(And some days it takes more Stones than others...) Where Mythical Bestiary meets Contemporary Culture and Chews On Its Leg Until Covered with Slobber.
I can't believe I'm posting the lyrics to a pop/country song, either, at least one more recent than Hank Williams, Sr. But I turned in to watch the Police on the Grammies and was profoundly moved by the Dixie Chicks performing this song, and I hope the audience realized the context of what they were seeing and hearing. This is as good a "Fuck, Yeah!" moment as you get outside of fiction or the stage, and the best one we've had since Stephen Colbert praised Our Peerless Leader at the Washington Correspondants dinner last year. Besides, it gives me an excuse to post a picture of (sigh) Natalie Maines. (It's those broad cheekbones, I know it is.)
Dixie Chicks: "Not Ready To Make Nice"
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting
I'm through with doubt,
There's nothing left for me to figure out,
I've paid a price, and i'll keep paying
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
I know you said
Why can't you just get over it,
It turned my whole world around
and i kind of like it
I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting
***
UPDATE: They won every award they were nominated for.
2 comments:
Great political cartoon in the Arizona Repulic newpaper last night.
Showed poll taker talking to Hillary stating that the people would accept a woman president but were more likely to vote for the "Dixie Chicks".
Smiling, Dee Ann
Their great crime, I suppose, was in going "off script", breaking taboo in the C&W community. It's interesting to me how social in-groups can exert discipline as ruthless as any government. I'm remembering Ursula LeGuin's anarchist utopia in "The Dispossesed", when social mores-- what is Done and Not Done-- worked overtime to repress dissent or diversion. The Bush administration didn't need to go after the Dixie Chicks because the Chicks' own community did it for them. Also the Sufi parable about "The Swimmers". Sadly, this happens on the left as well as the right. More on this as it cooks in my head for a while.
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