From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V12 #427 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 Wednesday, March 20 2013 Volume 12 : Number 427 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [RS] final vote [Dave McKay ] [RS] Final Vote ["Thomas, Tracey" ] [RS] Re: By Now [] [RS] And the winner is...... [John McDonnell ] Re: [RS] The final choice [Laurence Krulik ] Re: [RS] Casting RS characters [Dave McKay ] By nows Re: [RS] Casting RS characters [Norman Johnson ] Re: [RS] to skip or not skip? [rongrittz@aol.com] [RS] final vote [Howie ] Re: [RS] final vote [Shelda Eggers ] [RS] Final [Ronnie de Champs ] Re: [RS] Reunion Hill [Laurence Krulik ] [RS] Reunion Hill [Gene Frey ] [RS] to skip or not skip? [Janet Cinelli ] Re: [RS] to skip or not skip? [Janet Cinelli ] [RS] The final choice [Beth DeSombre ] Re: [RS] The Championship Round. [gina ] [RS] A Different Brain [Pete Jameson ] Re: [RS] Reunion Hill [Laurence Krulik ] Re: [RS] Transit [Chris Foxwell ] [RS] Set List ~ St. Pete [Carol Love ] Re: [RS] Transit [Carol Love ] Re: [RS] Final Four [] [RS] Final Vote [Isabel Frey ] Re: [RS] Re: By Now [Carol Love ] [RS] Final vote [Christine Thomas ] Re: [RS] The Championship Round. [Laurence Krulik ] Re: [RS] Final Four [Laurence Krulik ] Re: [RS] Newbie [RFC ] Re: [RS] Transit [Chris Foxwell ] Re: [RS] Reunion Hill [Chris Foxwell ] Re: [RS] The Championship Round. ["cvz" ] [RS] Game 7 [Gene Frey ] Re: [RS] Final Four [Janet Cinelli ] [RS] Final round ["JK" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:53:18 +0000 From: Dave McKay Subject: Re: [RS] final vote Howie wrote: > A very tough choice, like being offered a superb dark chocolate and a superb > single malt whisky and being asked to vote for one. I know it's a betrayal of my heritage and all, but that *would* be no contest! Mmm. Dark chocolate! Dave. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:09:32 +0000 From: "Thomas, Tracey" Subject: [RS] Final Vote After much deliberation, I realized Transit is my vote. I do love Reunion Hill, but realized it isn't on my most played Shindell list, and and while, Transit may not be at the top, I definitely listen to it more often. As a side note, when I was playing CDs, pre-ipod, the stretch of any CD I listened to by far the most was tracks 8-11 on Courier which is the Nora to Fishing to A Summer Wind to On a Sea of Fleur De Lis. While there are songs from other CDs that I love: You Stay Here, The Next Best Western, Castaway and many more, that stretch of CD for me is just heaven. Tracey Thomas, MPH, CCRA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 6:23:49 -0700 From: Subject: [RS] Re: By Now >> I can think of at least three people from the cast of Six Feet Under who would fit that part: Michael C. Hall (David/Dexter), Jeremy Sisto (Billy). Rainn Wilson (Arthur). << What's to say the driver in "By Now" is necessarily a MAN? RG ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:08:41 -0400 From: John McDonnell Subject: [RS] And the winner is...... Hey All, I did not vote for either of these in the final four, but I have to go with Reunion Hill. It suffers from a poor studio version, I believe (and I am picking the "Courier" version) but its poignancy and pithiness win out. I always assumed the narrator was the widow of a confederate soldier, but that's not indicated in the song--she could be the widow of a Union army soldier, or even a revolutionary war widow (is Indian Boulder near the site of any particular battle that would clarify this?). For me, the song beautifully juxtaposes an enduring loss which preserves their love, which in turn, makes the loss endure-crystallized in her running to climb the hill just to see him one last time after the "sad farewell." If you see the place name as aspirational, named by the narrator "Reunion Hill" could appear to be a little pat, but I think of it as declarative--its a name which already existed, but which has resonance for the widow--its where she last saw her husband briefly, and where she continued to see the hawk which she hopes can keep her love in view. At this point, though over ten years from when she last saw her husband, the name is almost ironic. Transit just has too much going on for me (I know this is on purpose--the members of the horde and the dash for position, etc), and while I like the song, I am never in the mood to listen to it, even though I don't skip it when it comes up. Reunion Hill (over Transit) John McD ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:18:37 -0400 From: Laurence Krulik Subject: Re: [RS] The final choice > I put this to my spouse, who refuses to join listservs but is a major RS > fan and for him the choice was easy: Transit is one of his all-time > favorite songs, by RS or anyone. I personally think we should count Beth's husband's vote even though he shuns our group. Transit needs support. