From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #362 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, October 17 2001 Volume 03 : Number 362 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] William Tay-lor [Roxylee ] Re: [RS] Young doe in the high beams. [Vanessa Wills Subject: [RS] William Tay-lor OK, I was the one who seemed to recall that some listers thought that WT was a bad guy. Then I went into the RS archives and read where some were discussing his mom and maybe, sort of blaming her for the family mess. Sorry for the mis-recollection. (Is that a word?) OK, it's after midnight, so I don't need to make sense, right? :-) Roxy, getting out her Al Stewart and Dan Fogelberg tapes. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 03:20:32 -0400 From: Vanessa Wills Subject: Re: [RS] Young doe in the high beams. oops. I meant, April 2001. I think the funny thing about By Now is that once you start hearing the evil, it doesn't stop. Lines like "Take a cigarette" (admittedly, a stretch) and "What station do you like?" even seem shadowed by violently and/or pervertedly sexual innuendo. OK, here, I try to reveal the craziness and the schizophrenia of this song's voice. It's late, tho, so apologies if this long diatribe doesn't even manage to mean anything... What's great about this song is how Richard uses the ambiguousness of the narrator's auditor to stunning psychotic effect. The voice alternates between speaking to Mary Ann and speaking to itself, and the movements are at once perfectly seamless and wickedly jarring. Furthermore, we don't always know whom he's speaking to--Mary Ann or himself. And what's even more amazing is that even very close inspection of the lyrics won't always reveal the real auditor to you--that is, it's near impossible to know for whom benefit he is speaking. And the sense of what the speaker is saying is very different depending on where you are in the dialogue. (that's an awkward way of saying it...). If you are (innocent and unsuspecting, we presume) Mary Ann, then the question, "Is there some place I can take you?" just means, "I would like to help by driving you to whatever location you are trying to reach, so long as it is not too far." If you are the listener, who is seeing the world from the narrator's point of view, and has some inkling of his sliminess, then, of course, you get the sense of what this question means _to him_. i.e., "Where can I take you that they won't interrupt me and they won't find your body after I'm done with you?" And does he ask the question out loud? or is he just thinking it to himself? We can't know. The effect? The speaker just seems crazy. And if you don't see his evil, don't worry. It is the ambiguousness of his moral character that _makes_ him seem crazy, once you can see that ambiguity. You're not seeing something that isn't there--you're just, I think, seeing things from Mary Ann's point of view. And from Mary Ann's point of view, there is absolutely no reason not to get into the car with this guy, obviously a friend of the family or some such trusted figure. From Mary Ann's point of view, we can not know that he is a threat. If this were not the case, the song wouldn't be so scary. We'd all just say, "Well, obviously, I wouldn't be that dumb, and that would never happen to me. I mean, couldn't she see...?" The other side is our ability to see not only from the narrator's p.o.v., but to actually see that point of view qua point of view. The further ambiguity is that the narrator doesn't even speak to himself in very clear terms. When he says, "No radar gun in sight," he just leaves the thought undeveloped, as I suppose, you might when you're just driving along and thinking to yourself. So, we still can't know exactly what he means by the things he says to himself, when he's presumably not trying to hide anything from anyone. And even the "She don't stand a chance," is ambiguous in its significance. It's almost as though he was not yet totally committed to his own evil plan. As though he might be genuinely worried about her wellbeing. Understanding this song depends on experiencing a gestalt switch, back and forth, between modes of meaning. You just have to look at the same words and see something totally different. It's like a lyrical Necker square. That said, I've got procrastinating to do, and that means--you guessed it!--an attempt to translate into the narrator's terms some of the key lines of the song. Be warned--I am definitely not going to shy away from the unpleasant and the downright perverted, here... Window open wide Blowing through the north woods No radar gun in sight (That is, no cops to stop the narrator's evil designs) Moon shines on the asphalt Two eyes in the dark Young doe in the highbeams (innocent and pretty young girl at 12 o'clock) She don't stand a chance If she ain't already got there by now (She won't be home again--the narrator will see to that) By now . . . by now . . . by now Is that you Mary Ann (the narrator knows her! Possibly a friend's daughter? A young neighbor?) I almost drove right by you (Uh, yeah... Sure, he did.) Can I give you a hand (a euphemism for helping someone, yes, but also wondering to himself whether he it's time to initiate physical contact with her) Is there somewhere I can take you (where can the narrator victimize the girl without being spotted?) The road is dark and cold No place for a young girl Shouldn't you be at home Your Mama's probably missed you by now By now . . . by now . . . by now Put your bags in back Don't bother with the seatbelt Take a cigarette (um, my brother reads sexual content into this. I assume you can imagine what that might be) What station do you like? (I read sexual content into this. Again, a little imagination, please--I'm blushing here!) How far do you go? (the narrator wonders if she's had other sexual experiences.) What time are you expected? (how long before they start looking for the body?) Did you leave a note Telling where you might be by now?(and where will they look for the body?) By now . . . by now . . . by now Window open wide (the business with Mary Ann is all over, and it's on to the next prey). Blowing through the north woods No radar gun in sight Moon shines on the asphalt Two eyes in the dark Young doe in the high-beams She don't stand a chance If she ain't already got there by now By now . . . by now . . . by now Vanessa Wills wrote: > April 2000 > The Point > Bryn Mawr, PA > > > > Lisa Davis & family wrote of "By Now": > > > I couldn't hear all that evil coming through *Richard's* voice! > > -- > "I still confuse mowing down with getting through." > -Jeff Lang, "throw it all," from _Cedar Grove_ - -- "I still confuse mowing down with getting through." -Jeff Lang, "throw it all," from _Cedar Grove_ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 10:17:22 +0200 (MEST) From: Katrin.Uhl@t-online.de (Katrin Uhl) Subject: Re: [RS] Young doe in the high beams. Vanessa Wills schrieb: > I think the funny thing about By Now is that once you > start hearing the > evil, it doesn't stop. Lines like "Take a cigarette" > (admittedly, a > stretch) and "What station do you like?" even seem > shadowed by violently > and/or pervertedly sexual innuendo. I've only read so far (will read on of course, but I wanted to pin down my thoughts before they escape again :) ) and it suddenly hit me - you know what movie By Now would have been perfect for? Don't know the English title, the one with Jack Nicholson, directed by Sean Penn, re-make of an old German classic, based on a novel by Friedrich D|rrenmatt, about a police inspector trying to shed some light on the mruders of three, young girls. You never really see the murderer in this version of the movie (German title translates to "the promise", maybe that's the English title), only several possible suspects and then the back of the guy in his car. Always a long black car, several driving scenes ... by now would have been perfect. bummer, too late. why doesn't Sean Penn know Richard's music? I think he needs a promo CD, just in case he comes up with equally scarry movies again. BTW - talking about sinister songs. I just bought Nick Cave's "never shall we part". Wow, I had forgotten how sinister the man is. ... By now is a lullaby compared to the shudder I get from some of Mr. Cave's songs. back to work, have a great day, Katrin ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #362 ***********************************