First things first, I love Patty Griffin. Sometimes I wish I didn't have so much fucking seniority and wasn't too expensive for folks I really like to hire. Then I talk to my accountant and think differently. I helped Patty with the demo for this one, we snuck her into a top flight studio in L.A. and helped her to do shit up right. When we finished with this song (it was the first time I heard it) the engineer said "I wish you would have told me you were using the 12 string, I had to adjust the EQ's across the board." I said "It was six dude, the lyrics made me so goddamned mad I was hitting the shit out of it."
Sweet Lorraine the fiery haired brown eyed schemer
Who came from a long line of drinkers and dreamers
Who knew that sunshine don't hold up to dark
Whose businesses fail
Who sleep in the park
Lorraine who spoke of paintings in Paris
And outlandish things to her family just to scare us
whose heart went pokin' where it shouldn't ought
Whose mother could only sppit at the thought of
Lorraine, sweet Lorraine
Her father would tear her out like a page of the bible
Then he'd burn down the house to announce his arrival
Her mother was working and never was home
Lorraine carved out a little life of her own
Lorraine started working, Lorraine went to school
Her mother threw stones at her on the day that she moved
Now isn't that a very strange thing to do
To someone who was never really wanted by you
Lorraine, sweet Lorraine
Her daddy called her a slut and a whore
On the night before her wedding day
The very next morning at the church
Her daddy gave Lorraine away
Lorraine, sweet Lorraine
In the battle of time in the battle of will
It's only your hope and your heart that gets killed
And it gets harder and harder Lorraine, to believe in magic
When what came before you is so very tragic
Lorraine, sweet Lorraine Lorraine, sweet Lorraine
The Dixie Chicks have been about the only country acts with the gumption to record Patty's songs. More folks should.
VoteVets has an open letter supporting the Islamic Center in New York up. I encourage you to sign on too. They were silent at first, now they aren't. I was talking about this with our local Imam, he's a friend and a very good man. One of the things that really has him puzzled about all this bullshit is that the Imam and the congregation of Muslims that want to build this center are from the Sufi branch of Islam. That's like the fucking Quakers folks. Mystics, visionaries and pacifists. Exactly the kind of Islam we should be nurturing and encouraging.
There was the stabbing in New York just recently to demonstrate without any measure of doubt that this shit has gone way too fucking far. To the folks who try and pretend reason and call for dialogue my position is this:
Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Now.
You don't have a leg to stand on morally, ethically or legally. If the idea of a mosque there offends you, then get yourself used to being offended, because I intend to devote a great deal of time and energy to making your bigotted ignorant ass feel offended.
If these dunces are taking moral direction from the likes of Newt Gingrich, if their idea of a voice of reason is Michelle Bachman and Glenn Beck, there is no talking to be done. Stands need to be taken, ground chosen, fights planned.
I ain't no pacifist.
We are getting an early start to flu season here. Half my family is down with it. I'm not allowed to get sick until they all get well.
