Alternate interpretations...

[ganzer@trout.nosc.mil (Mark T. Ganzer)]

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This has all been discussed before, but many of us were not around
for the previous discussions.

Words can have many meanings
depending on what context they are used in. If the words "cutting out
little lines" were the only words I heard, then I might wondering what
kind of lines. But when I hear the whole passage:

     "Not a soul on the ice. Only me, skating fast.
      I'm speeding past trees leaving little lines in the ice,
      Cutting out little lines, in the ice, spitting, spitting sound..."

the meaning becomes crystal clear...she is describing an extremely lonely,
desolate place where the only sound she hears is the spitting of her
skates in the ice.  I never thought that it was a reference to drugs.
You may think that she had some subconcious intent in this line, but I
think you give Kate too much credit in that case. Based on various interviews
which describe how she buries herself in the role that she is playing, I
doubt that the drug interpretation even crossed her mind- conscious os
subconcious. She's too busy trying to set the mood for the piece.
In numerous cases she has said that she only became aware of these ideas
until someone pointed them out to her. I have to agree with IED that trying
to say that it may be a subconcious interpretation is rather impertinent.

But then interpretations are highly personal things. Just as the meanings
of words change based on the backdrop of the paragraphs that surround them,
our interpretations of a piece of art are based on the backdrop upon which
we view it- the sum total of our entire life's experiences. Our mind uses
these experiences as filters to tell us how what we see and hear relates
to us. And the artist creating the work is also working with the backdrop
of their own life's experieces. Thus, hypothetically, if the person who
wrote these lines had absolutely no knowledge of cocaine practices, how
could there be a subconcious intent? (Note that I am not trying to say
that Kate has no knowledge of cocaine, I am just asking a hypothetical
question). Interestingly, I just got an interview in which Kate tends to 
say the same thing. In a 1980 interview when asked about whether she writes
songs based on fiction out of fear of exposing too much of herself, she
replies:
     " Whenever I base something on a book or film I don't take a direct
       view, I don't STEAL it. I'll put it through my personal
       experiences, and in some cases it becomes a very strange mixture
       of complete fiction and very, very personal fears within me."

MarK T. Ganzer
Internet: ganzer@trout.nosc.mil  
UUCP: {ucbvax,hplabs}!sdcsvax!nosc!ganzer
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