Last year, Dar Williams released her seventh full-length album, Promised Land, and this one I did buy when I found it on sale recently at a local record shop. I haven’t had a chance to give it more than a few listens just yet, so I can’t give a definitive verdict, but it’s good stuff.
On the whole, it’s poppier than her early material, using more drums than I’ve ever heard in a Dar Williams song. And that’s a good thing… my one complaint about Williams’ music is that sometimes it’s a bit too airy, too at risk of floating away on its own preciousness. These new songs feel a little more earthbound.
Today’s song is one that struck me right away. It’s based on the Milgram experiments that took place at Yale in the 60s, in which the subjects were told to deliver electric shocks to a “learner” every time he answered a question incorrectly. The stated purpose was to see if the painful shocks would increase the learner’s memory… but really, it was the shocker who was being studied. Curious about Nazi war criminals who claimed they were just following orders, Stanley Milgram wanted to see just how far people would go simply because an authority figure told them to go there.
The results were eye-opening. Sixty-five percent of the subjects saw the experiment all the way through to the finish, delivering the highest voltage possible, and this despite screams of pain from the other room (the learners, incidentally, were actors who weren’t really being shocked). The shockers were disturbed and stressed by the activity but when the stern white-coated professor told them to keep going, they kept going.
I’ve been listening to Promised Land while typing up this blog entry and it’s hitting me the way an album can on the fourth or fifth listen. I’m starting to think this is one of her best efforts to date, infused with a confidence that she’s earned over her 15-year career. It also contains that great cover of Fountains of Wayne’s ‘Troubled Times‘ that was mentioned on this blog a couple of weeks back.
The thing I love about these theme weeks is how they let me rediscover artists I maybe haven’t listened to in-depth for awhile. Inevitably I pull out all of the CDs by each theme week artist and play them in my car the following week. I hope I’m exposing my readers to some great new music but that’s just gravy… I’m doing myself the biggest favor of all.
Four twenty-nine for almost anything I want,
Add it up, it’s cheaper than the stuff I make myself,
I get by, I never needed anybody’s help,
And I tore out an ad and they told me that I
Would press the buzzer, press the buzzer,
At the graduate lab, they were doing some tests,
I pressed the buzzer, pressed the buzzer.
Ride the circle off of the highway.
Spiral into the driveway,
In the maze of old prefabs
They’ll be waiting at the lab.
I don’t know how everybody makes it through the daily drill,
Paint the nails, walk a dog, pay every bill,
I’m feeling sorry for this guy that I press to shock,
He gets the answers wrong, I have to up the watts
And he begged me to stop, but they told me to go,
I press the buzzer, I press the buzzer.
So get out of my head, just give me my line.
I press the buzzer, I press the buzzer.
Ride the circle off of the highway,
Spiral into the driveway,
In the maze of old prefabs
They’ll be waiting at the lab.
They called me back to the lab to discuss the test,
I put my earrings on, found my heels, wore a dress.
Right away I knew, it was like I’d failed a quiz
The man said “Do you know what a fascist is?”
I said, “Yeah, it’s when you do things you’re not proud of,
But you’re scraping by, taking orders from above.”
I get it now, I’m the face, I’m the cause of war
We don’t have to blame white-coated men anymore.
When I knew it was wrong, I played it just like a game,
I pressed the buzzer, I pressed the buzzer,
Here’s your seventy bucks, now everything’s changed,
I press the buzzer, I press the buzzer
But tell me where are your stocks, would you do this again?
I press the buzzer,
And tell me who made your clothes, was it children or men?
I press the buzzer.
Meet Me In Montauk 
Fascinating story, and song. I’ve really enjoyed this week of discovering Dar music. She is definitely a talent.
I remember reading about this experiment and being fascinated by it. She sounds a little different here, her voice is not as high. She’s very talented. I, too, have enjoyed the Dar music this week!
How about that last question! That’s a “shocker.”
We’re suddenly as culpable as Nazi’s or Milgram’s subjects if we buy and wear clothes that have been made by child labor. Wow. That’s not an analogy I buy, but it certainly is provocative.
I have very much enjoyed this week and intend to download (or buy) quite a few of these songs/albums that I don’t already own. So don’t fret over being such a selfish bastard š