From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #130 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 Friday, April 20 2001 Volume 03 : Number 130 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] SOTW: Blue Divide. [Rongrittz@aol.com] [RS] Carter/Grammer house concert update. [Rongrittz@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 21:27:10 EDT From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: [RS] SOTW: Blue Divide. Well, here's another SOTW, and it's one of my favorite RS songs. It's interesting, though . . . I tend to prefer Richard's more dour songs, or the songs in which he sings in the voice of one of his many characters. And while "Blue Divide" certainly isn't a HAPPY song, it's clearly a love song . . . and definitely seems to be Richard singing about Richard. And oh my, what a love song it is. That last note . . . as Richard sings it and holds it . . . it's one of the most stunning exclamations of love since the crescendo of Buskin & Batteau's "Guinevere." I definitely think it's Richard's single best moment as a singer. I know Carol does, too. Right Carol? Anyway, here's another snippet from the interview from which I've quoted a few times now. He makes reference to having started out the song with the title, which I think is simply a marvelous bit of brilliance, calling an ocean a "blue divide." Almost as perfect as Warren Zevon using the phrase "hasten down the wind" to say "I would prefer it if you would take a long walk off a short pier." RG ____________________________________________ That's one of the songs that I'm most happy with musically. Melodically, that song is more adventurous, so I'm happy with that. That's another son written from the point of view of someone who is longing after somebody who has disappeared. Or is unavailable, or far away. Specifically, my wife. That was written from the point of view of somebody on one side of an ocean and somebody on the other. Which is the situation we were in. I was in New York and she was in France. Marconi Beach is on Cape Cod. That's a little reference: "And found Marconi with his radio." It was where he broadcast his first transmission to, I guess it was, Ireland. There's a little memorial there. My mother lives on Cape Cod and I was visiting her. I was on Marconi Beach, and there's the ocean, and he sent it from there because that was the shortest distance that was convenient to him. I was standing on the beach, looking out across and imagining all that stuff. I think "Blue Divide" was first thing in the song. I got the title of the song first. Sometimes that happens. Then you sort of deduce everything from that. You're standing there on the side of the ocean and there's this huge expanse separating you from someone or something. I mean, it's pretty logical how you get across. What means are there -- the radio, telescope, balloons, row boats, whatever. It's a pretty simple song, I think. I think there's a lot of rhymes in there that are kind of funny. There's something almost tongue in cheek about the song. It's almost over the top, but in a happy way. It's kind of -- it's utter hyperbole. It's totally excessive, extravagant language. Waving a handkerchief. It's absurd. I would never do that. It's a magnification basically of a certain kind of emotion. ____________________________________________ BLUE DIVIDE Once I tried to row Cause you know I hate to fly So I set out from the coast But got battered by the tide As I glided back to shore I raised an angry oar And cursed that blue divide As if it weren't enough To still be stranded on the wrong side I landed in the surf When a breaker hit my blind side And when my clothes had dried I hung my head and cried Beside that blue divide Cause all that time I thought That you and I were lost A toss long fallen wide In that blue divide That endless blue divide So I climbed up on a dune And found Marconi with his radio He was looking kind of blue Cause his antenna rusted long ago And sitting on a cliff We shared a handkerchief Above that blue divide I waved it in the hope That you owned a telescope That could pierce that blue divide I thought I was marooned Til I caught site of your balloon Rising with the moon Across that blue divide That endless blue divide . . . ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 21:29:38 EDT From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: [RS] Carter/Grammer house concert update. Sorry for the cross-posting (I know Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer have their own list now), but I wanted to mention to those of you in the NY/NJ area that the house concert scheduled at Tim & Lori Blixt's cabin in Wayne, NJ has had a second show added for 5:00 on the afternoon of July 22. If you've never seen Dave and Tracy, then this is a perfect opportunity to see them in the most intimate setting you can imagine. And if you've never been to a concert at the Blixt's, then you have a SECOND reason to go. This will be only the second or third time that Tim and Lori have had to add a second show, so that's a great tribute to both the venue and the featured act. So give Tim at call at (973) 616-0853 and make sure to tell him you heard about it here. RG ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #130 ***********************************