Not Ready To Make Nice

I’m old enough to remember when the Dixie Chicks got cancelled. 

2003 had George W. Bush as POTUS. There was a joke going on that when he visited India, he referred to the “mountains of Delhi” and that snarkily amused DU kids no end. I don’t even know if it was a real quote. It is possible, I guess. I have no real reference. On the other hand, Dubyaman was around and it could be from there, some sort of comic exaggeration. I don’t really remember. I just remember the snickering. And the art. Dubyaman was gold.

I do remember that when Dixie Chicks said they didn’t support the Iraq war and that they were ashamed that Bush was from Texas, as were they, they got cancelled. They got death threats. They got their music paraphernalia mutilated and burnt and destroyed.  That was to symbolically kill their art. 

But I guess art doesn’t die like that.

Artists die. A lot of them even kill themselves. They tend to be very delicate. One of the most poignant ones get highlighted and put into songs that live on long after the artists die. Like Vincent van Gogh, forever immortalized in the song Vincent (Starry Night) by Don Mc Lean, with the haunting line: 

     You took your life as lovers often do

     But I could have told you, Vincent

     This world was never meant 

     For one as beautiful as you.

Oof. Right in the feels. Just in case Van Gogh’s art somehow doesn’t survive, I’m guessing this song will. It just needs someone to remember it. Or even think about Marilyn Monroe with Elton John’s beautiful tribute in Candle In The Wind:

     And it seems to me you lived your life

     Like a candle in the wind

     Never knowing who to cling to

     When the rain set in

     And I would've liked to know you

     But I was just a kid

     Your candle burned out long before

     Your legend ever did

Which, as we know, worked again for Diana, Princess of Wales, with a few minor changes:

     And it seems to me you lived your life

     Like a candle in the wind:

     Never fading with the sunset 

     When the rain set in.

     And your footsteps will always fall here, 

     Among England's greenest hills;

     Your candle's burned out long before

     Your legend ever will.

How do people do this? Artists have the ability to take on other people’s pain and make it their own. The fucked up bit is that they tend to pass that on. I guess that’s good. In a way. They find the ways to help you express yourself in ways you cannot. And they can find the ways to make other people understand that feeling. That’s incredible power.

Across art forms, artists have always provided platforms for people to share their different lives and experiences. I am always endlessly amazed.

Thank God for art. Right?!

It is so strange to be able to understand situations you would never find yourself in. But you find your humanity in fiction sometimes! How weird is that? Or you could travel through the world, lost in a book. You can even understand languages from snippets across different art – the written word, as song lyrics, as titles to painting and sculptures, movie quotes. Endless ways of expression. 

Sometimes the artists share their soul and their lives with you. Taylor Swift is famous for that. Her entire empire depends on her story-telling, especially the ones that cover her own life. Dolly Parton and Shania Twain did something of the opposite earlier. Jolene is supposed to be just a figment of her imagination. From This Moment On was supposedly written during a football game and she was bored. 

And then there was the Dixie Chicks. Not Ready To Make Nice was angry right from the first note. There was pain there in that first twang of strings. Natalie’s voice gets stronger and angrier all the time, even with the little cheek in verse 3. By the time she got to the Bridge, her pain was gushing out, bleeding and raw, like angry red slashes. Even the violin was angry. I don’t know how to explain it but I’ve never heard angrier violin as that short violin solo. The vocals turned more melodic and softer again by the end, but it was still stubborn and unrepentant. 

Damn, that was a good song.

Is it bad that I am glad they got cancelled for some time? All things considered, I mean. They got vindicated with a vengeance again, after all. And going strong. And we got wonderful music. For people not ready to make nice. Yet.