If a person looks, they can find a Craig Cardiff lyric for anything they are thinking about…anything they are feeling. He gave me a hug as I was waiting for dinner at the Ironwood the other night…that, after the hand shake, which, with creative people, is usually enough. He passed me a book to write my thoughts down and then went about doing the same thing at most tables. I drew a scene…it spilled out of me…and I thought about the full moon that was coming as I drew.
The music was so special. I most appreciated that I had opportunity to share the music, good food and I nice bottle of Malbec with my cousin, Peter. Our conversations are always deeply personal and all-encompassing. We ‘don’t beat about the bush’, as some folk would say. Recently, I’m of the mind that life is too danged short to mess about contemplating whether or not you should or should not share your true feelings. So, forgive me, if you’ve been the subject or the result of my tirades. I’m not that great with boundaries these days, at least not where ‘the voice’ is concerned. I’m speaking more. I love Craig Cardiff’s music for that very reason because I think that he’s ‘saying it’.
I like that he signed my cd…and spent time signing it, instead of thinking that the interaction was solely about his signature…instead, with this musician, it’s about the interaction. I liked that. I’m posting the song that spoke to me most remarkably, that is, after the When People Go thing…that one speaks to me the most.
Dance Me Outside reminds me of my love for the book The Diviners by Margaret Laurence…the moment in the beginning chapters when Morag’s daughter, Piquette, asks what a buffalo looks like…this, a question posed in the Manitoba landscape where once, myriads of buffalo ranged free. That exchange was one of the reasons I became a landscape painter in the day…long story.
Photo Credit: Kathleen Moors
This Indian girl walks out into traffic
The traffic stops then she’s causing havok and baby won’t you
Roll up the windows dial up on the cellphones
Get the cops to get out here
I just want to get home
She says, “Well, do you remember the all buffalo?”
And all the dumb white people say, “Do you mean Jimmy Neil Young Springfield?”
She says, “No”
But Cleveland isn’t the home of Indians
And not even Eskimos it feels like you just don’t want to know
She says; “Take me around
Dance me outside
Show me a place where we might hide
and oh, what I want I’m afraid that you can’t afford to buy”
This Indian girl
Spins like a toy top
And her hair spreads out like fire and it’s like she just can’t stop
And then the cops come
Donut guard state car
Rolling up along the side
With the fire lanterns burning
The sirens opened wide and they say
“Excuse me little miss I’m afraid its time to take this home”
And they try to get her address
She says, “Sorry I don’t have one
It’s only we and the feeding fields
And look where you are”
And she kicks at the hem of her skirt
And on go the cars
She says; “Take me around
Dance me outside
Show me a place where we might hide
and oh, what I want I’m afraid that you can’t afford to buy”
This indian girl
Feeling cold and tired
Wouldn’t mind some help then
But the cars go by it’s no wonder why
‘Cause all they want to do is go and get away
“All I wanna do,” she says, “is get away from here”
So she builds a fire
And all through her belly
And through her hair and bones
And to remind her that shes alive she stares at in awe
And she says; “Take me around
Dance me outside
Show me a place where we might hide
And oh, what I want I’m afraid that you can’t afford to buy”
“Take me around
Dance me outside
Show me a place where we might hide
And oh, what I want I’m afraid that you can’t afford to buy”