Thursday, December 18, 2008

repeat the sounding joy

for John

I've been thinking about joy and where to find it. My friend and I have one of those trigger lines--as soon as you say it you both know kind of thing. I'm actually not sure what it is we both know except that we fall on different sides of the fence. The line is from a Lucinda Williams song. She hollers, "You took my joy!" And then she clearly states: "I want it back."

Lucinda's not my bag. She's like a grown up skinny kid sitting on someone's backyard couch in South Austin sipping on whiskey. Her drawl is so put on that it's part of her act. But really, it's her singing that I can't take--a tinny drawl laid on top of rockin' guitar. The guitar's good; the tin grates. Where's the soul? If you're riding on top of the notes you're coasting. If you can come from your gut, then you've got me.

Funny enough, "You took my joy" has become somewhat of a mantra with me--relationship goes south: "You took my joy." Family drama: You took my joy again. You took all the fun out of it. Stop doing that!

I like the blame factor. Takes it off of me.

Blaming is fun and all, but it's lonely, too, and I'm forgetting all about the second part. I'm supposed to want it back. I think wanting it back is kinda like saying: "screw you." I hate to say that. I'd rather say, "you sure?" "You wanna change your mind?" But really, "screw you" can be standing in your own so that others don't take away. You can allow them to give, but they don't necessarily have to take away from you. If you stand in your own and know when to cut your losses, you take back your joy. I keep repeating those lines of hers. She got me after all.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hasn’t Lucinda always been a disagreement with us? I love her and you can’t stand her “Her drawl is so put on that its part of her act”. What is not part of her act is she has to read her own lyrics on stage. She did too many drugs and can’t remember her own words, she admits that. What is even worst is seeing her on stage when she losses her place in her lyric book. Tragic!
But what she does well is explaining the heartaches in life. Sometimes too well. Like you, she always reminds me of one of my own. It’s about hurt, a hole in the heart, it’s about anger, happiness, sorrow, and getting on with it. Releasing that pain is hard because it feels so unfair. They should hurt too right?
Getting back up and standing with pride is only the first part though. Being able to give that joy away again is the where redemption can be found.
Thank you for another well thought addition.