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Thursday, September 13th, 2007

A New Song... Inspired by Katie, by Allison, by Virginia

My friend Katie called my bluff during my "$50 song phase" last winter.

She hired me to write three songs actually. But being both lazy AND busy, I've only had time to complete the one she asked me to write for her good friend Allison, as a gift.

(Such a great idea, huh? To give your friend a song that was inspired by something that you wrote about them -- your view of them -- filtered through a songwriter's brainheartsoul... but that's Katie...)

Here is what Katie wrote to me about her friend Allison...

Allison:
I've known Allison since high school where we instantly connected as misfits always do. She is always laughing and smiling and has this way about her that is both fun and mischievous- raising hell with every new friend she meets. She's not one to shy away from new adventures and is always starting conversations with random people. She teaches first grade in Harlem. Allison has been there for me through heartbreaks, loss, tears, and utter confusion.

Some characteristics:
- Giving New York a chance.
- Swears like a sailor.
- Snorts when she laughs.
- Thinks the denouement is overrated.
- HUGE Virginia Woolf fan.
- Lived in New Orleans for two years teaching in the Lower 9th.
- Favorite drink is Abita beer.
- Favorite holiday is Mardi Gras

=====================

So I started thinking about Allison... walking around New York City, an odd kind of refugee from New Orleans. From New Orleans to New York. I've spent a lot of time in both cities. There couldn't be two more different kinds of cities in the U.S., I think. I remembered walking around NYC alone feeling down... That city can make you feel alone. I thought about the kind of person what would be drawn to teaching school in the 9th Ward of New Orleans... and then be drawn to teach school in Harlem...

And then I started thinking of the fact that she's a big fan of Virginia Woolf... I remembered reading something rather tragic about her life story. So I did a little research and found out that she was a brilliant writer who was also deeply, deeply depressed and ultimately killed herself by filling the pockets of her dress with stones and walking out into a river near her home...

Virginia Woolf

On the 28th March, 1941, aged fifty-nine, she drowned herself in the river Ouse, near her Sussex home. Two suicide notes were found in the house, similar in content; one may have been written ten days earlier, and it is possible that she may have made an unsuccessful attempt then, for she returned from a walk soaking wet, saying that she had fallen. They were addressed to her sister Vanessa and to her husband Leonard. To him, she wrote:

'Dearest, I feel certain I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can't fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that - everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer.

I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been.

V.

=====================

This made me think of rivers... the Mississippi River, the Harlem River, the East River... and New Orleans... and New York City... and Allison...

don't follow virginia
a song for allison

new york can treat you unkind
make you believe you're falling behind
you moved there hoping to find
a new way to be…a new thing to try…

don't follow Virginia
down, down
I know that you love her
down, down
follow the river
out, out, and up…

the Ninth Ward is covered in mud
you cry like a baby when you think of the Holy Cross
1200 miles to the north, you're walking through Harlem
taking things hard

don't follow Virginia
down, down
I know that you love her
down, down
don't follow Virginia
down, down
I know that you love her
down, down
follow the river
out, out, and up, and up, and out

Posted By John Common at: 12:09 am

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Thursday, September 13th, 2007

A New Song... Inspired by Katie, by Allison, by Virginia

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