From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V5 #210 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Wednesday, August 30 2000 Volume 05 : Number 210 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: Song of the Week - One of our Submarines [Jon ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 07:30:56 -0400 From: Jon Subject: Re: Alloy: Song of the Week - One of our Submarines One of our Submarines has always been my favorite TMDR song. I know most of you will not agree, ranking Airwaves or Screen Kiss or Budapest, etc, higher on the heart-break scale. But from the first moment I heard it (dark autumn afternoon...having just returned home and turning on the radio...still wearing the blazer and tie uniform of my hellish prep school) I knew I was hearing a masterpiece. It immediately became an important part of my life. I hope that doesn't sound silly or overly dramatic. The song has this profoundly nostalgic effect on me...which is odd because I grew up in the Bronx and have no link whatsoever to the story. But still, I am overcome with this overpowering feeling of "having been there". It's a matter of hearing silence, and then hearing the word "missing" repeating itself as it rises out of that silence...and then that bleedy synth starts bubbling...then a darth vadar hiss followed by the sound a hammer makes when it hits the anvil..another hiss. And that's it, the song begins and I am no longer confined to my shitty life. I am somewhere infinitely more important than where I was a moment before. But this place is cold and sad and dangerous. So why is it so comforting to me? Because I am in love. How can you not fall in love with something so beautiful as the melody of "bye by empire, empire bye bye"? The swelling crescendo to "tired illusions drown in the night" tightens the throat with such sadness, it is almost unbearable to both ear and heart. What a majestic piece of music. I guess I was wrong when I said I had "no link whatsoever to this story". It hits close to home in regards to the concept of mourning for your life that you haven't had a chance, or haven't given yourself the chance, to live fully, the way YOU want to. When I hear it I feel connected to life and people I have never met before drowning at the bottom of the ocean. And it's gut-wrenching. But then the song starts to die off like a heart beat, and I am left thinking "well, what am I gonna do with this feeling? what am I gonna do with this life?" And that's why whenever a chapter closes in my life, or something very comfortable and dependable is taken from my life, I always think "bye bye empire". Thanks for listening to me. Jon (I have to note that whenever I mention this song I am referring to the extended version on the Blinded By Science EP. For me the album version doesn't do it justice.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 22:02:26 +0100 From: Slarvibarglhee Subject: Re: Alloy: hi again? Hello again Barbara. Nice to have you back (even if it has taken several days to say so). Still sporting that Mohican hairstyle? Or are you more conservative now you're a postdoc (how DO you doctor a post .... no, never mind, I don't really want to know). Slarv Barbara Cohen wrote: > Hi all, > It's Dr. Barbara Cohen here, from days of yore. I successfully > completed my PhD in April and am now a postdoc in Knoxville, TN. > Quite a change from Arizona! And now that I have copious spare time > again (note dripping sarcasm) I'd like to rejoin the TMDR discussions > and etc that I remember fondly :) > > Barbara Cohen > University of Tennessee > bcohen@utk.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 20:49:01 -0400 From: "Beth Meyer" Subject: RE: Alloy: hi again? Hi, folks; I have been remiss in chiming in for a while, so just to get it all out at once -- congratulations, Barbara, on finishing your degree, and welcome back! (Woo-hoo -- ever more women with Ph.D.'s in the group...) Enjoy the Smoky Mountains; we've spent many vacations there. Also, congratulations to Kathleen on the little one on the way. And good luck to Robin & Melissa with your work-related trials -- I know how that goes. (As a result of a recent merger, the organization where my husband and I both work had just been effectively dissolved, and nobody knows for sure where or even if they will be working in a month.) And finally, to get back on topic -- Thanks, Jon, for your wonderful little essay about "One of Our Submarines." Indeed, I've always loved the song, but I think I have often overlooked it. Your description really helped me to appreciate it. I shall have to dig out my "Blinded by Science" EP and give that version another listen... Cheers all, Beth Beth Meyer bethmeyer@mindspring.com - -----Original Message----- From: owner-alloy@smoe.org [mailto:owner-alloy@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Slarvibarglhee Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2000 5:02 PM To: alloy@smoe.org Subject: Re: Alloy: hi again? Hello again Barbara. Nice to have you back (even if it has taken several days to say so). Still sporting that Mohican hairstyle? Or are you more conservative now you're a postdoc (how DO you doctor a post .... no, never mind, I don't really want to know). Slarv Barbara Cohen wrote: > Hi all, > It's Dr. Barbara Cohen here, from days of yore. I successfully > completed my PhD in April and am now a postdoc in Knoxville, TN. > Quite a change from Arizona! And now that I have copious spare time > again (note dripping sarcasm) I'd like to rejoin the TMDR discussions > and etc that I remember fondly :) > > Barbara Cohen > University of Tennessee > bcohen@utk.edu ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V5 #210 ***************************