Some Songs Considered

“See How We Are” – X
(Words/music: Exene Cervenka and John Doe, available on See How We Are, Elektra 1987)

Storytelling relies on details.  The best stories vividly recreate every aspect of the story – the characters, the setting, the events – and active engage the audience.  Still, just because storytelling relies on details doesn’t mean that every story needs to be three hours long.  Sometimes the best stories are the ones that don’t reveal all of the details.  I don’t mean keeping the audience in suspense , but rather sharing only the most essential ones with the readers.  These stories shift the focus away from the concrete, journalistic details and focus on the emotion underneath the surface.  When these stories succeed (or, as I like to tell my students “when the story wins”), We don’t merely place ourselves into the protagonist’s situation.  Instead, we channel the emotions (especially the conflicted emotions) and look at ourselves.  Potentially, we come to a new understanding of ourselves (or others) or gain a new perspective.

Based on that criteria, “See How We Are” wins.  Each verse details a different situation where life moved quickly; by the time the protagonists get a chance to assess their scenarios, they’ve ended up somewhere entirely different.  Each one seems like a snapshot of a moment in time – just enough to evoke the feeling of the world moving too fast or circumstances that spiraled out of control.  By making these sparse, Doe and Cervenka create something unique – these snapshot s (almost like mini-vignettes) could be all different people,  or each one could form a single narrative – starting with a prison romance, culture shock when returning to the outside, and the paradoxical realization that this changed world still features the same personalities and related problems.  On a quick glance, one might call these “gaps” in the story, but really they are opportunities for the audience.  As listeners, we have a few choices – we can look at the song as a heartbreakingly beautiful narrative focused on a couple characters.  We could look at it as a series of snapshots of different people all reevaluating their lives.  Or we can use it as an opportunity to “step into” these openings ourselves and fill in the spaces with our own experiences.  Even without bars on our windows, we see how we are all more similar than we realize.

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t send my thoughts out to the band and Exene Cervenka, who was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  It’s a tribute to her tenacity and strong will that she’ll remain touring with the band though.  X wouldn’t be the same without her beautiful vocals right next to John Doe’s.