From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V6 #18 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Wednesday, January 23 2002 Volume 06 : Number 018 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- On the way in to the office this morning... contemplating Misery and Happiness [Steve Murphy ] Susan on Woodsongs ["Anna Creech" ] House Concert in Indianapolis ["Debbie Schilling" ] falcon ridge [Simona Loberant ] NNF ["Roy Langhans" ] Re: Misery and Happiness ["Ron Rosen" ] Re: Woodsong archives [LAssad4301@aol.com] Re: NNF [Jeff Wasilko ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 07:15:09 -0500 From: Steve Murphy Subject: On the way in to the office this morning... contemplating Misery and Happiness I was thinking about this song (well actually I was listening to it AND thinking about it at the same time) while driving into work this morning, and trying to put some faces on the characters, and started wondering if Happiness is even in the room at all. The fact that Happiness (whoever or whatever it is) "takes a seat at a table in the corner" and watches with concern, implies the corner of the characters mind, and not so much a physical presence in the room. And besides, if Happiness is really a person in the room, one with whom the character has been or is presently romantically involved with, why doesn't he just go wail the snot out of Misery? The guy's OBVIOUSLY vying for his woman! Why would he just let him do that without putting up a fight? Perhaps Misery is a whole hell of a lot bigger than him? Or maybe Happiness too thinks that Misery is handsome from a certain angle and has too much respect for the man and his music, etc etc etc. But I'm only playing devils ad! vocate here because I still believe that Happiness is someone or something on the mind or conscience of the principal character, and not a person in the room. Because why would she have to call when she wants to come home? He's in the room! And even if he were to leave the room, why would she have to call him to come home? If it's her home, then she can just come home whenever she damn well pleases. Are we supposed to believe that this man she lives with, Happiness, is driving her to these places where she's doing all this philandering? Happiness would really be a chump if that were the case. Hey - wait - maybe Happiness is her Chauffeur? I hadn't thought about that. Anyway - whatever it really means - I love the song immensely and listen to it WAY too much. Steve HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 02 10:16:24 -0500 From: Kris Richardson Subject: Re: On the way in to the office this morning... contemplating Umm... Steve, you might want to turn the "Repeat" button off on your cd player =) Kris p.s. Perhaps Misery is really Anthony Marbuke? (oh why did I bring that up again?!?) >Subject: On the way in to the office this morning... contemplating Mise >Sent: 1/17/20 3:33 PM >Received: 1/22/02 9:55 AM >From: Steve Murphy, smurphy@macromedia.com >To: 'believers@smoe.org', believers@smoe.org > >I was thinking about this song (well actually I was listening to it AND >thinking about it at the same time) while driving into work this morning, >and trying to put some faces on the characters, and started wondering if >Happiness is even in the room at all. The fact that Happiness (whoever or >whatever it is) "takes a seat at a table in the corner" and watches with >concern, implies the corner of the characters mind, and not so much a >physical presence in the room. And besides, if Happiness is really a >person in the room, one with whom the character has been or is presently >romantically involved with, why doesn't he just go wail the snot out of >Misery? The guy's OBVIOUSLY vying for his woman! Why would he just let him >do that without putting up a fight? Perhaps Misery is a whole hell of a >lot bigger than him? Or maybe Happiness too thinks that Misery is handsome >from a certain angle and has too much respect for the man and his music, >etc etc etc. But I'm only playing devils ad! >vocate here because I still believe that Happiness is someone or something >on the mind or conscience of the principal character, and not a person in >the room. Because why would she have to call when she wants to come home? >He's in the room! And even if he were to leave the room, why would she >have to call him to come home? If it's her home, then she can just come >home whenever she damn well pleases. Are we supposed to believe that this >man she lives with, Happiness, is driving her to these places where she's >doing all this philandering? Happiness would really be a chump if that >were the case. > >Hey - wait - maybe Happiness is her Chauffeur? I hadn't thought about that. > >Anyway - whatever it really means - I love the song immensely and listen >to it WAY too much. > >Steve HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 07:50:21 -0800 (PST) From: Simona Loberant Subject: Re: On the way in to the office this morning... contemplating Misery and Happiness I think that Happiness doesn't (quoting steve) "wail the snot out of misery" because the narrator has to realize misery for what he truly is and then seek out happiness when she is ready to seek true happiness..... Misery/Happiness is the kind of song that can be seen more than one way. This song is really funny on one hand, but in my opinoin painfully true on the other hand. Personally I have met misery and know exactly what sw is writing about so while the song gives a person a good laugh at first, if you think about it its really actually very sad b/c there is happiness sitting right there but you're wasting your time with some greasy lounge lizard aka misery and who knows if happiness will still be there when you realize what's happening?! i just love this song personally (call me what you like :) , but I love pretty much the whole damn cd!) ~simona Steve Murphy wrote: why doesn't he [happiness] just go wail the snot out of Misery? .... Simona L. Loberant http://www.geocities.com/loberant "Every now and then go away, even briefly, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power." **Leonardo da Vinci Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail. HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 11:09:54 -0500 From: "Sally Green" Subject: Re: Misery and Happiness >>>of Misery? The guy's OBVIOUSLY vying for his woman! Why would he just let him do that without putting up a fight? Perhaps Misery is a whole hell of a lot bigger than him?<<< I think that Happiness doesn't initiate a fight because the real conflict here is within the narrator. She needs to make up her own mind about what she wants. Misery isn't really seeking her out or pursuing her - he's just doing what he does, like the scorpion in that old fable.