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:18:26 +0000 From: Dave McKay Subject: Re: [RS] Casting RS characters Ray Liotta as the narrator of By Now. Dave. On 19 March 2013 05:02, Norman Johnson wrote: > Who would you have play RS characters. > > For Reunion Hill, I still say Glenn Close. > > Dana Delany would still be a good choice for Sister Maria, but so would > Kathleen Turner. She was excellent in A Perfect Family. > > Watching The Americans has led me to think Noah Emmerick would be great as > the Fishing INS agent. Olmos would be good as the the fisherman, but Jimmy > Smits would also work. > > Thoughts? > > Norman ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:25:51 -0400 From: Norman Johnson Subject: By nows Re: [RS] Casting RS characters Dave McKay wrote; "Ray Liotta as the narrator of By Now." I can think of at least three people from the cast of Six Feet Under who would fit that part: Michael C. Hall (David/Dexter), Jeremy Sisto (Billy). Rainn Wilson (Arthur). Norman ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:01:24 -0400 From: Toby Erlichman Subject: [RS] Re: shindell-list-digest V12 #426 Transit gets my vote. Toby in PA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:22:01 -0400 (EDT) From: rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] to skip or not skip? >> I totally agree with John, Transit does have too much going on for me and whenever it comes up in my rotation, I will usually skip it. << I usually skip it because it's the last thing keeping me from getting to "Calling the Moon." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:31:14 -0400 From: Howie Subject: [RS] final vote A very tough choice, like being offered a superb dark chocolate and a superb single malt whisky and being asked to vote for one. So, I'm voting for Transit. The vortex did it. - -Howie ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:12:09 -0500 From: Shelda Eggers Subject: Re: [RS] final vote At 9:31 AM -0400 3/19/13, Howie wrote: >So, I'm voting for Transit. The vortex did it. A vortex is like that. Shelda ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:43:32 +0100 From: Ronnie de Champs Subject: [RS] Final Though RH is a lovely song with a great soft melody, it fades in comparison with Transit. There is so much more going on in the latter (music- and lyricwise) and it gives me much better images and thoughts that for me this final is an easy win for Transit Ronnie ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:33:02 -0400 From: Laurence Krulik Subject: Re: [RS] Reunion Hill > Did she name Indian Boulder as well? > > I always assumed Indian Boulder wasn't named by her. Simply because that name had nothing to do with her husband. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:26:08 -0400 From: Gene Frey Subject: [RS] Reunion Hill Hey you guys, Lawrence replied: >> Given the discussions we had lately around how the hill got it's name, I've even more convinced this "hill" was named by the narrator. It would be quite the coincidence if this particular hill (where all her musing took place about their possible reunion) happened to be named Reunion Hill. << Did she name Indian Boulder as well? Gene F. (who used to enjoy over-thinking these things a lot more) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:27:51 -0700 (PDT) From: Janet Cinelli Subject: [RS] to skip or not skip? I totally agree with John, Transit does have too much going on for me and whenever it comes up in my rotation, I will usually skip it. But I never skip Reunion Hill, even the overproduced version which lucky for me I happen to like. While Reunion Hill is a beautifully written story, I don't feel like it's trying to teach me a lesson, unlike Transit. What Transit's lesson is, I don't know! Janet - --- On Tue, 3/19/13, John McDonnell wrote: Transit just has too much going on for me (I know this is on purpose--the members of the horde and the dash for position, etc), and while I like the song, I am never in the mood to listen to it, even though I don't skip it when it comes up. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:47:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Janet Cinelli Subject: Re: [RS] to skip or not skip? Me too! I love his version and never tire hearing it. - --- On Tue, 3/19/13, rongrittz@aol.com wrote:>> I totally agree with John, Transit does have too much going on for me andwhenever it comes up in my rotation, I will usually skip it. << I usually skip it because it's the last thing keeping me from getting to "Calling the Moon." