Musichead - Part I

I'm on my way to Tucumcari. Made a brief stop in Albuquerque for a quick bite and to just take a break from driving. Listening to lots and lots of great music: Tribe Called Quest's Low-End Theory and People's Instinctive Travels, Ryuichi Sakamoto's Sweet Revenge, 10,000 Maniacs In My Tribe. I started out with Hole's Live Through This because I was a little pissed off and frustrated this morning at Indigo Boy (of which I may or may not write about later). I guess it's been an 80s/90s musical throwback today.

The last few days I've been listening to a lot of female artists from the late-80s and 90s: Sinead O'Connor, Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega and 10,000 Maniacs--all women who I "came up" with and women who I think have shaped who I am. I haven't listened to their music in a very long time, but I was struck at how compelling and intelligent these woman are. I remember emerging from my childhood spent in the San Fernando Valley, listening to KROQ before I slept at night (to Rodney Bingenheimer and the Poorman when he still hosted "Lovelines" with Dr. Drew, who I think is a total charlatan). I grew up with Newave and disco--fun, flighty, freaky music that made you dance or spaz out.

I think around my senior year in high school, my art teacher used to play Tracy Chapman while we drew. My best friend, Andrew, and I would listen to the tape over and over again in my car. Her voice was beautiful but haunting--so much depth and pain, like Nina Simone. Around the same time, Sinead O'Connor started getting airplay. Now she was something! With a voice as bold and stunning as her looks.

Sinead and Tracy, along with Suzanne Vega and Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs all shared a socio-political conscience (exposing child abuse: Vega's "Luka," and 10,000 Maniac's "What's The Matter Here?"), wrote about women escaping the confines of their limited roles or world they lived in (Chapman's "She's Got A Ticket") and also sang evocative narratives that places the listener right at the table next to them (Vega's "Tom's Diner" and 10,000 Maniac's "Verdi Cries"). And all of them, most of all, Sinead sang songs of self-reflection and brave exposure. I didn't know it at the time, but I think every time I listened to their music, the intent behind their music dug deep into my psyche and shifted the internal workings of the woman I was becoming.

For anyone who knows me well, I can be pretty certain that you know I'm a total musichead. There isn't any one type of music that I wouldn't listen to, have listened to, or probably like. One of the things I want to do is list the music I've been listening to as I drive because each song, CD, era, or playlist always inspires my thinking. I have an ongoing future playlist running through my head since I started my trip called "Jump!"--taken from Madonna's song by the same name on her Confessions on a Dance Floor CD. Maybe this playlist has been brewing for awhile because I can recall a number of beloved songs by various female artists that all share the theme of following your dreams, taking a leap of faith or emerging from your shell. I'll create the playlist when I feel like I'm finished with it. For now, I'm still listening to music and taking notes.

When I was still feeling upbeat and revved up (I'm feeling a little glum and drained right now), I listened to a bunch of fun songs--one of them being Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". I usually discount that song as being superfluous and silly, which it is in so many ways, but I also listened to the lyrics as it played and found it surprisingly fitting to my situation of the last three months in a humorous way:


I come home in the morning light,
My mother says "When you gonna live your life right?"
Oh,mother,dear,
We're not the fortunate ones,
And girls,
They wanna have fu-un.
Oh,girls,
Just wanna have fun.

The phone rings in the middle of the night,
My father yells "What you gonna do with your life?"
Oh,daddy,dear,
You know you're still number one,
But girls,
They wanna have fu-un,
Oh,girls,just wanna have
That's all they really want.....
Some fun....

When the working day is done,
Oh,girls,
They wanna have fu-un,
Oh,girls,
Just wanna have fun....

Girls,
They want,
Wanna have fun.
Girls,
Wanna have

Some boys take a beautiful girl,
And hide her away from the rest of the world.
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun.
Oh,girls,
They wanna have fu-un.
Oh,girls,
Just wanna have
That's all they really want.....
Some fun....

When the working day is done,
Oh,girls,
They wanna have fu-un.
Oh,girls,
Just wanna have fun...

...and it goes on like that for some time. Suffice to say, the last three months have been a little like this song and listening to it made me think of my poor parents. I think Cyndi may have quoted them in her song!