For You from Me
Oct 26th, 2008 by admin
If I wanted to I could do anything right
I could dance with the devil on a Saturday night…
If I wanted to I could turn mountains to sand
Hold political leaders in the palm of my hand
If I only wanted to
And I gave you my soul
And every ounce of control
And I gave you my skin
and my original sin
And I gave you my pride and my side
Ain’t that enough?
I turned your dreams into lightening
I held the world back for you
I loved you past the point of dyin’
Ain’t that enough of me for you?
There’s no one to hear
You might as well scream
They never woke up from the American dream
And they don’t understand what they don’t see
And they look through you and they look past me
You and I dancin’ slow
We’ve got nowhere to go
I remember those jukebox nights when we
tore the rug in that downtown dive every Saturday night
For 50 cents we danced all night long
And with each new tune we said “That’s our song,”
And it felt so right.
Ecstasy ain’t free but compromise is chance
I remember how you used to love to dance
This is a woman named Shon Laws singing Melissa Etheridge’s song “Shriner’s Park,” a song so close to my heart. She is really good.
Did you feel like you were crazy
When they sent you far away
Did no one have the answers
When you hung your head to pray
You could not let yourself dream
Never dare believe
You could ever be more
Than you were born to be
In front of total strangers won’t you kiss me
Flowers for no reason but you miss me
I want to be in love.
Yeah, politically incorrect for radical feminists, I know. But this performance is so unpretentious and so human and so straight from the heart. Try to ignore the enthusiastic fans at the beginning especially, it’s well worth it, I think. Most of this video is the song is “I Want to Be in Love”, but at the end Melissa segues into the first few bars of the song “Mercy” — in my opinion a beautiful, beautiful song that is underappreciated — written after she met Tami, whom she married.
I love women’s music, have hundreds of CD’s, listen to women’s music without fail every day, and I particularly appreciate discovering as-yet undiscovered woman musicians. This is one reason I love Michfest so much– the women’s music is SPECTACULAR and there are always new women to encourage and support, new voices to be appreciated.
But Melissa Etheridge will always be a hero to me. I first heard her music over the speakers at the gym where I worked out in 1996, not long after I’d been excommunicated and had gone through hell at the hands of the Religious Right. The song I heard, specifically, was “Nowhere to Go.” I would wait to hear that song every time I worked out and would try so hard to remember enough of it that I could ask people who the singer was. Eventually someone told me the singer was Melissa Etheridge. I bought her CD “Your Little Secret” then. Ultimately I bought every CD she’d ever made, and scratched them and messed them up and bought them again and again and again. I understand some take issue with Melissa for various reasons. I don’t. Her music has been liberating, therapeutic, freeing and healing for me. Her love songs, written for and sung to women, taught me about women loving women.
I’ve gone through long spells, years, recently, where I didn’t listen to Melissa Etheridge’s music at all. But right now, her music is speaking to me again, and so I wanted to share it with you. I know her politics are wrong sometimes (from our perspective as radical feminists). I know she sang at the Democratic National Convention. I know. I don’t care. She’ll always be a hero to me. She spoke unashamed, unapologetic love for women into my soul at a time that meant so much to me. Her music changed my life.
Heart
I borrowed Skin from the library because you kept talking about how wonderful Melissa Etheridge was! I really loved it. She has a really powerful voice and I really liked her lyrics. Despite the ‘political incorrectness’. I’m always on the look out for more women’s music. I really dislike most of the malestream shit. Etheridge is definitely worth listening to.
I got Your Little Secret because of you and I love it.
Have you heard of a song called Gabhaim Molta Bridget (song for Bridget) it is an old celtic song, I am lost to it. There is a good version on the Crystal Shoe, you can buy the individual song on iTunes. Its a song of worship to the Goddess Bridged who like the goddess everywhere got converted into a later saint and given a father.
Why is it politically incorrect for radical feminists?
Ah, I’m happy you listened to those CD’s, Allecto and helzeph! :) I will check out Gabhaim Molta Bridget– I love celtic music.
Emma, I think the idea of falling in love, being ”in love”, is probably incorrect so far as most radical feminists are concerned. Maybe “suspect” is a better word. What are those feelings women have that so often result in, for example, making bad decisions, taking leave of reason and good sense, getting involved with people who as it turns out are just wrong all the way to abusive, expending huge amounts of energy on the resulting Relation Ship. All this stuff has to do with being “in love.” There’s a lot to say about all this. And I don’t think the fact that the idea of being “in love” might be suspect will keep too many people from enjoying being in love if they fall in love either! Theories have their limitations. The radfem who did the most writing about what’s wrong with the idea of being “in love” is Sonia Johnson.
I found your mention of Sonja Johnson interesting as at one time I was very interested in hearing my feminist friend’s opinions of her ideas but couldn’t find anyone who either had read the book published at the time i.e. Wildfire or who wanted to go out on a limb and discuss it in the context of their own intimate relationships. That was back in 1990, and since then I have wanted to remind myself of what she had written, but a friend who had borrowed it way back then, had misplaced it. I just googled Sonja Johnson and came across your summer 2007post about the Hullaballoo event in Sante Fe in summer 2007. The ideas in Wildfire are now a very hazy memory, but the idea in that book I found most challenging was Johnson’s decision to not live with just one partner anymore and I think something about ownership of other people in relationships. Your post mentions Sonja Johnson’s one partner. I’ll have to read her other books to see how the non-exclusive relationship idea got thrown out the window. It was interesting seeing your image and those of your friends. You all look very happy and strong. Must have been a great festival.