from: http://www.lilydale.net/lyrics/motherland.htm This House is On Fire "I actually wrote This House is on Fire during the WTO protests in Seattle and the presidential ballot dispute in Florida. I saw people taking to the streets to find their collective voice and to be heard. I decided to ask Stephen Barber to write the string arrangement in that particular mode because I am a fan of North African pop music, especially Om Kalsoum, the famous Egyptian chanteuse. It is very strange how events are conspiring to give this song possible new meaning I could never have imagined." Motherland "The title song, Motherland has much deeper resonance since the events of September 11th and its aftermath. I was far more cynical when I wrote, 'Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep, keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me, don't go.' Now the song is a desperate plea for innocence, to be 'faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free,' expresses a craving we all share now for the world we took for granted and lost. Suddenly there seems to be no hiding from our past as a nation or our present, or our future. For me it's the death of nostalgia and dreams." Saint Judas "I wrote Saint Judas in response to an exhibition at the New York Historical Society that contained the most difficult images I had ever seen. It was the history of lynching in photography. I knew that Mavis would understand my words and deliver them. I wanted to hear that incredible powerhouse of a voice, but I also asked her because of her close association with the Civil Rights movement. The Staples Singers wrote 'Freedom Highway' and 'Why Am I Treated So Bad?' during the acts of civil disobedience and desegregation in the Deep South. They sang along side Dr. Martin Luther King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Singing with Mavis was an historic event for me." Put the Law on You Build a Levee Golden Boy "Golden Boy was a song I wrote without being absolutely certain of its meaning. During the recording the engineer commented that he couldn't get the image of the infamous boys from Columbine High School out of his head. I suddenly realized that I was addressing the unhealthy tendency we have as a culture to fix our attention upon our deviant and violent outcasts. Names of serial killers are easier to conjure than names of great humanitarians. We repeatedly make celebrities out of psychopaths whether we intend to or not." Henry Darger "I saw my first Henry Darger collage/paintings in the early 1980's when the tale of Henry's life was an oral tradition new born. He lived and died a recluse in Chicago, no one knew of his writings or of his paintings. There was a small folk art gallery in New Orleans that had acquired a small pile of his illustrations. Taken out of context the seven little horrified girls pursued by a purple and orange winged cat was so odd. I was instantly curious to see more. The search for evidence of Henry Darger was difficult, brief mentions in surveys of outsider artists. A retrospective of his work appeared years later at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. Henry's manual typewriter was on display along with large-scale painted scrolls of the Vivian Girls, the objects seemed like holy relics to me." The Worst Thing Tell Yourself "The damage that young girls inflict upon themselves with low self esteem is terrible to see. So many teenage girls are convincing themselves that they don't measure up to the impossible standards of physical beauty the media has invented. I want to tell them all, ' just love yourselves a little bit more.' " Just Can't Last Not in This Life I'm Not Gonna Beg "I wanted to write a song that anyone could understand, everyone's been rejected and struggled to seem proud. I'd love to hear Aretha Franklin cover this song, just once." --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 61.220.188.189