I haven't paid strict attention to all the discussion about the art included with Travelogue, so I've probably missed someone else making this observation way before me.
The picture of George W shows an older woman who appears to be in Muslim dress. She's sort of sneaking up behind him, kind of like the fanatical wrath that led to 9/11 took the U.S. by surprise. In the picture of Osama bin Laden, he's got a young woman showing her breasts sitting on his shoulders. I think it may represent the western world excesses kind of smothering Muslim fundamentalism. In both cases, perceived evil is represented by a woman. (Interesting, since the Bush administration's view seems to imply - by detaining young Arab men, for example, - that young men are to blame for terrorism, not women.) The young woman is just that - young - just as the U.S. is young compared to the Middle East. The old woman is old, as is the ME. I think the pictures are a pair, to be taken together - sort of like 2/3 of a triptych. Also, the flame coming out of the twin towers looks like the devil's face as commonly depicted in western art. (I know, everybody saw that before me...) And, today I've started reading the book "Reverence" which I referenced in an earlier post. In Chapter 2, the author says that a poet described a world without reverence. I almost dropped the book as I read the lines "Turning and turning in the widening gyre..." Call it synchronicity - I've been learning to play STB the last couple of days, although he was quoting the Yeats poem. (And many thanks to Marian and Sue for their tablature!) I think that STB is my favorite Joni song - if I had to pick one. I think I've played it about a couple dozen times in 2 days and I'm still not tired of playing it! lots of love Anne
