Re: Gaffa

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (Chris Williams)]

|>oug \/\/rites:
>chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (Chris Williams) writes:
>
>>     The *only* thing you have on your side is one Kate quote.
>
>>     It is a deep metaphor, just not the one you are defending.
>
>Chris, which of these is a deeper statement?
>
>(1) I feel trapped by the only tools I have for achieving salvation?
>
>(2) I feel trapped by my tendency to make social blunders?
>
>I don't know about you, Chris, but to me (2) sounds like a statement
>that could be made by any shy person you might find on the street.  On
>the other hand, (1) is a deeply philosophical statement.  It is a
>snake eating its own tail that leads you spiralling down to the bottom
>tortoise holding up the world.

   Duct tape *is* a tool of the stage performer (which Kate hadn't been
in years) and the film maker (which Kate was not yet) but is not a "tool"
of the recording artist. The studios I worked in only used duct tape
for killing the sound of drums, taping stuff to cymbals and snares to
get that nasty '70's "tubbo" drum sound. Most studios I've been in forbid
the stuff, as it's a pain to get off of cables and near impossible
to get out of carpets. Hardly what I'd term a vitally important tool.

   The second sounds like the far more universal statement, and obviously
far more relevant to the rest of the lyrics of the song. If you could
come up with a single lyric that relates to adhesivness or a silver
color you *might* start building a case. As it is, only the lyric
about feet of mud (clay perhaps?) relate to being bogged down, and
that's hardly tape-like.

Suspended in Gaffa
 
Out in the garden, there's half of a heaven
And we're only bluffing
We're not ones for busting through walls
But they've told us unless we can prove
That we're doing it
We can't have it all.

He's gonna wangle a way to get out of it
She's an excuse
and a witness who'll talk when he's called
But they've told us
Unless we can prove that we're doing it
We can't have it all
We can't have it all

CHORUS:
      Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
      It all goes slow-mo
      I don't know why I'm crying
      Am I suspended in Gaffa?
      Not until I'm ready for you
      Not until I'm ready for you
      Can I have it all?

I try to get nearer
But as it gets clearer
There's something appears in the way
It's a plank in me eye
With a camel who's trying to get through it
Am I doing it?
Can I have it all now?
I pull out the plank
and say thank you for yanking me back
To the fact
That there's always something to distract
But sometimes it's hard
To know if I'm doing it right
Can I have it all?
Can I have it all now?
We can't have it all

CHORUS

I won't open boxes that I am not told to
I'm not a Pandora
I'm much more like
That girl in the mirror
Between you and me
She don't stand a chance of
Getting anywhere at all
Not anywhere at all
No, not a thing
She can't have it all.

CHORUS

   This version in the archives lack the whispered parts "mother,
where are the angels, I'm scared of the changes" and "I caught a 
glimpse of a god, all shining and bright" but there's not much
sticky there. More like one in purgatory, spending time atoning
for her sins, waiting to reach heaven.

   Note: Sure this is an essentially pointless argument, but hey,
things are quiet here.

                          Chris Williams of
                             Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (his)
                                 vickie@njin.rutgers.edu      (hers)