Slog
News & ArtsThursday, August 6, 2009
Visual Art 'If Dreams Were Lightning'
Posted by Jen Graves on Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Thank you, Zack Rockhill.
Thank you, John Prine.
‘Angel from Montgomery’ John PrineI am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that's grown old
If dreams were lightning and thunder was desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time agoChorus:
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom'ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to goWhen I was a young girl well, I had me a cowboy
He weren't much to look at, just free rambling man
But that was a long time and no matter how I try
The years just flow by like a broken down dam.Repeat Chorus:
There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say.
2
It just shows you what a songwriting genuis John Prine is, that he can so easily write from a woman's perspective.
I've heard his health hasn't been so good these last few years. I hope we still have him around for a while.
I've heard his health hasn't been so good these last few years. I hope we still have him around for a while.
3
I first heard this song at the perfect time. Wanting to break up with my boyfriend, not sure why. Listened to this a hundred times, singing along, while trying on every outfit in my girlfriend's thrift-store costumery, and then I knew.
4
Bonnie Raitt's version of this is absolutely beautiful & haunting - I knew it was by John Prine but hadn't ever heard him sing it. Neat.
5
Susan Tedeschi does a beautiful version of this song that I listened to over and over again when pondering a break up too. Brilliant.
6
Actually, there's a live version of this by Dave Matthews on peer to peer networks that's pretty good.
On the other hand, isn't this song about a million years old? I mean, did you just hear it for the first time or something?
On the other hand, isn't this song about a million years old? I mean, did you just hear it for the first time or something?
7
This band called the Black River Mudskippers does an awesome version of this song. Okay, it's my band. And we haven't rehearsed in six months. But there were a few times where we totally kicked ass on that song.
Bonnie Raitt's version of "Angel From Montgomery" drives me nuts. She transposes the "If dreams were lightning / and thunder were desire" lines. You don't fuck with John Prine's lyrics. You just don't.
Bonnie Raitt's version of "Angel From Montgomery" drives me nuts. She transposes the "If dreams were lightning / and thunder were desire" lines. You don't fuck with John Prine's lyrics. You just don't.
8
i saw him at the fifth avenue theatre in '97 or '98 and it was one of best concerts i've ever seen. and i bought the official john prine flyswatter that has "There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing" printed on it.
10
I hear Bonnie Raitt on the Muzak and wonder why anyone considers her an important musician. Then someone plays 'Angel from Montgomery' and I know again. Thanks and God Bless You to John Prine.
11
I've heard this song a million times. My wife loves it, but I never really paid a whole lot of attention to it. I regret that now. I read those lyrics there and almost cried. That is the most beautiful and sad thing. John Prine should get a medal or something.
13
Having written about Zach Rockhill's work in some depth I have to admit that this aspect of his practice eluded me. I was aware that there was a tie to architecture (http://www.rockhillandassociates.com/) and that that tie was, in part, a fraught and ambivalent relationship to some of the more heroic aspects of modernism (utopian claims for the promise of architectural space). His choice of the classic Sears and Roebuck kit house circa 1916 as the source image for 'If Dreams were Lightning’ seemed to me a direct reference to Victor Fleming’s choice to represent Kansas in 1939 - not a John Prine song – ‘this old house would have burned.’
Knowing that it is a John Prine song, written from the perspective of a woman offers a strange second tier of information to the video – particularly as, yet again in Rockhill’s work, there is the posing of a question about the nature of desire (his other obsession seems to be Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’). ‘If dreams were lightning and thunder were desire’- perhaps the video propose what might happen if we could physically see something concealed and internal made manifest; in this case as a storm system (thunder, lightning), but might as well include oz, architecture, a woman’s meditation on the past, years flowing past, houses burning.
Knowing that it is a John Prine song, written from the perspective of a woman offers a strange second tier of information to the video – particularly as, yet again in Rockhill’s work, there is the posing of a question about the nature of desire (his other obsession seems to be Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’). ‘If dreams were lightning and thunder were desire’- perhaps the video propose what might happen if we could physically see something concealed and internal made manifest; in this case as a storm system (thunder, lightning), but might as well include oz, architecture, a woman’s meditation on the past, years flowing past, houses burning.
14
Kalakalot: "You don't fuck with John Prine's lyrics. You just don't."
I admire you. Consider this a virtual handshake, friend.
I admire you. Consider this a virtual handshake, friend.
15
Kalakalot: "You don't fuck with John Prine's lyrics. You just don't."
I admire you. Consider this a virtual handshake, friend.
I admire you. Consider this a virtual handshake, friend.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Hating People Doesn't Make Them Thinner by Jen Graves
-
Los Angeles Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties Until Marriage Equality Is Attained by David Schmader
-
Fill in the Blank by Grant Brissey
-
This Reminds Me of the Great Calculator Scare of the Late '70s/Early '80s by David Schmader
-
Idiot Tries to Defend Bigoted Anti-Gay-Marriage Preacher on Anderson Cooper by Paul Constant
-
Six Moms with Too Much Time on Their Hands and a Shitty Website Decide to Fight Gay Superheroes by Paul Constant
-
Why Mayor McGinn's Wife Canceled Her Family's Seattle Times Subscription by Eli Sanders
-
What the Hell Is Wrong With Seattle's Pride Parade? by Dominic Holden
-
The Saturday Morning News by Unpaid Intern
-
NYC Man Ticketed for Not Riding in the Bike Lane by Jonathan Golob
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (15) RSS