In 2000, Dar Williams released her fourth full-length album, The Green Room, and again she didn’t disappoint. I don’t rank this album quite as high as the previous two but it’s a solid collection that steps up her game in terms of production.
The highlight of the album is a song I’ve already featured on the blog, a track called ‘After All.’ It’s a real beauty about surviving depression and, like ‘When I Was a Boy,’ it has generated a lot of attention here through the YouTube clip I I posted. I guess Williams is just obscure enough and just sought out enough that a blog like this can hit the radar of her more fervent fans without getting lost in a sea of other coverage.
Another of my favorite songs on The Green World is today’s SOTD, ‘It Happens Every Day.’ The first few verses describe the scene around the woman narrating… school kids boarding a bus in the morning, a busy college campus in the afternoon. It’s a beautiful reflection on the little moments of grace and uncertainty that happen all the time around every one of us — the stuff that sets us apart and ties us together.
Then, as in ‘When I Was a Boy,’ the song takes a poignant turn in the final verse. The last line, “and everyday will happen without you,” suggests that the narrator has recently lost somebody, I imagine her husband of many years. And she’s seeing all of this life around her with new eyes — lonely eyes — wondering if she’s now destined to be only an observer.
I’ve got the bus stop in my neighborhood
And everything’s on purpose everywhere they go
Hiding in my car and running in the snow
Running with the friends they’ll know for years
I’ve seen it all from here, from here
It happens every day, before they go to school
They play until the bus drives up beside my lawn
And there’s always been a mother who waits ’til they are gone
Then she turns away
It happens every day
Noon comes and turns this campus upside down
I watch the students in this college town
You would think they’re carefree, I have seen their trials
Frowning into Shakespeare and practicing their smiles
Even underlining Nabokov
When I am not in love, in love
It happens every day with their journals in cafes
Looking up at their reflection on the other wall
With every new idea wondering if they’ve changed at all
And then they look away
It happens every day
Well life is as hard and as easy as they say
Walking the steps we’ve chosen on this day
Some will be outrageous, some have rarely shown
Some will walk in couples, some will walk alone
As I think about the world I see
They stare and smile at me, at me
It happens every day at the crossing of the street
Walking out to see what’s new and what is just the same
And the only word for love is everybody’s name
And that will always stay
It happens every day
And every day will happen without you
Meet Me In Montauk 
Is it possible the “you” of the last line is the narrator herself? When the song first started, something about it gave me a Lovely Bones vibe, as though she were observing, but not being observed. When she says, “I’ve seen it all from here,” I wonder where “here” is. Her living room window? (How are the kids getting into her car?)
I like it, but I think there’s even more to it. I just can’t quite figure it out yet.
Interesting thought. The car line had me a bit baffled, too, but then I figured she was hiding in her car while they were running in the snow (though the grammar suggests it’s the kids in the car).
Also, when I used to have to wait for the bus in the snow, I would huddle on the front porch of the house down the street. I never would have considered getting into somebody’s car, but maybe these kids do?
I favor Amy’s interpretation. I think the last line is reflecting that these described events will go on without her. She makes no impact upon these moments, she simply observes them.
My interpretation agrees with Clay’s in his review; I think she has lost a loved one and is now going through the day without him/her. She has a lovely voice; thanks for introducing her to me Clay, and I’m sorry you had to huddle on a neighbor’s porch while waiting for the bus.
My problem with her having lost a loved one is that none of the moments she describes have to do with that person’s presence in her life. Where are the daily moments of having breakfast together, waiting for that person’s phone call, turning to share an insight or concern. The moments occur in the world around her but are not in any way about her.
I think that’s the point. She’s watching the everyday lives of people in her town — children, young adults, parents — because her own everyday happenings have been put on hold. She’s (temporarily, I hope) an observer now and not a participant.
I enjoyed reading all of these interpretations. I’ll admit to thinking that each of you might be right. However, another possibility is that it’s about the narrator having lost a child. In the beginning, the kids are young. Then they’re in college. And with the last line, it had me wonder if her child, children didn’t grow up, leave home, possibility die or break off connection with the mother. I have been haunted by this song for a long time.