Re: Lily

[chrisw@wwa.com (Chris Williams)]

>Ok everyone, 
>I am officially using up my stupid-question card here....
>
><blush, blush>
>
>Who is Lily?  Is she some famous actress or cult figure or something? 
> I simply cannot figure out who she is from TLTC&TC and TRS.

   Lily (as nearly as we can tell) is someone that Kate turned to
for assistance in the wake of several painful events in her life.
The prayer that she recites at the beginning of the song is from
the "Golden Dawn" tradition via Alister Crowley.

        Oh thou, who givest sustenance to the universe 
        From whom all things proceed 
        To whom all things return 
        Unveil to us the face of the true spiritual sun 
        Hidden by a disc of golden light 
        That we may know the truth 
        And do our whole duty 
        As we journey to thy sacred feet 

   Those are the known facts. 

   Anything further is conjecture...


   ...so...here's some conjecture.

   Lily is a unique song in Kate's canon. It is the *only* song that is
directly addressed to a specific, living person. All of Kate's other
songs are either addressed to a non-specific lover, or have some
other way of distancing her from the subject of the song. Even
her her most apparently personal songs like "Reaching Out"
have this distance:

   "...see how the child reaches out..."

   But in Lily, she is speaking directly to Lily:

    Well I said 
    "Lily, Oh Lily I don't feel safe 
    I feel that life has blown a great big hole 
    Through me" 
    And she said 
    "Child, you must protect yourself 
    I'll show you how with fire" 

        Gabriel before me 
        Raphael behind me 
        Michael to my right 
        Uriel on my left side 
        In the circle of fire 

    I said 
    "Lily, Oh Lily I'm so afraid 
    I fear I am walking in the Veil of Darkness" 
    And she said 
    "Child, take what I say 
    With a pinch of salt 
    And protect yourself with fire" 

        Gabriel before me 
        Raphael behind me 
        Michael to my right 
        Uriel on my left side 
        In the circle of fire 

   This is the (as near as I can tell) the only song where Kate 
quotes herself, where the lyric features Kate speaking directly
to the listener, presumably as herself.

   I find this disturbing. Why would Kate break the habit of a lifetime?

Chris Williams of
   Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
      chrisw@wwa.com
"How perfectly goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" - C. Crumb