From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V10 #49 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 Sunday, March 22 2009 Volume 10 : Number 049 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Not Far Now [John McDonnell ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:43:41 -0400 From: John McDonnell Subject: [RS] Not Far Now Hi All, Back from lurkdom, having endured a trifecta of turmoil--marital, professional and physical--which really prevented me from posting anything, though I read everything. With "Not Far Now" I felt like I wanted to try to contribute. I dont have the lyrics to the songs (did I order too late??), so I am just forming general impressions based on repeated but irregular listening. I was struck, as usual by the imagery of the songs, and partcularly by the whole disk being bracketed by "Parasol Ants" and "Balloon Man." I disliked the use of the ants/humans idea as a little tired (Dave Matthews, anyone?) in the first song, but became enamoured of the thief/god notion. In "Balloon Man" I was catapulted back to the image of the thief blowing on the ants when the balloon man encounters the wind that whips round the corner and looks as if he might go down. I found this an interesting parallel, especially as I saw the balloon man as a Christ figure (he is carrying a cross, after all)--each falling victim to the whim of a somewhat capricious deity. This continues some of the ideas in SOD--the marginalized and powerless subject to the whims of greater forces--economic, social or psychological, and for me, the Balloon Man embodies it. I dont know why I think of the thief in Parasol Ants as a tramp-like figure a la Chaplin or a Beckett character, but to me it fits thematically with the balloon man, the juggler, and even the junkie rolling the stone up the hill. This Sisyphean act to me demonstrates the worlds irrationality (the shit coming down, the gusts of wind) and the human desire for unity and structure. For the absurdist--the structure is all there is, for the theist the unity is the deity. The balloon man has his "marvel of equipoise" : the structure amid all those chaotice balloons. A cross, a religious symbol, but also a man-made rig--a practical, and therefore, secular structure. We all have our crosses to bear as the saying goes, whether that's the balloon man, the juggler counting out the trick (glory be, thy trick be done) Mariana at her table or the worker's to whom she caters, the junkie trying to get clean or even those home buyers in One Man's Arkansas--zero down keeps them paying till kingdom come. I did have one gripe: "Get Up Clara." What is going on in this song? I find it irritating. Its some kind of itinerant Roman doing what? Is there nothing more than an elaborate play on Roam/Rome? Anyway--very happy with the new album. John McD. ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V10 #49 ***********************************