* She's the one who chose to leave Happiness and go to the Hilton and sit at the bar. And you know, you can't really force someone to come back to you - they have to decide on their own to come back. If Happiness tried to beat up Misery, he would only be attacking the symptom, not the root problem. That's part of why I think SW named the characters "Misery" and "Happiness." That's who they are in relation to the narrator, the person who this song is really about. It's yet another reason why SW's writing is so great - she says so much with so few words! In other news, I went to the Bundlings House Concert in Carmel, Indiana, and saw SW at Debbie Schilling's house. It was SO GREAT! It was my third house concert, and it was superbly done, and Susan was superb as well. And do you know, not one person shouted out a request all night long. Perhaps that's a function of a house concert. I liked that aspect of it as well as every other aspect! - --Sally sallyagreen@hotmail.com http://members.tripod.com/sagreen *A frog and a scorpion both want to cross a river. The scorpion asks the frog to carry him on his back. The frog says "You might sting me, and then I'll die!" The scorpion says "I won't sting you - I would die too by drowning in the river." So the frog carries the scorpion on its back. Halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog. As the frog is dying, it says "Why?" The scorpion says "It's what I do." HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 14:21:08 -0500 From: "Anna Creech" Subject: Susan on Woodsongs I was lucky enough to actually be in the Kentucky Theatre for the taping of Woodsongs last night. Susan did a wonderful job - particularly in dealing with Michael Johnathon. I hope that she comes back to Kentucky soon - three and a half songs were not enough for me! If you want to hear the radio version of the show, it will be broadcast in five weeks (I believe). Here is a link to the page that lists radio stations who cary the show: http://www.woodsongs.com/radio.htm Anna "Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly." --Roger Ebert _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 17:35:48 -0500 From: "Debbie Schilling" Subject: House Concert in Indianapolis Sally Green wrote: >In other news, I went to the Bundlings House Concert in Carmel, Indiana, >and saw SW at Debbie Schilling's house. It was SO GREAT! It was my >third house concert, and it was superbly done, and Susan was superb as >well. And do you know, not one person shouted out a request all night >long. Perhaps that's a function of a house concert. I liked that aspect of >it as well as every other aspect! Thanks, Sally! I am so glad you were able to come to the show. (And to win the distinction of person who travelled the farthest distance to attend!) I wonder if shouted-out encore requests might be more a product of audience familiarity with the artist, rather than a non-house concert setting. At least 50% of our house concert audiences consist of people who don't know the artist and wouldn't know what to request. Yes, there were many people there who had no idea how cool it was that they were seeing Susan in a living room! Imagine! Of course, I wanted to request a few songs, but Susan was running late so I didn't get a chance to ask her before the show. Fortunately for us, she ended up playing many of our favorites, including St. Mary's of Regret, which is such a great song. I am biased and I've only attended three shows, but I thought it was the best show I've seen her do. Plus, I got to meet Susan, meet a fellow Believer and impress all my friends with my impeccable taste in musicians. :) It was a great night all around. I posted two photos at http://www.bundlings.com/concerts/susanwerner.htm. Debbie HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 15:30:40 -0800 (PST) From: Simona Loberant Subject: falcon ridge there has been some discussion on other lists about who will be playing falcon ridge. does anyone know if susan will be on the line up?! I can't imagine her not being at falcon ridge but it would be nice to hear that she is there for sure! :) ~sll Simona L. Loberant http://www.geocities.com/loberant "Every now and then go away, even briefly, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power." **Leonardo da Vinci Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail. HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 19:40:05 -0500 From: "Roy Langhans" Subject: NNF Last weekend, I heard on a folk radio program that Susan recorded "Everybody's Talkin" on a cheap cassette player and that, after additional accompaniment tracks were recorded, it was included on the CD without Susan's knowledge. I find that awfully hard to believe. Has anyone else heard this? Roy Langhans HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 17:45:12 -0800 From: "Ron Rosen" Subject: Re: Misery and Happiness I think there could be four characters in the song: the narrator, the woman whom the narrator is singing to ("you"), Misery, and Happiness. My thinking about the song was something like: the woman left Happiness, moved out of their house, and went off in search of something "better." Happiness comes into the room just to watch the action where he knows she hangs out and to tell the woman, "Call me when you want to come back home." No need to wail on Misery, because as Sally said, he's only the symptom, not the problem. The problem is within the woman who is struggling with the age-old conflict between "excitement" and "stability." The song is telling us that stability is Happiness and excitement is, or can be, Misery. The woman must call when she wants to come back home because she's left home, and currently is not living with Happiness. She moved out, and can't just move back without calling, or at least knocking on the door. You could also view the narrator and the subject woman as one and the same. On an even simpler level the song is just describing what Happiness looks like and what Misery looks like. HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 21:53:39 EST From: LAssad4301@aol.com Subject: Re: Woodsong archives In a message dated 1/22/2002 3:42:17 AM Eastern Standard Time, owner-believers-digest@smoe.org writes: > <> > The most recent show they offer is September 7 so it may be a while before we get to hear this one. :-( HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 00:20:45 -0500 From: Jeff Wasilko Subject: Re: NNF On Tue, Jan 22, 2002 at 07:40:05PM -0500, Roy Langhans wrote: > Last weekend, I heard on a folk radio program that Susan recorded > "Everybody's Talkin" on a cheap cassette player and that, after additional > accompaniment tracks were recorded, it was included on the CD without > Susan's knowledge. > > I find that awfully hard to believe. Has anyone else heard this? Haven't heard it, and I can tell you it's not true. The story I heard was that Susan had laid down some vocal tracks on a 2 track cassette deck in preparation for the studio. During the recording session, Susan had stepped out for something, but the band was ready to do the song, so Colin (the producer) put the recorder up to a microphone and used it as her vocals for the take. Susan liked the effect and decided to use it. - -jeff HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ End of believers-digest V6 #18 ****************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- This has been a posting from the Susan Werner believers-digest To unsubscribe send mail to Majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe believers-digest" in the body of the message