An appropriate response to the liner notes on the cover of Melissa Etheridge’s The Awakening is to ignore them, unless you like your philosophising as deep as Oprah.
There are a few tracks on Etheridge’s latest CD (so short that they’re almost over before they’ve begun) that possess a similar kind of New Age sentiment.
While Etheridge probably thinks she’s expressing a deep message in these tiny tunes, they’re a banal imposition on an otherwise impressive work.
Leaving aside the unfortunate chorus (“My God is love, my God is peace, my God loves you, my God loves me”), the best track on the album is “The Kingdom of Heaven”.
The song is a powerful reminder of what can inspire violent beliefs:
A suffering soul on the way to the kingdom of heaven
Held up a sign that said “God hates America”
A child has been lost
A mother is shocked and is grieving
And turning away…He said “There is a love that is so hideous and destructive
We must drive it from earth to save all of our children”
He must know it well in the night it’s the hell that he speaks of
That keeps him awake
Keeps him awakeMy God is love
My God is peace
My God loves you
My God loves meA suffering soul on the way to the kingdom of heaven
Prayed in the dark “Death to the infidel”
He strapped all his desperate pain and his faith to his body
Then blew them away…A suffering soul on the way to the kingdom of heaven
Shouts on the news “They are the Godless ones”
But the anger inside and the fear that it hides
Never leave her when the cameras are gone
When the cameras move on…
Given Etheridge hasn’t featured on commercial radio in Australia since “Bring Me Some Water”, it’s unlikely the first single off The Awakening was a hit here.
Nevertheless, “Message to Myself” is catchy and cute.
Alas, during the song’s video a fleeting image appears of a woman who’s presumably meant to represent Etheridge’s ex-partner.
While the singer has forgiven herself enough for hurting former lovers that she’s able to claim “I tried to do my best, I never meant to hurt no one” in the lyrics to “An Unexpected Rain”, she’s obviously less merciful towards Julie Cypher.
At any rate, Etheridge adeptly documented the disintegration of her relationship with Cypher via such songs as “My Lover” and “How Would I Know” on Breakdown (1999). She sung about nothing else on the post-split Skin (2001) and raised the relationship again on Lucky (2004), so going over it again seems tiresome and mean-spirited, especially since they share custody of two children.
It’s wonderful to discover that Etheridge has recently discovered the delights of country music, particularly on the gloriously silly “Threesome”:
I don’t wanna have a threesome
I don’t want to sleep with nobody else
I don’t wanna be a swinger
I’d rather keep you all to myself
Four out of five stars for The Awakening, with the best songs being “The Kingdom of Heaven”, “Open Your Mind”, “Imagine That” (in which Etheridge discusses certain famous anti-Iraq war activists), and the exquisite “I’ve Loved You Before”:
When I think of how you know me
No doubts no thinking twice
When your smile can be so soothing
A familiar paradise
Kudos should also go to Etheridge’s guitarist Philip Sayce, who’s quite a mean axeman.
Darlene, Melissa ain’t got nothin’ on Moby’s liner notes. His vegan slaphead manifestos are one alfalfa away from the Unabomber’s.
Oh dear, remind me to steer well clear of Moby’s liner notes.
It was interesting (relatively) to go see a film this week called Year of the Dog. While the film had some positive elements, it gave a rather frightening picture of the kind of mindset that accompanies extreme beliefs.
That is, for example, being an extreme animal rights’ advocate can come from unresolved grief and other negative emotional states.
Anyway, that’s another topic.
Argh! Moby’s liner notes!
Thanks CraigMc, there goes a full night’s sleep.