From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V12 #186 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 2012 Volume 12 : Number 186 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] three songs [Jean Rossner ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:37:43 -0400 From: Jean Rossner Subject: [RS] three songs "By Now" may be the creepiest song I have ever heard. "Are You Happy Now" seems to have at least three back-stories, and they aren't necessarily compatible with one another. I don't know that Richard is being completely honest with his audience--and he has the right to some privacy, if indeed the song is partially or fully autobiographical. "Last Fare"--I too assumed that they were the same couple when I first heard it, but I know he says otherwise. I guess I'm with those who think that the meaning in the songwriter's head does not have to be the same as the one in the listener's ears and heart. (However,IMO this does not apply to "By Now", or at least not when it comes to thinking that that one is about a Good Samaritan!) I was amused when I took a friend to a Shindell concert, and she remarked (of "Last Fare" and one other, maybe "Transit") that "you can tell he's not from New York; he thinks of the city primarily as the on-ramp to the George Washington Bridge!" (She and I both grew up in the city, but she stayed there until recently, while I left a long time ago. I still love "Last Fare," and "Transit" is in contention for my favorite Shindell song ever.) Jean Rossner ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V12 #186 ************************************