Ignatius of Loyola - Founder of the Jesuits (1556)
Tonight a group of us attended the Lilith Fair. In case you're not familiar, it's a concert tour created by Sarah McLachlan featuring female performers at various levels of commercial success. The lineup changes a bit over the course of the tour, but this year's biggest performers (besides McLachlan) herself were the Indigo Girls. Performing together under that name since 1985, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers are both lesbians, but have never been romantically involved in spite of (or perhaps resulting in) their longtime musical partnership.
My own history with their music goes back nearly to the beginning, when they collaborated with Michael Stipe from INXS and Hothouse Flowers on songs like "Closer to Fine" and "Kid Fears" which still get the fans to their feet today.
But the song of theirs that resonates with me the most from those days is "Least Complicated" written by Saliers for the 1994 release Swamp Ophelia. It tells the story of a shy kid who develops a crush on someone from the "in-crowd" and impulsively makes these feelings known via a touching but inappropriate gesture, only to learn that the feelings are in all likelihood unrequited, thus further cementing the isolation.
I always liked this song, despite the lack of a happy ending, because I feel like all of us are -- at any stage of life -- that little kid at times. Not necessarily in a romantic setting, but just prone to occasionally misread a social situation or maybe just give someone a little more credit than they deserved. And we withdraw the slapped hand, maybe get a little cynical, but hopefully we don't give up. Despite the somewhat melancholy subject matter, the melody to this song is catchy and upbeat, and the oft-repeated chorus is one the crowd joins in with relish every time I hear the song performed live. I like to think that each one of those people singing is thinking something along the lines of "Yeah, I get that. I can be a goofball like that too sometimes." And maybe we go home promising to be a little easier on ourselves, and try to handle it with a little more grace when someone enthusiastically presents us with some awkward token of misplaced affection.
"Least Complicated"
Words & Music by Emily Saliers, from the Indigo Girls' 1994 Album Swamp Ophelia
I sit two stories above the street
It's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
There's life down below me though the kids are walking home from school
So long ago when we were taught
That for whatever kind of puzzle you got
You just stick the right formula in a solution for every fool
I remember the time when I came so close to you
Sent me skipping my class and running from school
And I bought you that ring cause I never was cool
What makes me think I can start clean-slated?
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
So I just sit up in the house and resist
And not be seen until I cease to exist
A kind of conscientious objection a kind of dodging the draft
Boy and girl are holding hands in the street
And I don't want to but I'll think you just wait
It's more than just eye to eye learn things I could never apply
I remember the time I came so close with you
I let everything go it seemed the only truth
And I bought you that ring it seemed the thing to do
What makes me think I can start clean-slated?
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
What makes me think I can start clean-slated?
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
Oh I'm just a mirror of a mirror of myself
All the things I do
And the next time I fall I'm going to have to recall
It isn't love it's only something new
I sit two stories above the street
It's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
There's life down below me though the kids are walking home from school
I remember the time I came so close to you
Sent me skipping my class and running from school
And I bought you that ring cause I never was cool
What makes me think I can start clean-slated?
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
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