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:49:02 -0400 From: Beth DeSombre Subject: [RS] The final choice I've gone back and forth so many times this week on which to choose. I suppose that's a good sign that I'm happy with the final choices. And it means that I won't be unhappy whatever the outcome. (Even as I'm writing these sentences, by the way, I've gone back and forth about which one to choose a couple times.) I put this to my spouse, who refuses to join listservs but is a major RS fan and for him the choice was easy: Transit is one of his all-time favorite songs, by RS or anyone. I love that it is something that no one but Richard could have written. I love the it simultaneously has creative storytelling, entertaining lines, and yet somehow turns into a serious song, demonstrating grace, at the end. And knowing that he started writing it without knowing where it was going adds to my respect for how well this song was pulled off. It makes me smile, first because it's quirky and funny, and then because it's beautiful. Reunion Hill is a song I'll play myself. It's a beautifully-imagined situation and scene. I love the guitar part, not only the DADGAD, but the riff/melody is especially glorious. I love songs that essentially drop the listener into the middle of the song as it's already going on (the narrator musing "it must have been in late September"). I love songs that imply a story through the characters and the scene that have been created, and the information that's revealed in the process (which is a different storytelling style than shown in Transit). When I write my best songs, they're efforts to do that kind of storytelling. OK, I started this message thinking that Transit would be my more likely vote, at minimum letting my non-voting spouse's preferences tip the balance. But if he wants to vote he should join the list, I think I'm going to go for *Reunion Hill*. But I'll be completely happy with either outcome (though I hope it's not be a one-vote margin!). Beth Beth DeSombre www.bethdesombre.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:27:28 -0700 From: gina Subject: Re: [RS] The Championship Round. Transit. I'm actually surprised by how many votes are going for Reunion Hill, and how many people say they like Transit, but they skip it when it comes on. I think Reunion Hill is a beautiful song. It's poignant, a touching story, strong voice (of a woman, no less, as Richard does so well), and I love how it begins and ends with the same line. But Transit is clever. And unique. Structurally, it winds and meanders, much like the highway it begins on. (It reminds me of a film I watched in my History of Italian Cinema class, which of course I can't remember the name of, nor can I remember the director. But there's a scene where the characters are sitting outside with a road in the background, and the camera keeps following the cars that pass by for a few seconds, before returning to the characters, as if the storyteller is distracted by the potential stories in those passing cars. In this case, the storyteller really does shift focus, from the hoard on the highway, to the lone nun and her journey.) It's a song that I LOVE to listen to. I might sometimes put only that song on, and not listen to the rest of the album. And when it comes on as I listen to the entire album, I'll turn it up. ;) I love clever lyrics and word play. And the line "Thank god the traffic was light / if she hurried she might not be late / to that evening's performance at the state penitentiary" still makes me blink in amused surprise. It's an unexpected twist of direction. (And reminds me of Dar Williams's "And I should know / 'cause I am a horticulturalist." Another word you don't expect to hear in a song.) Transit exists and can be enjoyed on many levels, as demonstrated by the recent list discussion. It's at once an engaging story of Friday afternoon commute contrasted with a nun leading a prison choir performance, AND a critique of consumerism, a comment on the state of humanity, and a depiction of god's redemption. So, Transit for me. ;-) Gina - -- ******************************* "and all i want is something i can write about, all i want is something i can cry about..." - -n.f. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:33:37 -0400 From: Pete Jameson Subject: [RS] A Different Brain This is from a recent interview that Jeff Tweedy of Wilco gave to an Australian musician/journalist: I saw you at your second show in Melbourne last time and I know that youd totally flipped the set list from the night before and gave those that went to both shows an opportunity to see what youve got. Very generous. Thank you. Well I mean we played five nights in Chicago not too long ago, I think we played like 100 different songs, we didnt do hardly any repeat songs on any given night. To me if Mavis sounds like Mavis and Low sounds like Low, theyre going to make me sound good. That is outrageous  I dont know how your brain could hold all that information, you must forget a few phone numbers and forget your shopping list because what goes in (often for me) shoves other things out. I dont know. Maybe its because weve been playing 80-150 shows a year for like 20 years. Theres a certain amount of it that just feels like muscle memory. If you can remember one song, its like you can remember all of them. Its the periods in between touring where I feel like I cant remember any of my songs  I think the key is not to get too worried about it, and also just to go ahead and fuck up a lot. Pete in PA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:21:29 -0400 From: Laurence Krulik Subject: Re: [RS] Reunion Hill Chris - well written. