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[lorenmo@microsoft.com]

Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Path: lorenmo
From: lorenmo@microsoft.com (Loren MOORE)
Subject: Re: Jane Siberry
Message-ID: <1991Oct28.210824.1270@microsoft.com>
Date: 28 Oct 91 21:08:24 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.
References: <m0ka1ie-00024zC@chinet.chi.il.us> 
Distribution: local
Lines: 96

vickie sez:
|I believe that she and John Switzer broke up as a couple during the
|making of this album. If I'd never heard of Jane the above description
|might tend to set off alarm bells in my head. Who, I might ask, needs 
|another "o woe is me" album? Jane's music is so brilliant (IMHO) though,
|that it wouldn't matter what the lyrics were saying, but when you do listen
|to the lyrics, they're not like anybody else's in the universe. She has an
|amazing ability to see (and write about) things with the most interesting
|perspectives.

Thanks for the confirmation here, John Switzer was a co-producer of the
album. This puts an interesting twist on things. I find people who don't/can't
like her music. This frustrates me, as her music makes me feel such intensity
that I wish others to feel this way. Apparently not all people can feel this.
And that's too bad.

| The song "Red High Heels" for instance, is about a woman who
|has just broken up with her lover, and is walking home in the snow. She
|is drunk and has red high heels one, so she's not doing very well. Thoughts
|run randomly through her mind, sung in a stream-of-conciousness way. Some
|are silly, some are profound, some are nonsensical, some are painful. At the
|end of the song she just gets tired of walking and lies down in the snow.
|You assume she dies, but it's not a suicide, exactly.

I'm not quite sure of this interpretation. I can see it's derivative. Mostly 
it's about being on one's own again, after a breakup. I see it more of a
montage of feelings that occur after such a breakup. I especially love the
line: 'better get outside before they arrive, scuse me, merry christmas and 
easter'. it's so childish, and representative of family times, and the 
lonliness that ensues.

|A couple of other quick interpretations...we believe that "Lena Is A White
|Table" is about an autistic child. There are 4 characters in the song. Two
|sisters, talking about a third (Lena), to the forth, who's never heard from.

that can work, I think. My favorite parts in this song are the interruptions
of the 2 sisters. it really takes a good reading to understand these, but
the sense of conversation is so real. the laundry line theme is so mystical.
'nobody knows how far it goes'. I get this sense of a journey. a search for
the end of this line, that goes on and on, and on...I don't know where it
comes from, but I get that feeling near the end of the song.

This brings up a good point. Her music is more about feeling than meanings.
Some of it makes no logical sense at all. but you can feel it, kinda like
it's intrinsic to the soul, and the words are written in the spirit. What 
comes to mind here is a phrase in the song 'Goodbye': 'run as fast', now
that makes no grammatical sense, although it's sparseness makes a world of
sense. I have to say, that I knew the feeling in this song long before I knew
the words. It's one of my favorites.

|"The White Tent The Raft" is (again, we believe) about Jane's grandparents.

I have to disagree here, but I also have to say that I haven't studied the
song as intently as I should. I think the song is likening a journey down 
a river on a raft, with a tent, to a relationship. At the end, she says:
'There's a thousand white ten's on a thousand white rafts, all floating down'
This sums it up for me, but I promise, I'll look deeper. this is a very deep,
difficult song, and many readings are in order.

|Of course, all this is IMHO. She isn't for everyone, and it even took me
|about a year to realize her brilliance. She's subtle and she'll sneak up
|on the listener who gives her a chance and has the correct mind-set.
|Her music may sometimes seem simple, until you pay attention and notice
|all the weird things going on. It might also seem weird, until you pay
|attention and notice all the normal things that are going on. Stunning!

my *first* listen (it was 'the lobby') did it for me. What I find difficult
is that other people can't enjoy her. It reminds me of the people who shun
Kate because she sounds 'weird'. Give it some thought!, people! there's more
to listening than meets the ear.

|She's a very beautiful person, inside and out. I was lucky enough to see
|her in concert last year and was able to meet her after the show. I would
|not hesitate to say that meeting Jane was one of the highlights of my life.
|In the musical-importance part of my life. Up there, second only to meeting
|Kate. Up there with seeing Genesis twice when Peter Gabriel was still the
|lead singer. Up there with getting in touch, and becoming friends with
|Happy Rhodes. Those are the highest of the highlights for me. 

I envy you, intensely. not only for meeting 'raspberry sue-jane', (a silly 
nickname, I have given, in one of my poems), but for Peter Gabriel, as well
(with genesis, of course).

|Ayya, I could talk about Jane for hours. I've written so many posts about
|her that I don't want to repeat myself, but, (IMHO), she's a genius.
|I love all 5 of her albums (and they're all very different from each
|other) and I'm anxiously awaiting her new album.

> To have the ability to move other people in such an intrusive way is a
> gift.

|Thank you for your post, Loren. I couldn't agree more.

thank you. maybe we should talk!
lorenMo
/* another 'kindred spirit' */