lyrics which we know Rory loves.

In 2001, PJ Harvey was the support act for Irish rock band U2 on their Elevation tour through Europe and the United States; Hartford was one of the cities on their itinerary. This seems to be the “ticket to PJ Harvey” that Tristan has bought to entice Rory into a date.

Honey, Don’t Think

After Rory has tried to find Dean in Doose’s Market, and failed, she and Lane walk away while the town Troubadour sings this song. It’s from Grant Lee Buffalo’s 1994 album Mighty Joe Moon, earlier mentioned. The song seems to be advising Rory not to think about it too long before talking to Dean.

On Rory and Lane’s walk away from the market, we learn that it is around 4.30 pm by the town clock, which seems too early for Rory to already be back from school (she gets out at 4.05 pm, and has a 40 minute bus ride home). Viewers will also notice that Rory’s little box of French fries is empty, so Lane must have eaten them all while she was waiting for Rory, in line with her lust for junk food that her mother won’t allow.

“The lead singer of Blur”

RORY: You swear? On the life of the lead singer of Blur?
LANE: On the soul of Nico, I swear to you that I have not seen Dean with another girl.

The lead singer of the rock band Blur is Damon Albarn (born 1968), an English singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Blur’s 1991 debut album was Leisure, and they received critical acclaim for Modern Life is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994), and The Great Escape (1994), while their 1997 self-titled album brought them mainstream success. Blur went on hiatus in 2003, but reunited in 2009, and are still recording.

Damon Albarn founded the virtual group Gorillaz in 1998, and released their self-titled debut album in March 2001, to worldwide success. That was about two months before this episode aired, but it’s not clear whether Lane and Rory have heard of it.

The singer Nico, one of Lane’s favourite musical artists, if not her her very favourite, has been earlier discussed. Lane swears on Nico’s soul to make it clear how very serious she is – Nico is obviously more valued by her than Damon Albarn.

Peter Frampton

RORY: I miss the old me too.
LANE: And I’ve been feeling bad for the new Rory.
RORY: Well, she’s staging a comeback.
LANE: And may it be more successful than Peter Frampton’s.

Peter Frampton (born 1950) is a British-American rock musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist. Beginning his career in bands Humble Pie, and The Herd, his breakout album was the 1976 live release Frampton Comes Alive!, which brought him international success. Frampton is known for his hit songs such as Breaking All the Rules, Baby I Love Your Way, and I’m in You, which have become staples on classic rock radio.

After his early success, his career seemed to falter, especially after he suffered a serious car accident in 1978, and lost all his guitars in a plane crash. Peter Frampton actually tried several “comebacks”, with his 1986 album Premonitions bringing mild success, and his 1991 tour with former bandmate Steve Marriott doing well – unfortunately, Marriott unexpectedly returned to England, and was killed in a house fire less than 24 hours later.

Lane is probably talking about 1995, when Peter Frampton released Frampton Comes Alive! II, containing live versions of his solo work from the 1980s and ’90s. Despite heavy marketing and a DVD release to accompany it, it didn’t sell well.

Peter Frampton has continued recording and touring, and won a Grammy Award for his 2007 album Fingerprints. As well as working with other musicians such as David Bowie and Ringo Starr, he has made many media appearances on television, and played himself on The Simpsons and Family Guy.