--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Now, how do
people feel about what I think
> of as Joni's "let's get serious" T'LOG triad --
> namely SLOUCHING, LUDWIG and JOB?
>
> I really disliked them on first listen; then they
> grew on me and I found myself liking them.
> Now? My fondness for JOB has deepened to
> love, and I'm back to disliking the first two.
Like you, I've gone back and forth and back again on
so many of these songs. Joni does that. Maybe that's
why I've remained a fan of hers for so long. ("I hate
you some, I hate you some, I love you some!")
I don't care for Ludwig at all. If it's supposed to
sound Beethovenish, I don't think it does. I think
there's something missing (maybe salt?)
I like both Slouching and Job (right now. Ask me again
tomorrow.) I'm not sure if I'll be able to get over
that image of the all-guy chorus in Job as being like
the guys in tuxes in dance movies though - I think it
was Littlebird Andrew that started that, so I think
this image is going to linger for a while and I won't
be able to listen to this without laughing.
A few people have mentioned that the male chorus
sounds too bland (or something like that); however, if
you imagine the antagonists as being either the
holier-than-thou type of people who "pity" you when
you're down and "understand" it when you rage at them
(while secretly being thankful that it's you, not
them); or as social-worker types who are supposed to
retain some kind of professional distance while you
whine at them; or professional torturers who are
prodding at you with hot irons "for your own good"
(not because they enjoy it,eh?), then you wouldn't
expect them to show emotion - the language they use is
detached (They don't say something like, "Hey, look,
pal. We get it. We're not pissed off at you. God is
punishing you, what a pain!" Instead they use this
very formal bureaucratic language (emphasis mine,
marked by * due to incapability of producing italics
in this format): "We don't *despise* your
*chastening*. God is *correcting* you." (Hey, don't
blame us! It's God that's doing it!)) So it's suitable
that their voices be uniform, precise, right in time
with one another, and devoid of emotion. (In fact,
they could be members of the Spanish Inquisition,
couldn't they? Did someone say Comfy Chair?)
In Slouching, I wasn't fond of the "Head of a man"s in
the original either. Maybe if she had sung it a bit
different. (Otherwise she'd have to take out the
"Shape of a lion"s too for balance.) (Maybe if she had
chanted it, or whispered it, so we'd all have to ask,
"What is that thing that Joni says at the end of the
chorus?")
=====
Catherine
Toronto
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