I was first introduced to the music of Dar Williams by a high school friend with whom I’ve stayed in touch via email. She and I exchange book, movie and music finds and I can thank her for exposing me to not just Williams but Aimee Mann and Barenaked Ladies as well (and probably several others I’m forgetting).
The song she gave me was ‘The Christians and the Pagans,’ an amusing short story of a song about an eventful holiday family gathering between people of different faiths. It’s a charming and funny song with a sweet message and a memorable melody and it was enough to convince me to pick up her latest album, Mortal City.
About one minute into the first song on the album, I knew I was going to be a big Dar Williams fan. That song was ‘As Cool As I Am,’ today’s Song of the Day, and it just blew me away. It’s clever, catchy, thought-provoking and funny, traits I’d discover it shared with much of Williams’ work.
It’s a song narrated by a woman who is fed up with her lover’s roving eye. She refuses to regard his callous lustfulness as a reflection of her own shortcomings, and she refuses to hold it against the women he desires. It’s his problem. She finishes him off with a great line: “I want somebody who sees me.”
This week I’ll highlight a handful of songs from Dar Williams’ wonderful career. I’m happy to kick it off with the one that drew me in to begin with.
I was no sister then, I was running out of time and one-liners,
And I was afraid, like you are when you’re too young to know the time, and
So I watched the way you take your fear and hoard the horizon,
You point, you have a word for every woman you can lay your eyes on,
Like you own them just because you bought the time,
And you turn to me, you say you hope I’m not threatened,
Oh — I’m not that petty, as cool as I am, I thought you’d know this already,
I will not be afraid of women, I will not be afraid of women.
So now we’re at a club, you watch the woman dancing, she is drunk,
She is smiling and she’s falling in a slow, descending funk,
And the whole bar is loud and proud and everybody’s trying, yeah.
You play the artist, saying, “Is it how she moves, or how she looks?”
I say, it’s loneliness suspended to our own like grappling hooks,
And as long as she’s got noise, she’s fine.
But I could teach her how I learned to dance when the music’s ended,
Oh — and that’s not petty, as cool as I am, I thought you’d know this already,
I will not be afraid of women, I will not be afraid of women.
You tried to make me doubt, to make me guess, tried to make me feel like a little less,
Oh, I liked you when your soul was bared, I thought you knew how to be scared,
And now it’s amazing what you did to make me stay,
But truth is just like time, it catches up and it just keeps going,
And so I’m leaving, you can find out how much better things can get,
And if it helps, I’d say I feel a little worse than I did when we met,
So when you find someone else, you can try again, it might work next time,
You look out of the kitchen window and you shake your head and say low,
“If I could believe that stuff, I’d say that woman has a halo,”
And I look out and say, “Yeah, shes really blond,”
And then I go outside to join the others, I am the others,
Oh — and that’s not easy, I don’t know what you saw, I want somebody who sees me,
I will not be afraid of women, I will not be afraid of women.
Meet Me In Montauk 
Great song! I’m looking forward to this week. Do feature “The Christians and the Pagans,” as I was all geared up to hear that song (just in time for the holidays 🙂 when you pulled the old switcheroo.
I wonder if the tempo on this song were just a tad bit slower if it might not be even more powerful while not losing the edge and the humor. Just a thought. Still, I like it very much.
Oh, and by the way, didn’t you know Aimee Mann from ‘Til Tuesday?
I knew of her, but I didn’t have any of her music, solo or with Til Tuesday.
Very good song. I’ve enjoyed every song by Dar that has come up on my IPod, and so I thank you and your unnamed friend:)