Blogcoven

Last night I had the singular pleasure of attending a concert on the Santa Monica pier. The admission was free and the Indigo Girls were the main event. It would take an entire blog entry to explain why this is about as good as it gets for me, so y’all will just have to figure it out for yourselves. Suffice it to say I had a lovely evening. It was the fourth time I’ve seen them live, and I think their form is better than I’ve ever seen it.

Standing on the pier, feeling the chilly breeze off the Pacific and listening to songs I know all the words and harmonies to, I noticed there were a lot of people who were unfamiliar with the Indigo Girls. (“This is the biggest crowd I’ve seen,” I overheard before the set started. “Are these people popular?” And later I was asked between songs, “Do you have their CD?”) The crowd cheered during “Let It Be Me” at the line, “The world seems spent and the President has no idea who the masses are.” I raised an eyebrow.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since those lyrics were written (the record came out in 1992, so the song was likely written in 1991 or before), but the problems and frustrations remain. Another lyric that received applause was released in 1997:

There’ll be blue lights flashin down the long dirt road
When they ask me to step out
They say “We be looking for illegal immigrants,
“Can we check your car?”
I say “You know it’s funny,
“I think we were on the same boat back in 1694.”

Well I be. Before the Netroots and before the culture wars, before the pop documentaries and before the stolen election(s) and before we had a Nation Divided there were people singing about the same problems. It’s not as if we’re listening to Bob Dylan and reflecting that the folks who were moving and shaking during the 60s (“back when music had meaning,” a friend of mine once said) are now the ones causing the same kinds of problems. This was during the Pax Americana, and there were not only issues but people who cared enough about them to put them in front of the crowd.

I wonder if they got that record deal because that sort of message is what a lot of people are craving right now. Unlike some of the politically-minded artists (Dixie Chicks anyone?), the Indigo Girls have been about this for a while, not caring whether their ticket sales suffered because of their opinions. (Let’s be brutally honest here. In an entertainment environment where a new pop artist can get sued because his fans realized he was gay and went after him for false advertising, a couple of uncloseted lesbians with guitars aren’t going to lose any friends when they criticize the government.) Unlike the traditionally angry and edgy rock and punk artists (Rage Against the Machine were certainly laying the issues out for everyone to see), you can understand the words to the Indigo Girls’ protest songs and sing along. They’re talented musicians and lyricists, and they have the right idea.

Don’t get me wrong — there is a place for System of a Down’s strikingly expressive “BYOB.” I think there is a place for the Indigo Girls and “Let It Be Me” too, and it’s not currently being filled.

the power of truth is the fuel for the flame
so the darker the ages get there’s a stronger beacon yet
let it be me (this is not a fighting song)
let it be me (not a wrong for a wrong)
let it be me, if the world is night
shine my life like a light