Re: Suspended in Gaffa

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

Chris here,

  Many posted in response to my bit about gaffa...

Robert Cole wrote:

> Gaffa is a metaphor.  'Nuff said.
                         ^^^^^^^^^
  Apparently not, to judge by the volume of posts.

sco.COM> wrote:

> The point I'm about to make may be considered offensive or arrogant,
> but I'm going to make it anyway. 

  OK.

> KT is British, middle class and reasonably well educated.  Chris is,
> well, American.
  
  ...middle class and reasonably well educated.

>  There are many allusions in Kate's songs which have been so obvious
> as to be unremarkable to me, yet many Americans on the net seem dumbstruck
> when they are explained.

   I don't know quite how to take this. Are you talking about my opinions
about the allusions in SiG, or the people who responded to my post? Are
you agreeing with me or not? Are the things I mentioned things obvious to
you? In defense of "my fellow Americans" it should be pointed out just how
Love-Hounds are American, with the subsequently higher probability that
that a "dumbstruck" poster will be one. (Especially in the Fall :-)

> First, something I have evidence for:
> 
> A few years ago, I went into a music shop and said "Do you have any
> Duct Tape."  The shop-keeper replied "Oh, you mean Gaffer Tape?"  I
> give you this as a counter-example to Chris's.

   No, I mentioned "Gaffer's Tape". Try asking for it in the nomenclature-
neutrel world of the hardware store, where it first appeared as a temporary
patching tape for heating and air-conditioning ducts.


cltr.uq.oz.au> pointed 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.

> Maybe not in the USA.  But I've been working as a sound tech here in 
> Australia for 6 years, and have never heard it referred to as Gaffer's 
> tape, it's always been Gaffa Tape.  It's even marketed by Nashua under
> that brand name.

   I stand corrected in the southern hemisphere and regret not having had  
the opportunity to work with any OZ sound techs.

>>    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.

and N. Richard Caldwell takes me to task:
> I'd say that this is a good deal more spurious that the duct tape meaning
> that you've already rejected.  In any case you haven't really supported
> this meaning with any valid examples that support this meaning over
> Kate's.

  In what way? I think "gaffa" would be a natural plural form for the word
"gaffe", easier to use in a song in waltz time as well as being easier to
sing than "gaffes".

   Nothing I wrote contradicts the "long version" of Kate's explanation of
the song. Kate has talked about constantly feeling held back by "little
mistakes" (oh, to have _Cloudbusting_ on a hard disk!) in her life. Read
"little mistakes" as "gaffes" and you'll have an idea where I'm coming from.

>   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.

> The glimpse of God is not one of the obsticles in this case, it is
> a central idea of the song.  God represents the goal, the perfection.
> Evidently in Roman Catholic belief you are given a just glimpse of God 
> when you die.  But then you know that you will not be able to get
> back to that perfection until you have completed your penance in purgatory.

   Sorry, I shouldn't have tossed that one in without further explaination.
I meant to imply that the state the person in the was in was a _type_ of
purgatory, that she sees her goal but is held back by her "gaffa".

>>   "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"

> The latter reference actually has more to do with avoiding distractions
> while seeking your goal in the right way.  The idea is that the rich find
> it harder to serve God properly because of the distraction of their
> wealth.
 
   Fairly heady stuff for, as |>oug seems to insist, a simple little song
about getting stuck in tape. 

>>    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.

> It makes complete sense if you grasp the metaphor.   Kate has given fairly 
> explicit explanations of the meaning of _Suspended in Gaffa_ completely 
> aside from the meaning of "gaffa" itself.  The accepted meaning of
> gaffa fits that explanation, your proprosal does not.

   Where did you get the idea that I didn't grasp the metaphor?

  Reading Ron's post of excerpts from _Cloudbusting_ makes it fairly clear
that there are _two_ distinct versions of her various explanations of the
meaning of SiG, one for the lyrics and one for the word. Everything I wrote
was an attempt to expand upon Kate's explanation of the lyrics by exploring
the much-disputed word "gaffa" as a bit of wordplay. If you accept that
"gaffa" is a plural of "gaffe", it ties much more neatly into the meaning
of the lyrics than seeing it only as |>uct tape. If you agree with the 
likelyhood that a product of the much-lauded British Public School System
might be amused by using that same word as a pun in several different ways
you might find new levels of meaning in the song. 

> It is probably no coincidence that she finds herself trapped in one
> of the very tools of her trade.  Suggesting that this makes no sense
> is like suggesting that it makes no sense for her feet to turn into
> mud or for everything to go into slow motion.  

  Lacking a hard disk, I cannot search out the dates of the various quotes
about SiG, but I was reading everything I could about it at the time of
the song's release, and I recall that the longer or "lyric" explanation
came out before the shorter or "word" explanation, and that they didn't
appear together in the same interview. I stand by my belief that "gaffa
tape" was thought up as a quick explanation for dim-witted interviewers
by a tired-of-explaining Kate, and that her brother John was just quoting
what he had read or heard.

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

P.S. I made a mistake and said "Finnigan's Wake" when I meant "Ulysses."
Apoligies to those from countries with vastly superior school systems,
antique plumbing, and single-glazed windows in a cold climate.