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:38:45 +0300 From: Chris Foxwell Subject: Re: [RS] Transit On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 1:31 AM, wrote: > >> I haven't heard Richard live in quite a number of years now, but can > anyone say whether or not he is still swapping out "well-insured horde" in > favor of "murderous horde", the way he was in '07 and '08? << > > Isn't it the opposite? It was recorded (and originally sung) as > "murderous horde," then shortly thereafter changed to "well-insured" and I > haven't heard him ever go back to "murderous" even once after all these > years. > > Ha, I think you're right. Oops. That's what comes of listening to all the different versions for the tournament, while trying to drudge up old memories of shows. Never mind. Move along. Chris - -- "We were born in a dark age out of due time (for us). But there is this comfort: otherwise we should not know, or so much love, what we do love. I imagine the fish out of water is the only fish to have an inkling of water." --J.R.R. Tolkien ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:45:06 -0400 From: Carol Love Subject: [RS] Set List ~ St. Pete NOT in order: Next Best Western Stray Cow Blues Deer on the Parkway Reunion Hill Fishing Juggler Out in Traffic Satellites Get Up Clara Blue Northern Lights Careless Are You Happy Now Your Guitar Mavis Transit ( the "Democrats, Republicans, but mostly Republicans" phrase was repeated from Ft. Lauderdale) (encore) Wisteria We did not get the covers that Ft. Laud did, I'm guessing because at the last minute he opened up a second show our night. I thought about staying for show #2, but I was in a state of bliss and didn't want to risk patter repeats and such. I think only four songs were acoustic It was on either Satelites or Stray Cow he turned to Marc and said that they had played it perfect and he wanted to go with that version for the record. (I feel it was Stray Cow, but it would not be admissible in a court of law...) After he did "Deer on the Highway" due to my almost too close proximity, I told him that deer ARE the most deadly animal in America. (True, they cause all the car accidents.) And he said, "So I was on the money with this song???") As mentioned before he did politely yet firmly ask someone to stop filming and "be in the moment". I think that got applause. I had something else I really wanted to say to him after the show, or otherwise I would have mentioned he sorta channeled George Carlin at that moment. Whom I paraphrase, "Everyone is walking around filming now days. How can you be nostalgic for 10 minutes ago???" ~ Carol ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:22:57 -0400 From: Carol Love Subject: Re: [RS] Transit Chris wrote: > > I haven't heard Richard live in quite a number of years now, but can anyone > say whether or not he is still swapping out "well-insured horde" in favor > of "murderous horde", the way he was in '07 and '08? The various > playing-around he does with "Reagan Republicans", etc., ...I can't speak to the horde issue, but I think at this point most of us lefties find Reagan Republicans almost quaint. I'm glad our liberal troubadour updated that. ~ Carol ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:45:55 -0700 From: Subject: Re: [RS] Final Four >> Or maybe because he can't remember all his lyrics during a single performance (side bar: does he not have all the lyrics written on those papers he always fumbling through?) << You know, I don't get the whole thing of Richard needing to rely on lyric sheets, and when I've seen him do it, it bothers me. Look, I can see -- MAYBE -- him needing them for new songs, but for OLD ones? Look, he typically doesn't do more than 15-17 songs on a given night, most of them ones that you'd think he'd know by heart. I've seen a lot of singer-songwriter concerts in my day, and have never seen anyone rely on lyric sheets they way Richard does. And that includes Dave Carter, who wrote some of the most tongue-twisting lyrics ever written. Totally takes me out of the moment. RG ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:29:51 -0400 From: Isabel Frey Subject: [RS] Final Vote Reunion Hill. Isabel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:43:51 -0400 From: Carol Love Subject: Re: [RS] Re: By Now Ron wrote: > What's to say the driver in "By Now" is necessarily a MAN? ......Every FBI profiler ever. And he's a white guy, unmarried with mother issues. ~ Carol ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:15:44 -0700 From: Christine Thomas Subject: [RS] Final vote I have to vote for Transit. It has always been one of my top 5 RS songs. I love the story he weaves and the vivid imagery. Plus I have a thing for constructed societies like prisons and convents. - -- "Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you." Adopt a dog it will change your life. www.turtlegardens.org www.saintsrescue.