As the all “girl”/women band Raining Jane puts it in their song “Incline,” it is hard to be true and honest when one finds oneself in struggle uphill. One ought to be open to the incline.
In this song, Raining Jain attempts to present such a struggle uphill in the form of catchy pop music. These are some talented women musicians who ought to be listened to. Not that they should be listened to in some prefigured “Lilith Fair” feminism, though they would probably accept such organized sentiment at least in part. However, while their music may not be against such institutional sentiment, they seem to rather present a case for “inclining” upwards in terms of “waking up at noon” that has little to do with ‘90s feminist marketing. Besides waking up at noon is surely a bachelor’s prerogative. They understand the uphill battle both as women and as all of us in modern society.
The waking up at the “crack of noon” is usually the province of hardcore beatnik male types like the great Tom Waits. Raining Jane gives an honest account of waking up at noon with aplomb, albeit from a woman’s perspective. Nonetheless, they speak against the worthiness of such alienated, if artistic, productivity that takes its cues from noon as being the morning.
They do not glorify waking up at noon. Their song (and other songs) shows the need to wake up much “earlier”—especially if “we” are heading uphill. This “we” has consequences and must entail a responsibility borne of not wishing to wake up at the “crack of noon.” The song is true in that way. It speaks of a hill that must be climbed.
Having woken up at noon (in hotel rooms), they understand why it is difficult to speak of a time in which one must be responsible.
Raining Jane make a catchy song, to be sure, but it is also about the right side of an “incline.” If only (male) “hipsters” could hear it.
I thought I would relate a few good words of the all girl band Raining Jane. Here are some talented women musicians and singers who know how to make a catchy song that raises an issue that is both right and difficult.
Too bad I could only find an iphone Youtube version of it. The sound and video is not good. I learned of Raining Jane from Peter Himmelman’s late online show, but Raining Jane is still worth checking out as a band. So you might find it there.
Update: Look for Raining Jane on Peter Himmelman’s late lamented show here. And if you scroll down to Raining Jane, and hit play you will have to wait through good Peter Himmelman songs and raconteur. Still wait until the second song that Raining Jane plays. That’s the one I’m talking about. Of course “Incline” is found on itunes for 99 cents.
February 13th, 2012 | 12:47 pm
They are so right! Waking up at noon is a bad idea. From, now on, its 11am on the dot for me!
But seriously, John, I’m too lazy to decipher the lyrics…perhaps you could provide some snatches?
And musically, I’d send the band a memo: keep up the good work, gals, but remember, the Sinead O’Connor singing style is perilous territory, and even the slightest likeness to that contemporary Joanna Newsome (spelling?) gal functions as sonic male repellent. Sane females hate that vibe also.
February 14th, 2012 | 12:18 am
Carl, Waking up at noon is a trope. It could be taken both literally and figuratively.
It suggests a doubt regarding waking up at a respectable hour–and that respectable hour may mean different things depending upon where one is coming from and what is expected from one. Usually, whether noon or 11 am is what is expected from rock or pop stars–after all their work usually starts a 9 pm at the earliest.
So if a pop song references time is is usually ironic, though rhetorically indicative of expectations of what pop stars should live up to.
Sleeping to crack of noon (and midnight howling at the moon) is a typical trope of popular music. It may not work of what is considered to be realistic, but music that is realistic is boring–if not stupid.
This entails a serious debate about what is realistic and what one expects from fiction told to a tune. I for one can at least allow for license in song. Even Balzac or Dreiser was outrageous in the description of the real. A pop song generally doesn’t allow for such day to day immediate description of day to day life.
So it is a matter of truth, and it is true that at times I would rather sleep in until noon (or 11 am) than perform a role expected of me at 7 am. The dignity of what is expected of me in terms of my social or political role is not always as satisfying as the rhetoric of its importance may have it–no matter what time I need to wake up.
At least Raining Jane could also, from the point of view of music and the necessity of being cool, point toward the stupidity of waking up at noon.
As musicians, they are making a joke. And so was I. In other words, there is no time on the clock to which one can wake up, but noon–midday sun–is as good as time as any other. I’ll be pretentious enough to mention Plato’s sunlight at noon of The Laws, as the moonlight must have illuminated of the Republic–let alone the Symposium (the latter of which must have been a full moon) despite the drunkenness involved.
As far a Raining Jane being Sinead O’Connor redux, let me suggest you watch the Peter Himmelman link instead of what I admittedly called an iphone YouTube link–that video is indeed bad, but the Furious World link is good. If you think it is bad after watching that, then like Louis Armstrong said of jazz, it can’t be said.
February 14th, 2012 | 8:14 am
John, I was joking too. And the O’Connor reference was a criticism of a certain tendency I hear in the singer that she shouldn’t take to far…that is all. Have you seen them live?
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