Re: Suspended In Gaffa

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

Chris here,

I posted:
>> 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.

Pipe-to-standard-output-filename-oug replies:
> I really don't have time (I am being worked to a frazzle at work and
> at home) for endless bantering on ridiculous topics anymore, but
> unfortunately I cannot let such an inane and incorrect comment go by
> without commenting. 

  The entire concept of an opinion being "inane or incorrect" is itself
inane and incorrect. It is a _theory_, which is mine.....

>   To say that "the song makes little or no sense if you only consider
> Kate's explanation" means that you have missed the very essence of the
> song.

  No, I haven't. Besides, tell me, has Kate _ever_ explained a song *fully*?
The ambiguity and obliqueness of her lyrics is Love-Hounds' reason for
_being_! The "essence of the song" as it were, may forever be a mystery.
NO ONE knows what every line means except Kate, and it is entirely possible
that not even _she_ is sure about _some_ of them. Artists recieve inspiration
from many directions. Try asking a writer "where do you get your ideas"?

>  The essence of the song has a lot to do with the fact that people often
> get snagged in the processes they use to achieve enlightenment. A graduate
> student might get tangled in all the requirements they must fulfill to get
> their degree.  A scholar climbs intellectual hills, only to find taller
> hills on the other side.  A Zen monk might never get past being hit on
> the head repeatedly with a stick.  A guitarist may feel that the thickness
> and slowness of his fingers are preventing the true music within him or
> her from flowing out.

  I agree with what you are saying here, and if you will re-read my post a
little more carefully you will see that nothing I say contradicts what you
are saying. It would behoove you to read the entire thing, instead of just
skimming, no matter _how_ busy you are, before responding.

> Kate desperately wants enlightenment in "Suspended in Gaffa" and the
> road for her to enlightenment is through her music.  However, it often
> seems that the process of making music gets in the way of the music.

  See above. 

> She wants enlightenment, but has gotten snagged in gaffer's tape, one
> of the very tools that is supposed to help her achieve enlightenment!

  Ha HOO!!! Gaffer's tape as a tool of enlightenment??? Recording tape,
maybe. _Real_ engineers don't tape cables down in a studio anyway, they
use clips and cable ties. (Tape residue gets all over everything!)

> All this talk of the meanings of "gaffe" or words similar in Itallian
> or abreviations of "God the Father" or whatever silly theory someone
> is likely to come up with this week is doing a disservice to the song.
 
  |>uog, you used to be L-H's resident expert on silly theories. I guess
it would be considered a cheap shot to repost your Kate interview. "Gaffa"
_is_, in fact, a word in Italian. Those _are_ Biblical references. 

> "Gaffa" denotes only gaffer's tape.  As a symbol, and precisely because
> of its sharpness of meaning, it connotes much more -- it connets the very
> struggle of life.

   I haven't said that the song isn't a metaphor about the struggle for
enlightenment. I thought that was obvious and agreed upon by everyone.
I just don't accept the idea that "gaffer's tape" is anything other than
a particular Kate-type of joke. She may partially refer to "gaffer's tape"
but there are _so_ many other allusions. Moby Dick is about a guy who kills
big fish? Finnagian's Wake is about a guy walking around Dublin? To say
"well that's what Kate said" is to admit intellectual defeat. The song
challenges listeners to understand it.

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

"Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
 would scarcely get your feet wet."