Re: Suspended In Gaffa

[katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie)]

Chris here,

Ed answered a question about "gaffa":
> There is some controversy about this in rec.music.gaffa.  HOWEVER --
> the most common explanation, and the one that I think Kate gave herself
> (not that that necessarily means it's the whole story :-)) is that
> gaffa is gaffers' tape.  Gaffers are electricians in the entertainment
> industry, and electrical tape is supposedly called gaffers' tape
> sometimes.  To be "suspended in gaffa" means that you're tied up
> with electricians' tape, unable to move.  Anyone with other
> explanations (Chris? Vickie?) are encouraged to state their views.

   Ok, here goes...

   It is my opinion that the "gaffa tape" explanation was thought up by
Kate as a glib, easy answer about a _very_ complex song. I can point out
several examples of Kate, over the course of several interviews, changing
and simplifying her answers to the same questions being asked over and over
again. Keep in mind that we are talking about the woman who answered a
question about a hard to understand lyric with "that's for me to know,
and you to find out."

   First off - I have used the stuff as a sound-man for 1.7 decades, toured
around America, worked with engineers from other countries and have
heard it refered to as "Duck" tape, "Rock'n'Roll" tape, "Gaffer's" tape
or by it's proper name Duct Tape, but _never_ "gaffa" tape.

   Second - "gaffa" exists as a real word in Italian. I believe it is the
feminine of the French word "gaffe" (social error or blunder.) I'm not
_too_ sure as the dictionary was in Italian, a languge I neither read nor
speak.

   Third - the listing for the word "gaff" in the Oxford Unabridged
Dictionary is ~20 entries long, and is a rich source of puns in the context
of the song. The definitions of the word still in use are (from memory):

    - the main throughfair of a carnival with games of chance along
    each side. (Temptation; Just _try_ to knock over those milk bottles)

    - to accidentally let out a secret - to blow the gaff.

    - the hook used in Vaudeville to pull bad acts off the stage.
      (a number of other hooks as well - fishing etc.)

There are distractions from her artistic goals:

     "I try to get nearer, but as it gets clearer
      There's something appears in the way."

fear of revealing too much of her self:

     "I won't open boxes that I am told not too,
      I'm not a Pandora"

and fear of failing artistically:

     "and we're only bluffing,
      we're not ones for busting through walls"

   But fourth and principally, I think that "gaffa" is a _pluralization_
of the word "gaffe" in the most time-honored tradition of the expansion
of the English language. One gaffe, many gaffa.

   The song is about wanting knowledge and wisdom in much the same way as
_Sat in Your Lap_ and I think of the two as companion pieces.

  In _Suspended In Gaffa_ she is being held back by her emotions; "..I don't
know why I'm crying"; religious upbringing; "..I caught a glimpse of a god";
personal fears; "..mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes."
and a paradoxical fear of success.

   One particularly fun part is the the lines "...it's a plank in me eye,
with a camel who's trying to get through it" being a play on the Bible
verses (again from memory):

   "Why dost thou notice the mote in thine brother's eye, yet notice not
the beam [plank] in thine own"

   and the old 'fave...

   "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man [or woman] to enter the Kingdom of heaven"

   ...she is afraid of noticing others faults and missing her own, and
the spiritual cost of success.

   To put it bluntly, the song makes little or no sense if you only consider
Kate's explanation. The "well, that's what _Kate_ said" view doesn't count
for much in my book, given the errors in the published lyrics in _The
Complete Kate_. Discussion cheerfully encouraged.

                                Chris Williams of
                                    Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                                        katefans@chinet.chi.il.us

P.S. Vickie does not necessarily agree with my interpretations and will
     post her own views later. Such is life.