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:29:37 -0400 From: Laurence Krulik Subject: Re: [RS] The Championship Round. > I've always assumed it was the real name of an actual hill. Like "Indian > Boulder" which he mentions next. Just a geographical location. > Google'd that and didn't find anything except references to the song. Could be a fictional place, however. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:37:05 -0400 From: Laurence Krulik Subject: Re: [RS] Final Four My point is that he already has the lyric sheets out (or what appears to be lyrics/music - I'm not sure what exactly is written there). Why not glance over just to get the start of the next phrase. He certainly shouldn't fumble over lyrics when they are in front of him! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 09:42:39 -0700 From: RFC Subject: Re: [RS] Newbie Glad to see you've joined the FB list, which is good for short and more social/personal messages, while the email list is better for long-form discussions like the tournament. So, FB fans, come over and join us in the Richard Shindell Fans group over there for the best of both worlds. RG On Mar 17, 2013, at 4:00 AM, "Michael Bird" wrote: > I use facebook. For my penny's worth a facegroup group may be a bit easier for > me to manage ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:06:40 +0300 From: Chris Foxwell Subject: Re: [RS] Transit On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 12:40 AM, John McDonnell wrote: > I also think its funny that Sister Maria thinks the traffic is > light--its only because she has everyone backed up to the George > Washington Bridge behind her. > > Heh, that is funny, I've never thought of it that way. I interpret that line differently: the traffic is light because everyone else has been swept off into/by the vortex (or whatever). This seems chronologically accurate, as the line comes right on the heels of the lengthy description of all the cars being swept away, and also symbolically meaningful, as it depicts the very selfishness of the horde directly paving the way for Maria's speedier passage to do the Good Work. "These [sinners] too shall find that all that they do redounds at the end only to the glory of my work", etc. I haven't heard Richard live in quite a number of years now, but can anyone say whether or not he is still swapping out "well-insured horde" in favor of "murderous horde", the way he was in '07 and '08? The various playing-around he does with "Reagan Republicans", etc., makes sense and shifts with the political climate, but I always found it interesting that he did away with "well-insured horde". (Rather consistently in those tours, too, as I recall.) "Murderous horde" just doesn't have the same ring to it, and seems a bit more blasi. But perhaps, in light of recent discussions here, this makes sense from the point of view of not wishing to associate the state of being insured, which as has been pointed out is common wisdom, with being sinful? Chris - -- "We were born in a dark age out of due time (for us). But there is this comfort: otherwise we should not know, or so much love, what we do love. I imagine the fish out of water is the only fish to have an inkling of water." --J.R.R. Tolkien ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:15:17 +0300 From: Chris Foxwell Subject: Re: [RS] Reunion Hill On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 8:05 PM, Laurence Krulik wrote: > Let me say I love Reunion Hill. However, I think the actual phrase > "Reunion Hill" always struck me me as, well, cheesy. Maybe folks here can > change my mind, but what was actually reunited on that hill anyway? > It's possible, I think, to construct a kind of symbolic "reunion" symbolized by the Hill. The Hill is where the hawk circles every afternoon, and the hawk offers the only possible vantage point from which the husband/love might be kept in view. (Though see below, under my response to Pete's interpretation.) Therefore the Hill is the location where the husband/love can be imagined as "real", an imagining that represents a reunion of sorts. The connection between the hawk and the husband is hinted at in the pronouns Richard uses in the final verse. He introduces the hawk as an "it" ("It circles every afternoon"), but then the next reference is masculine: "He soars above Reunion Hill / I pray he spiral higher still". It's almost as though the widow sees the hawk AS the husband, or as symbolizing the husband in a very real way: his soul, or the flight of their love, etc. With this interpretation, the Hill is very much a place of reunion, as it is where the hawk returns every afternoon. Obviously the widow doesn't go to the Hill herself anymore, as "it must have been in late September when last [she] climbed Reunion Hill", but one gets the powerful sense that she used to go there all the time, watching for her husband and perhaps forging this connection between him and the hawk. However. I don't think we need to look that deeply. Simply: the Hill is where the widow last saw her husband, marching off to war and disappearing into the trees; thus it is natural for her to picture seeing him there again, emerging from the trees and reuniting with her. We've all