Re: Holly Shit!

[J Eric Roskos <ll-xn!topaz!peora!jer>]

> > 1) In "All the Love," you expressed a feeling of fear and
> > vulnerability ... [and subsequently changed to a more popular style]
> > ... Do you have any regrets at doing this?
>
> I doubt that this had much to do with it since the British music press
> *hates* concept albums.  And HoL is certainly still quite weird.

But the approach she used would be a good compromise; the British Press
would say what they did say about it, viz., that the first side was OK, but
the back side was sort of strange (although, naturally, since people bought
many copies of the album, they would append "but in a nice way" to it.

Also, I don't perceive the Ninth Wave as being particularly "wierd".

I detect a subtle change in your philosophies in the following comments.

> I am
> going to ask her about her purpose in making the first three songs on
> the album more commercial than anything on "The Dreaming", but I was
> going to put it in a way much more palatable to me, and hopefully to
> Kate too.

Asking questions that attempt to get to the basis of issues can't always
be done in a "palatable" way, if the person you are questioning is
accustomed to evading the answers.  On the other hand, as I said in the
original posting, I doubt I would have asked such questions myself.

> Believe me, Kate is not one to be a feminist protester.  If she felt so
> strongly about the objectification of women, she would probably not lean
> towards eroticism so much.

This line of reasoning is indeed often used by feminist protesters, i.e.,
that "eroticism" is equivalent to "the objectification of women," but of
course in reality this is not true; it depends on whether what you have
written is itself objectified, or whether it is a sort of purely conceptual
framework which is applied by the listener to specific people, rather than
to "women in general".  Some of the better love songs are examples of this.

> Also she has said that she thinks women have the better end of the deal.

This is why it takes true resolve to be a non-hypocritical feminist, since
women *do* "have the better end of the deal," and are merely striving
either to achieve equity (in the process sacrificing some good things for
other, more just, ones), or else "want it all now".

> Because at the end of "Hello Earth", Kate has been rescued and the storm
> is over, and she can finally go to sleep.

This is an interesting idea.  It suggests that the person speaking in
"Hello Earth" is not merely an observer, but rather an active entity, if
there is any causal relation between her being rescued and the German
sentence just before she says "Go to sleep, little earth." For some
reason, this causality seems to be suggested by the short amount of time
between these two sentences, perhaps because a longer wait would have
suggested a sort of futility, that the observer could say "help her" but
it wouldn't accomplish anything.  This idea of an active, helping entity
goes well with the line "I was there at the birth," I think.

> > 4) Does the "old lady" in "Jig of Life" represent the folding-of-time
> > perceived by a woman who looks in the mirror and suddenly sees a face
> > reminiscent of her mother's when she was born?
>
> She's already said that it means just what I said it means.  If you
> asked her this, she'd say "That's a really nice interpretation, but what
> I really had in mind is [insert my interpretation here]."

But that was what she said about the interpretations you did ask her
about, which you are fairly certain were correct interpretations she just
didn't want to acknowledge.

> > 5) Is this folding-of-time represented again by the "you asleep on the
> > seat" in "Hello, Earth"?  Or who is this "you"?
>
> I think "you" is Del Palmer.  But I could be wrong.

I have doubts about this, unless "on the seat" is a British colloquialism.
The phrase suggests a small person or animal, much smaller than the seat,
such that they are "on" it, like on a table.

> > 6) In the phrase "Help this blackbird," there seems to be this
> > parallel sound-meaning: "Help this black bard."  Yes?
>
> No.

Well, it would certainly fit well with what you had claimed the poem was
about, viz., about people accusing her of having evil intentions in some of
her poems, about her "singing like a witch," etc.

What other interpretations might be associated with a "blackbird"?

> > 7) What does the reference to Ireland in "The Big Sky" mean?
>
> She likes Ireland.

This sounds like an answer she would give, to avoid giving the real answer.

> > 8) In "Suspended in Gaffa," you seem to suggest the idea that by
> > choosing the path of an entertainer, you have bound yourself
> > against progress to a higher level of enlightenment; that your
> > spiritual progress is "suspended in Gaffa."
>
> That's not what she's saying.  She's saying that in the quest for
> perfection, it always feels like you're "suspended in Gaffa".

Why "Gaffa"?

> > Yet the conclusion of "The Ninth Wave" is quite opposite this idea.
> > Does this reflect a change in your ideologies in the past few years?
>
> You'd really have to argue pretty ****** well to convince me that the
> allegory in "The Ninth Wave" has any specific meaning, raher than just
> being a colage of impressions from traumas in life.

Unfortunately, I have forgotten what I had in mind when I wrote the above,
since it was so long ago ... oh, I do remember, too... at the end she says
"you know what? I love you better now," which suggests that she has grown
in some sense as a result of the traumatic experiences.

I don't think of "The Ninth Wave" as an allegory.  I am not very fond of
allegories.  I think "The Ninth Wave" symbolizes personal growth through
adversity.

> > 9) Don't give up!  "The Dreaming" was great, and you shouldn't let the
> > critics mislead you.  You can have your immortality now or later.
>
> [Better now.]

No, it's better later... now always runs out.