The movie was one of her first mainstream films after coming back in a bunch of indie films and starring in Mad Love. It also featured one of my very favorite actresses, Mary-Louise Parker. I loved the movie and bought the soundtrack, which was a compilation of women musicians that included Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, Bonnie Raitt and this little song called "Power of two" by the Indigo Girls. I fell in love with this song. It was swooningly romantic and full of gorgeous harmonies. I went back and found my copy of their Rites of Passage album and gave it another good listen. It was like something had clicked and I suddenly appreciated what I had dismissed a couple of years earlier. I was obsessed with "Ghost" and "Love will come to you" is my favorite IG song ever. And yes, in fact, Rites of Passage is my favorite IG album now. I bought Swamp Ophelia, which is where "Power of two" came from, and loved it, too. At the time, even more than Rites. The production on some of the songs was closer to the music I was listening to then, especially some of the Amy songs like "Touch me fall."
I really liked these albums, but it wasn't until I got the live 1200 Curfews set for my 22nd birthday (celebrated at Planet Hollywood in Coconut Grove, I believe) that I became crazy-obssessed-Indigo Girls fan. Because as great as the studio albums are, the live stuff knocked. me. OUT. It had so many songs that I didn't know, from the earlier albums, songs that I would soon become addicted to like, "Land of Canaan." Oh, how I love "Land of Canaan!" I soon went after the earlier albums, and immediately joined the IG mailing list online.
The simple act of joining The List affected my life greatly. For many years, I was friendless. I had dropped out of school and was working at Toys R Us. I had work friends, and some of those became the sort of friends who I'd go out with once in a while. But no one really shared my interests. So online, I had a bunch of Christian Bale friends, and a bunch of IG friends. Through the list, I met my great friend Shawn, I discovered the music of Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco, which led to another mailing list and another group of people. I met up with people from the list in 1996 at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, an unlikely place for my first IG show, and over the years have had several similar experiences. I remember debating which Girl says "Moo!" and discussing whether or not we were all Amy people or Emily people.
For the record, I started off as an Emily person and have grown into an Amy person. But I really love them both. I love Amy's rock n roll sensibility and growling vocals. I admire her so much for the songs that come from a darker place, but never stop being able to see the light, no matter how dim it may be. I love watching Amy play live because she is doing what she loves and she's enjoying it and you can just feel the amazing energy while watching. I love Emily's poetry and honesty. I also really love her dedication to her faith, especially as it comes from someone else who is gay. I'm not a big fan of organized religion or musicians who try to shove their beliefs down your throat. I see God in everyday things and I pray, but I also believe that everyone's entitled to their own beliefs. I don't talk about it much. But when I hear some of these songs (particularly "The wood song"), I feel moved and reverent; they are a bit like my own versions of hymns. And really a lot of the music that I hold dearest to my heart feels like that. As Emily wrote in the book co-written by her father, Don Saliers, A Song to Sing, A Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice, "Anyone who struggles with love and suffering and searches for the mystery ends up singing- or at least listening to music."
In the end, what I love most is the combination of these two amazing humans, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. When their voices come together, there's nothing I can think of that is more gorgeous or moving. Their music, more than anyone else's, has brought me joy and happiness, peace, and comfort when I need it. Their music, more than anyone else's, feels like home to me.
(There will be more blogs about Indigo Girls songs to come, especially one about visiting New Orleans and another about making my friend Lisa a mix tape that would have, one might say, a bit of an effect on her and eventually about the night I met Amy Ray.)
next time: you can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life...
No comments:
Post a Comment