Re: Kirsty MacColl

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City)]

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Vickie here. I loved that tribute to Kirsty!

I first heard Kirsty on the Pogues' song "Fairytale of New York".
The first time I heard this song I shook my head in *awe* of what I was
hearing. The song, the lyrics, the instruments, the melody, the harmonys,
the voices, THAT voice!

When I saw the video...my god! What an amazing video!

She looked just as interesting as I had imagined her to be. I asked around
and the only information I got was "isn't that Steve Lillywhite's old lady?"

Hummph!

I read in one of the English music mags that she had an album coming out
called "Kite". I searched...no luck.

A few months ago I was in a local record store perusing....

Whaaaaats thiiiis?? A Kirsty MacColl 12"!!!!!! We're my eyes deceiving me?
No, it really, really, truly was. "Innocence".
Ah wonderful! I couldn't wait to get it home. Would it live up to my
expectations? Yes, absolutely. It was excellent indeed. The only problem
was that I wanted moremoremore. "Kite" hmm...gotta find it...where is it?
Searched....requested (nicely)....searched....requested (please!)...searched
...requested (aw co'mon really you got the 12" didn't you?)...and gave up :-(

A few weeks ago I was perusing at the same store again, my arms full of 
things I needed (uh...really) to buy. There are times (when I have the bucks)
I start with "A" in the alternative section and work my way to "Z" just
looking for interesting female artists & groups. It works...sometimes.
I found A.C.Marias and Zebra Stripes that way. Got to the "M"s and :-)
a Kirsty MacColl 10" (Huh?) I picked it up to look at it, saw that it
was "Innocence" again. Interesting that it was a gatefold 10". I decided to
get it and let go of all the albums I'd pulled back to get at the "M"
section. Luckily I glanced up and...Yow! I had almost missed it!
"Kite"............! I'm talking seriously happy here OK?

Yes, yes, yes. It's a *very* excellent album. The lyrics are very touching,
moving, wry, introspective, funny, knowing, cynical in a way, yet also
cynical about cynicism....yes, that especially.

"Oh innocence has passed you by" she sings to her former lover. It's a theme
that runs through the album. In "It's The End Of A Perfect Day" she writes:
"I want to tell you something/ Don't act surprised or anything/ Now you can
revel in yourself 'cause/ it's the end of a perfect day/ No it's not a pretty
world out there/ with people dying of their own despair/ But in a written
testimonial you'd say/ You never really knew them anyway..."
In "No Victims" she writes: "I was seeing the world through your eyes/ There
was not much left not to despise/ It's a shame but it's true/ I started to
feel things like you do" and in "Fifteen Minutes" these classic lines
"There's Suzy-Ann with her tits and curls/ Where mediocrity excels/ For those
vicious boys and their boring girls/ You know it makes me sick but it's a
bozo's world ". Oh wow. When I heard that bit about "those vicious boys" I
thought of MTV's 120 Minutes' Dave Kendall... his head turned sideways, eyes
closed, snoring...immediately after the video for "I Remember Me" by The
Innocence Mission played. He shook himself "awake" and started talking about
what was coming up next. It absolutely was meant as a "god, how boring"
message for all his little dweeb-ass followers. The Innocence Mission are
wiser than Dave Kendall will ever *Hope* to be. They see cynicism for what it
is...meaningless. Kirsty is that way too. Her innocence and wonder, once
lost in the void, has been restored. Not that the songs are all upbeat and
happy. She may be out of the ugly cauldron but she can look back and
emphasize (and, in some cases, sneer, rightfully so) at those still caught
in the trap. She feels sad for them and you feel sad for them and you feel
sad for her because she feels sad for them, then a line will come along
that will make you burst out laughing and your emotions are all in a fit.
  This is a wonderful album.

I love music, you all know that by now. I listen to it all the time. I waste
untold hours of precious time listening to meaningless crap seeking...
searching...for the great music out there to be discovered. In my quest so
many things seem to have fallen by the wayside (movies, books, uh, housework)
and when I find truly great music that, especially, *moves* me emotionally,
I'm in awe and I feel privileged to have been allowed to hear it. Kate Bush
and Jane Siberry always do that to me. Finding others who affect me that way
is...well, here are some others:          

               Happy Rhodes
               The Innocence Mission
               Mary Margaret O'Hara
      and..    Kirsty MacColl

There are others but these people are, for reasons I couldn't possibly
adequately explain, special.

Well, it's 6am, I ramble in my usual inarticulate way and I should probably
go to bed. I don't want to though. I want to (and probably will) stay up
for hours more listening to music on headphones.

         So much music.....
                      so little time.....
                      (listen to what's worth listening to) 
                                    so little money.....
                                    (buy what's worth buying)   
Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
katefans@world.std.com

ps: Do buy the Pogues album too, if you don't already have it!

pps: I *do* still see good movies and read good books....um, about the
     housework....