done that, I think: said goodbye to a loved one at a certain place and come to feel, over time, that the place symbolizes the farewell and thus the hoped-for reunion. On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 8:11 PM, Pete Jameson wrote: > It's a statement of hope, even though the husband is not likely to > return...we > see this in Abuelita, too...a hope borne of faith, no matter the odds... > Interesting. I've always seen it as the opposite. I see the song as tragically sad, and that the husband absolutely is not coming back, at all, with the widow having given up on her hope. The last time she went to Reunion Hill--to watch for him, presumably, as above--was in late September, which we're given to think was quite some time ago (hence her saying "It must've been..." then). As I hear it, she gradually went less and less frequently, with hope dying in her heart, until eventually she gave up and is now merely recounting how she used to hope. Her "love", both in the physical form of her husband and in the love that they shared, now exists in God's eyes only, from an altitude that even the hawk can't attain. One could interpret this "in God's eyes" idea as a statement of hope, as in "all things are alive in God" or "I'll see him again in Heaven", etc., but that conflicts rather sharply with the mournful tone of the song, in my ears at least. Admittedly, we might be swayed by our different preferred versions of he recording. I believe you said that you like the studio version, which is certainly more peppy, whereas I prefer the *Courier *version, which is much slower and more mournful. Regardless, I find the last verse illuminating in figuring out the "proper" interpretation here. (As if there need be a proper tone! Of course there needn't, at all.) The widow prays that the hawk will spiral higher still, "*As if** *from such an altitude he might just keep [her] love in view." The phrase "as if" undermines, even belies, the speaker's belief in whatever follows the phrase, and might even connote bitterness, depending on how the phrase strikes you. Consider my parenthetical comment three sentences previous: "*as if* there need be a proper tone" possesses a "ha, of course not" quality, and I hear that same quality in "*As if *from such an altitude he might just keep my love in view". Basically, it's like she is saying that even from *God's* perspective it is impossible--"ha, of course not!"--that her husband is still alive. In sum, this is one of Richard's most painfully sad songs, to my ears. Not a sharp pain, as the sharpness has faded along with the widow's hope, but a dull, mournful, listless pain, the kind that sets in after hope is abandoned. Sheesh. Time for a stiff drink. Chris - -- "We were born in a dark age out of due time (for us). But there is this comfort: otherwise we should not know, or so much love, what we do love. I imagine the fish out of water is the only fish to have an inkling of water." --J.R.R. Tolkien ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:36:43 -0400 From: "cvz" Subject: Re: [RS] The Championship Round. I'm in total agreement with Vanessa's analyses, but my vote goes to Reunion Hill. As someone here so aptly said; it makes my heart hurt. And there's nothing better than a sad song like RH to bring to light the abject heartbreak that wars always cause. Shelda......I think you missed the boat on this one. Reunion Hill. Carrie >Let me say I love Reunion Hill. However, I think the actual phrase >"Reunion Hill" always struck me me as, well, cheesy. Maybe folks here can >change my mind, but what was actually reunited on that hill anyway? I've always assumed it was the real name of an actual hill. Like "Indian Boulder" which he mentions next. Just a geographical location. Interesting, Shelda ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:40:53 -0400 From: Gene Frey Subject: [RS] Game 7 Hey you guys, Reunion Hill, mostly because I can't vote for Wisteria. Gene F ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:29:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Janet Cinelli Subject: Re: [RS] Final Four and hey what about Tracy who didn't write the words but I've never seen her fumble over any of Dave's sometimes quite complicated lyrics. Janet - --- On Fri, 3/15/13, ronsfolkchords@cox.net wrote: And that includes Dave Carter, who wrote some of the most tongue-twisting lyrics ever written. Totally takes me out of the moment. RG ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:50:44 -0400 From: "JK" Subject: [RS] Final round Has to be *Transit* for me. The song works on so many levels and I'll be listening again in the light of some of the great comments posted recently. I find it an 'unusual' song and you've no idea where it's leading you as it progresses. And when it's over you just want to hear it again to re-conjure the images, just like a child with a story that never ceases to bore because it allows the imagination to go to work. John ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V12 #427 ************************************