A Dinner Party and a Top Ten
(some names changed to protect the socially maladapted)
I had a colleague. Let’s call him Bill.
Bill, you see, had several notable characteristics. However, only three play into this particular story. Bill was A) face-blind, B) a complete misanthrope, and C) the textbook definition of a blowhard.
Working backwards on those characteristics brings us this rundown:
C) You know the type: loud, opinionated, and always always correct in those opinions. Once Bill took a stance, it was impossible to get him to move from that position. Even in the face of insurmountable evidence, he stood firm.
B) Bill genuinely disliked all interactions with other humans. However, he did not eschew those interactions. A part of me thinks that he liked being unhappy on some level. His particular job relied on extended interactions for hours at a time. (Mine doesn’t, because I know myself.)
A) Bill couldn’t readily identify people on sight. Once they started talking, he could catch on, but he was bad at recognizing unfamiliar people in unfamiliar situations. He relied on clothing and the occasional distinctive hairstyle.
This brings us to a story that, mind you, he told me. I later independently confirmed it, but he told the story with no embellishments or self-aggrandizement.
Once upon a time in the late 1990’s, Bill was invited to a dinner party by some friends of his from college. (Yes, the big one with the recent championship trophy.) Bill was a literature major, as were most of his friends. The dinner party included about a dozen equally literate and erudite guests, including some Bill hadn’t met before.
Bill, by the way, is one of the most intelligent men I’ve ever known in his areas of expertise. He could pontificate on obscure points of literary criticism with the best of them, and could break down writing and rebuild it better than just about anyone. Outside of those areas of expertise, his blowhardishness was on full display.
As the dinner party progressed, the conversation turned to music. The hostess offered up a bon mot about a local band experiencing a modicum of success in the critical press, gearing up for a nationwide tour. Bill seized the opportunity to unleash one of his most strident opinions.
“Folk music is intellectually moribund, and is an artistic dead end. Anyone who tries to make a serious attempt at it is already so far behind that they’ll never catch up.”
The hostess grinned at the intensity of Bill’s invective, which continued unabated. As the volume increased, the other guests turned towards Bill’s diatribe. Their grins widened, and some started snickering to themselves. Finally, once the entire crowd had gathered, the hostess waited until Bill caught his breath.
“I think some of our other guests might have a different take.” She turned to two women in particular who could barely stifle their laughter.
“Amy, Emily, what do you think?”
Amy Ray looked at Emily Saliers and said “Well, I think we’ve done pretty okay with it. But you might have changed my mind.” Emily corpsed, nearly falling over in her hilarity.
Bill, to his credit, seemed to catch on. Later on as the dinner party concluded, Amy took him aside and said that she was sorry for letting him go on so long, but he looked like he was enjoying himself.
All that is to bring us to the top ten songs from the Indigo Girls. (Odd notes and background information come from Lifeblood.net, the preeminent Indigo Girls resource on the internet.)
10. Land of Canaan
The killer track on their first three full albums (their independent debut album Strange Fire, their second album and first major label release Indigo Girls, and the re-release on a major label of their first album). Amy’s signature vocal timbre makes its initial appearance in full-throated glory, ragged around the edges but strong and true.
9. Joking
Featuring an organ riff from Benmont Tench, the fourth song from their fourth album Rites of Passage is as linear a song as they’ve recorded. No twists, no turns, just straight ahead folk rock.
8. Get Out the Map
The first song Emily wrote on a banjo. She later admitted that had she composed it on a guitar as she was used to, she would have realized that it had essentially the same chords as “Closer to Fine” and abandoned the entire structure.
7. Strange Fire
The title song from their debut album, originally written for a student play. Amy admits that it centers around her then-recent theological studies, but hasn’t clarified further. Isn’t a bit of mystery a good thing?
6. Hammer and a Nail
A song written out of the frustration of not writing the songs you want to write. #12 on the Modern Rock chart in 1990. Not bad for a song that references Rodin’s “The Thinker” and the Greek myth of Narcissus.
5. Shame on You
This song is at the root of my personal musical style: chunky powerpoppy rhythm guitar interspersed with inexplicable yet gracefully intertwined banjo frails. This might have been the first song I ever learned as a whole entity instead of piecemeal. I personally enjoy the denunciation of racist police in Gainesville (home of what was at the time the largest latinx population in the state).
4. Closer to Fine
Arguably their signature song (and the one they’ve performed the most by a good bit), this song is a staple of alternative rock radio to this day. Emily says she wrote it about the inherent ambiguity of life, and how there are no definitive answers to the big philosophical questions. Also, there’s a killer tin whistle solo courtesy of the Hothouse Flowers.
3. Power of Two
If you ever need a good cry, I invite you to read through the comments on this video. This song resonates so powerfully with so many people. Whether it’s a wedding song, a lullaby for a now-grown child, or a song played at a funeral, this song tugs at heartstrings. Some of Emily’s best work.
2. Least Complicated
My favorite video of theirs, which is a deconstruction of videos in general. Fitting for a song about the deconstruction of love itself. The song is stacked with bongos, bodhrans, hand drums, and tin whistles, (On a personal note, the lyric in the pre-chorus could have been written explicitly for me, except it was a necklace.)
1. Galileo
If there is such a thing as the perfect song, this is theirs. Emily shows off her theology chops (thanks to her father, professor-emeritus of theology at Emory) by meditating on reincarnation. The song also features the best bassline of their career courtesy of Sara Lee. Proof that commercial success has nothing to do with song quality, “Galileo” peaked at #89 on the Hot 100 and #10 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts.