From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V7 #275 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 15 2005 Volume 07 : Number 275 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Re: LFOTD [Theresa Marsik ] [RS] RE: Last Fare [Jamie Younghans / John McDonnell ] Re: [RS] RE: Last Fare [DBri732722@aol.com] [RS] (no subject) [DBri732722@aol.com] [RS] RE: Last fare [Jamie Younghans / John McDonnell Subject: [RS] Re: LFOTD John McD wrote: "but I'm still struck by the absence of any connection between these couples." The connection is the cab driver. The song is from his point of view, so we are given glimpses into his experience. The couples are a device (which is why it doesnt' matter that they're not the same). I think that the state of each couple highlights the feelings of the cabbie - despair and helplessness in the wake of the attacks, changing to hope as he starts to heal by springtime. I don't recall now if Richard introduced this song as beginning "in mid-September, 2001" prior to the first time I heard it. I know I always have heard the 9-11 connection. I know that I recognized street and Highway names as being in NYC, and (possibly because I'm married to a meteorologist) I remember the rains during the recovery efforts and the drought that followed. Like Tom said, I'm not proposing that this is Richard's "best" song, but I am struck by it each time I listen. Theresa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 20:09:35 -0500 From: Jamie Younghans / John McDonnell Subject: [RS] RE: Last Fare Hi All, Tom wrote: >>I'm just mentioning, not on a whim but as a troth of remembrance, that "Last Fare" really is about the day, in Richard's ever-subtle way. That the rent veil and the rebirth afterwards are as clear as a rainbow for many of us who were there<< Perhaps I should clarify. If you think 9/11 is in the song, and that's what you hear, then it's in the song. To me it seems irrelevant to the song, not the setting. I was actually driving into the city that morning, so I understand the impact of the day and don't mind hearing about it in music, ("I am," for example) though I need no reminding, from Richard Shindell or anyone else. In the days afterward, I too shut off the radio, and the television, though I have done that on other occasions. If you see September 11 or its aftermath in the song, then so be it. I find the song stands by itself without it--albeit somewhat weakly, compared to his other work. My original posts on this were not intended to debate the impact of September 11, but to examine the song through the various interpretations of others on the list in order to improve my understanding of and appreciation for the work. The fact that there is a post September 11 explanation about the song, for me raises the issue of how it deals with that day, and how it stands as a work of art in doing so. It has nothing to do with a hammerblow. I am also suspect of the notion of rebirth in the song. Again, if the city's rebirth is paralleled by the appearance of the second couple, then it's not only lame, but untrue. People may now go about their business, but the city is not reborn--the job losses are still high, the funding for security personnel still low, and the events of that day are still being used as a political gamepiece for the war in Iraq. This ensures not rebirth, but fear. The horror of the ensuing days is hardly personified by a single couple, one of whom is infirm--who just have to get back to the suburbs. This is why the song has no resonance for me. I have been in a cab many times and wished the driver would shut the radio off. And if anyone can point me to the lyric in which the couple is looking for a loved one, then perhaps the connection is stronger, but I don't see it. While I'm sure Englewood had its share of victims, I don't believe it was affected more than any other suburb. The question as to why "Englewood," and not, say "Paramus" or "Breezy Point" is an inquiry into artistic choice, not historical significance. My point is that absence is not subtlety, and just because the author says it's a post September 11 song doesn't mean that it is in any significant way, if there is nothing in the lyrics of the song which would indicate it. This is not to undermine the significance or horror of September 11--I'm just examining the song. John McD ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 20:44:57 -0500 From: Tom Neff Subject: Re: [RS] RE: Last Fare Rebirth doesn't only apply to cities. If the song seems to have no resonance, perhaps we are letting our assumptions cloud our hearing. And perhaps there is still some anger. Personally, I was washed by anger until I was drained gray. Rebirth came within, not without, and it felt like Grace's unfathomable touch. When I hear "Last Fare" I feel it again for a moment. It's not a perfect song, if that makes the musical bean counters feel any better. I don't care myself. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 21:15:51 EST From: DBri732722@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] RE: Last Fare I think John's point regarding the irrelevance of the song's setting is an excellent one. All of us will remember the day, just as we remember the assasination of JFK, or any other traumatic event on either a personal or global scale. I, too, have vivid memories of the day, but for numerous other reasons. I will associate that heinous attack on NYC with other personal events that, given the ability, could write an emotionally moving song. It occurs to me that many songs are personal to the writer, but still evoke emotion in the listener, for personal reasons. I have always loved "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez. It's story is clear, but do we know anymore about the lyrics? Do we need to know? Or can we associate with the story because we've experienced a similar relationship. We can all think of classic songs of which we don't know the writer's perspective, I am certain. What of "Summer Breeze, Cotton Dress". Do you think Richard would care to tell us about the character of whom he writes? Or maybe some of the more "experienced" RS listeners already know of her????? Or maybe some of us can relate to those lyrics without any knowledge of it's symbolism. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 21:19:17 EST From: DBri732722@aol.com Subject: [RS] (no subject) I feel foolish; I obviously meant "Summer Wind..... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:56:56 -0500 From: Jamie Younghans / John McDonnell Subject: [RS] RE: Last fare Hi All, Tom wrote: >>Rebirth doesn't only apply to cities. [and] ... It's not a perfect song, if that makes the musical bean counters feel any better.<< Tom's point is well taken about rebirth not applying only to cities, but I, for one, am enamored of cities because they are human, and expressions of human creativity--or often lack thereof. I find cities have character and personality--human traits--in a way that nature does not. Perhaps it is the cab driver.... You know as I started to write that post I had perhaps an epiphany, or perhaps a moment of insanity, but I found myself thinking about the cab driver in a different way--based on Theresa' post about the cab driver being the connection between the couples. Bear with me because I need help on this. The cab driver is a hierophant--the Ancient Greek priest who interprets mysteries. Is there a connection between this interpreter and the sun that anyone is aware of?? (I'm struck now by the image of the "yellow" cab). In any event, I'm trying to remember some undergrad philosophy and all I have is a blur of Hades' kidnap of Persephone, which I think occurred in the autumn (September??), and Zeus intervenes, which saves Persephone. But there's something about a pomegranate, which indicates rebirth after death and the immortality of the soul, but also means that Persephone, having eaten in the underworld must return there. Anyone out there with a classics background? I'm floundering, but I think I'm on to something. If I'm not crazy, and the cabbie is indeed an interpreter of mysteries, then I have severely short-changed the song, but never would have known it without this interaction with other musical "bean counters" (or was that just me??) In this light, the cabbie would be an interpreter of mysteries, whether it is the violence of September 11, or whatever it is that makes the first woman infirm. The radio becomes a competing narrative--not an interpretation, but a reiteration--a squawkbox of repetition that picks at the scab and prevents a healing. He turns it off because it doesn't interpret or provide insight--that's his job. Don't laugh, but he is a priest (think taxicab confession!) so he must deliver them, since I recall the hierophant being a guide or beacon. I haven't quite figured out the second couple, but damn if I shouldn't have paid more attention in that Ancient Greece class way back when. Anyway, I can't believe I came around to an interpretation of this song which makes me feel it has more power and resonance than I ever thought. Wow. Captain Backpedal. ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V7 #275 ***********************************