From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #416 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Tuesday, November 27 2001 Volume 03 : Number 416 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] "I Am" a human being........................... ["Arthur Wood" Subject: [RS] "I Am" a human being........................... I'm getting a little tired of the griping over the quality of "I Am." What follows are a pair of [unedit] paragraphs that won't appear in their full form [due to lack of space] in the Richard Shindell article scheduled for this week's issue of Folkwax. The full interview will eventually appear in the Kerrville Kronikle, but at this time, only God knows when. The interview took place on the evening of Sunday 21st October 2001, in the back garden of Wayne's most famous Log Cabin. Before you read what follows, take a moment breathe deeply - and recall where Richard was on 11th September, then put yourself in his place............................. Q. Pursuing the same vein, you sang a new song of yours tonight called "I Am." When and why did you write it. A. I left Buenos Aires for this tour on the 15th of October, so I began writing the song the weekend before I left. There was a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who now, I believe, lives in France. It was a poem called "Call Me By My True Names" which someone had sent me. The one that is currently on my web site is not by Thich Nhat Hanh, but is an adaptation. When I got that in an E-Mail - my brother-in-law sent it to me. When I got it, it just triggered something. What I had been struggling with in Buenos Aires was - being an American, an ex-patriot, living in a place where there aren't a lot of - well, I don't really have any contact with any other Americans, or things American, except for the MacDonald's around the corner, or the Blockbuster Video around the corner - I had been struggling with a sense of identity. In other words, what being assaulted emotionally and so horribly does to a person - especially, someone who is actually far away from the actual assault - is to heighten and intensify the sense of being from the place that has been attacked. Q. Of course you were raised on Long Island. A. Right. That's where I'm from. I lived in Manhattan for years. I found myself experiencing a kind of patriotism and a kind of sense of belonging and a sense of identity that I had always taken for granted. I was having a hard time putting that into words. I was having a hard time putting that into words in a way which was, not uncritical or which was not mindful of the broader world context for what is happening with the refugees and the - I spent that week reading voraciously various opinions of what was going on. I read a piece by the Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, saying that she was afraid that "the United America at this point would emotionally close itself off and focus only on its own pain" - which is considerable - "to the exclusion of the rest of the world's pain." This song attempts to address my own sense of identity and my own sense of patriotism and my own sense of outrage and my own desire for justice, but at the same time being mindful of the rest of the planet. It's a very hard thing to do those things in one song, and remain true to the other. You don't want to say, or I didn't want to say anyway - and I think some people do - for example, "This is nothing different than what has been happening in the world for thousands of years." In so doing, minimising, or somehow, defusing or disarming the horror of what has happened in New York. I didn't want to say that, but at the same time I also didn't want to just say, "we are victims," because it's not that simple. I'm sure that I'm going to write much more about this - this is the story - this is it. In the song I just wanted to find a way to draw a parallel between the sense of outrage and hurt that the American people feel - New Yorker's in particular, with the same outrage and sense of hurt that the rest of the world feels. In other words, the song starts from the point of view of New York - "I am a stranded traveller" and "I am the fireman climbing" and then it takes on a larger view of the world. By the end of it, I repeat the first verse so that the first verse, when it is repeated, bookends the song. Then you realise that the same hurt that people feel in New York, is the same people fell all over the world - for various reasons. I think Americans are a very compassionate people, but they have a tendency to not see very far beyond their own borders. I think, they are a very good people and a very moral people. A people with a very deep sense of justice, but I hope that they can - we can - harness this sense of justice that we crave for the hurt that has done to us, and to extend that. In other words, to take this as an opportunity to enlarge our view of the world. I think Americans are a people who are outraged by any kind of attack on innocence, and I just hope that people are perhaps able more now to empathise when this happens outside of their own borders. I think that was what I was trying to say in the song. To answer a query raised in an earlier mailing "I'm sure that I'm going to write much more about this" - According to Richard, "I Am" may prove to be Episode 1 of a story that will run and run. Me ? I'm off to skulk/lurk in my corner once again. Best Wishes from your cousin on the other side of the great pond, Arthur Wood [who is "really" pissed off at some of you guys - "guys" being liberal in its definition]. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 08:34:53 -0500 From: Vanessa Christina Wills Subject: Re: [RS] "I Am" a human being........................... Arthur Wood wrote: >I'm getting a little tired of the griping over the quality of "I Am." > I'm not even sure what this means. Does it mean that you think "I Am" is a spectacular song and utterly beyond reproach? Does it mean that you think no one on this list could possibly have the right to speak of this song in less than perfectly lauditory terms? Does it mean that you think I am a bad person because I don't fall to my knees every time I hear the song? (From your subject line, it certainly sounds like the two latter--for the record, I can't say that I much care.) What song of Richard's haven't we poked and prodded and criticized? Why shouldn't I say what I think about a Richard Shindell song? This is the Richard Shindell discussion list, isn't it? Or have I come to the wrong place and just never noticed that all this time, it was actually the "Stay-in-Line Good-Time BonanzaFest"? (Uhh, my inbox tells me that far from a place where everyone gets in line with the "right" opinion, this list is a hotbed of deliciously contentious (and _usually_ respectful) contention. The way it should be!) And what makes you think that it's o.k. to be "pissed off" at someone just because they don't like a particular song? That's not a moral standard, it's a problem to be solved. Dear God, if I lived that way I'd be constantly in a state of ire. I didn't say, "Oh, 'I Am' sucks." I mean, that would be crazy. It's a good song, but not a great one, in my opinion. I honestly can't imagine how anything I said could be construed as somehow "inhuman." Aren't you being just a tad extreme? Aren't there enough examples of real inhumanity to make you a little more careful about just picking a label and sticking it on anyone who doesn't share your opinion on a song, of all things? Isn't that just the kind of thing we don't need, right around now? The interview with Richard is very interesting--of course, it only confirms what I already knew--that Richard is a very intelligent, very sensitive and very thoughtful person, and that his perspective on the world is one that consistently enlightens me and enriches my experience of it. That's why I listen to his music all the time, that's why "Reunion Hill" is playing on my stereo right now, and that's why if Richard is playing somewhere in the tri-state area, I am pretty much going to do whatever I can to be there. None of that qualifies him as a god who can do no less than perfect works. And there are ways to disagree without being downright mean. (!) At any rate, if your goal is to shut me up, you're going to have to work a lot harder, "cousin." - --Vanessa, who can't believe she's woken up to find someone already pushing on her robot-buttons. geez. >To answer a query raised in an earlier mailing "I'm sure that I'm going to >write much more about this" - According to Richard, "I Am" may prove to be >Episode 1 of a story that will run and run. > Uh, I seem to recall saying that more from Richard on this topic would be a really good thing. But who knows, it could just be some miswiring in the robot circuitry. >Me ? I'm off to skulk/lurk in my corner once again. > >Best Wishes from your cousin on the other side of the great pond, > >Arthur Wood [who is "really" pissed off at some of you guys - "guys" being >liberal in its definition]. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 10:00:37 -0800 From: jim colbert Subject: [RS] I am..wondering what the lurkers think... So, what do some of you "non-frequent posters" think of I am? just curious... I mean, I'm obviously clearly outnumbered in liking the tune, but I just wondered what the people we haven't heard from thought. jpc in sc pa counting down the days till courier time! ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #416 ***********************************