I've been thinking a lot about interpreting the songs on Still Life, and
I just keep having one consistent thought. I don't "know," but I think
at least Mike's songs portray one emotion or a series of emotions related
to an incident, and then he takes away the particulars of the incident.
For example, in "Leper," I can superimpose the lyrics on to a scene from
high schoo or college where I was the "leper" (meaning the whipping
boy/girl or the one despised) or "the better and the bad". He does give
us Appamattox in "Brown," but then just leaves us to find the links
between it and what he's feeling.
I also kind of got this same impression when I was talking to him before
the Phoenix show about "Get a Gun" and the historical reference to pilots
keeping a side arm handy in case their planes crashed. He said that the
reference wasn't literal, of course, but that those were the feelings he
was trying to convey. I guess taking away the particulars of an incident
is what makes Mike's songs so universal (at least IMHO) and timeless. He
makes me more conscious of my humanness when he writes; there are few
incidents and particulars, but jam-packed with emotions in the empty
spaces left by them.
I find George's songwriting MUCH different, maybe even the flipside of
Mike's. He seems willing to present us with an incident, the emotions
present and then hand us some sort of catharsis, question or something he
learned in the process. "Curly's," for instance. It fits the formula:
PARTICULARS:
24 in a car
mountain train
some people are lost and Curly asks where they are
etc.
EMOTIONS:
heaving and blowing
working up a head exploding
QUESTION:
Did you really want to lose it?
It works equally well with "Motel," "1934," "Harry Lee," and I could go
on. He's crisp, scintillating and vulnerable.
Maybe this is just my Humanities/English major self going overboard, but
this is what I see and think. I'm still thinking about Peele, Doug and
Steve's stuff. These guys are just so awesome!! Let me know if you
agree, disagree, whatever.
Teri
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