Released in 1997 as a US-only promotional single, I Love a Snot was the second and final single drawn from Excerpts From a Love Circus. Unlike Small Heads, which received a commercial release in the UK, I Love a Snot was issued exclusively as a promo and was never made available for retail purchase. It is among the rarer artifacts in Germano’s 4AD-era singles catalog.
The single is notable for two distinct reasons: it features a remix of the title track by Tchad Blake, who would go on to produce Germano’s next album Slide in 1998, offering an early glimpse of that creative partnership; and it includes a live in-studio recording captured during Germano’s September 1996 appearance on KCRW’s Brave New World program—one of the most prestigious platforms for independent and alternative artists in 1990s American radio.
Background
By the time this single was issued in 1997, Excerpts From a Love Circus had been in circulation for several months and had earned solid critical response. “I Love a Snot,” alongside “Small Heads” and “Lovesick,” was one of three album tracks to receive notable airplay on college and alternative radio in both the US and UK—no small distinction for an artist whose music operated so deliberately outside mainstream conventions.
The selection of “I Love a Snot” as the basis for a second promotional push made commercial sense in context: it was one of the album’s more kinetic and immediately engaging tracks, with a rhythmic intensity that set it apart from the ballad-heavy Love Circus sequence. At the same time, 4AD’s decision to commission a Tchad Blake remix rather than simply repackage the album cut suggests they recognized an opportunity to introduce a new sonic dimension to the song—and, perhaps, to begin a working relationship with Blake that would prove consequential for Germano’s next record.
Themes
I Love a Snot” sits at the intersection of Germano’s gift for deadpan comedy and her unflinching willingness to expose the internal logic of self-defeating relationships. The title alone does significant work, cutting through any romantic pretense to land on something both absurd and utterly recognizable. The song describes a partner whose behavior is consistently unkind or belittling, and the narrator’s awareness of and continued capitulation to that dynamic. The lyrical content, which one Bandcamp review described as revealing “flashes of humor and self-knowledge,” captures the very specific phenomenon of loving someone despite clear-eyed recognition that they don’t deserve it.
Rate Your Music’s song-level commentary observed that “filtered vocals, droning violin and a variety of percussion developed the psychedelia of ‘I Love a Snot,'” and that “Germano had armoured her delicate soul in noise.” This reading gets at something essential in the track’s production strategy: the sonic texture—busy, layered, slightly abrasive—mirrors the emotional content. On the original album, the song functions as a kind of armor in the sequence, its energy and noise providing cover for the vulnerability beneath. The Tchad Blake remix makes that psychedelic character more explicit, applying his spatial and textural instincts to amplify the song’s underlying strangeness.
Released: 1997
Label: 4AD
Catalog No: PRO-CD-8649
Format: CD
Country: US
Availability: Rare
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | I Love a Snot (Tchad Blake Mix) | 3:46 |
| 2 | Baby on the Plane | 4:42 |
| 3 | Forget It, It’s a Mystery | 3:24 |
| 4 | I Love a Snot (KCRW Version) | 3:27 |
The original version of “I Love a Snot” was produced by Paul Mahern and Lisa Germano and recorded at Echo Park Studio in Bloomington, Indiana—the primary recording location for the full Love Circus album. The Tchad Blake Mix on this single reworks the original in Blake’s characteristically textured and spatially inventive style. By 1997, Blake had established himself as one of the most distinctive engineering and production voices in American and British alternative music, known for his use of binaural recording techniques, unconventional physical materials (wooden pipes, metal cans, cardboard boxes) to create novel acoustic textures, and a mixing approach that prioritized contrast, dynamic surprise, and what he has described as productive imperfection. His longtime collaborator Mitchell Froom—who would also appear on Slide—shared that sonic sensibility, and the two had built an impressive body of work together through records by Tom Waits, Crowded House, Los Lobos, Richard Thompson, and Suzanne Vega. The I Love a Snot remix appears to have been an early point of contact between Blake and Germano’s music ahead of their full collaboration on Slide.
One Blender review of a later Germano album specifically singled out “I Love a Snot” as “fantastically remixed by one Tchad Blake,” suggesting the mix made a lasting impression even among listeners encountering it well after its initial release.
Track 4, the KCRW version, was recorded live on Brave New World—the influential KCRW 89.9 FM program hosted by Tricia Halloran out of Santa Monica, California, on September 16, 1996. Brave New World was for much of the 1990s one of the most important live-session programs in American independent music, a regular showcase for 4AD artists and their peers. Other 4AD acts including Mojave 3 and Lush also recorded sessions for the show during this period, making Germano’s appearance part of a broader label presence on the program. The live recording captures “I Love a Snot” in a stripped-back, in-studio setting that contrasts notably with the original’s layered, percussive production.
A detail worth noting: track 2 on the single, “Baby on the Plane,” ends with an unlisted instrumental reprise of “I Love a Snot” that does not appear on the album version, making the single the only official release to feature this variant of the song.
Packaging & Design
The single was packaged in a cardboard sleeve and draws visually on imagery from children’s books alongside design elements carried over from the Excerpts From a Love Circus visual campaign. Art direction was by Paul McMenamin at V23, with photography by Matthew Welch—the same design and photography team responsible for the album packaging and the Small Heads single.
The back cover features a quote from a review of Love Circus written by journalist and music critic Lorraine Ali, published on March 11, 1996. The review, archived on this site as “What is Victoria’s Secret?,” was a notable piece of critical writing that helped shape the album’s initial reception. Notably, Ali’s first name is misspelled on the packaging—a small production error that has gone uncorrected on every copy of the single.
The single was manufactured and distributed by Warner Bros. Records, Inc. (a Time-Warner Company) on behalf of 4AD, pressed by WEA Manufacturing in the US.
Personnel
All songs written by Lisa Germano
Published by Songs of Polygram International, Inc. / Door Number One Music / Emotional Wench Music (BMI)
Original versions from the 4AD album Excerpts From a Love Circus
Original recording produced by Paul Mahern and Lisa Germano
Recorded and mixed at Echo Park Studio, Bloomington, Indiana
Track 1: Tchad Blake Mix, remixed by Tchad Blake
Track 4: Recorded live on Brave New World, KCRW-FM, Santa Monica, California on September 16, 1996
Art Direction: Paul McMenamin
Photography: Matthew Welch
℗ 1996, 1997 4AD
© 1997 4AD
Manufactured and distributed by Warner Bros. Records, Inc.
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