At fifteen we had to leave the States again
Dad was stationed at an RAF base they called Mildenhall
Black moss on a busted wall
The cobblestones made it hard to skate
I thought my flattop was so new wave
Until it melted away in the Suffolk rain
Well, goddamn, you miss the USA
Then a kid in class passed me a tape
An invitation, not the hand of fate
I guess my shoes said I might relate
Somehow she knew I'd like to stay up waiting with her in the cold
For cheap beer and rock 'n roll
Which in time put lots of things in my mind
A kid in class passed me a tape
We saw some bands down at the corn exchange
I wonder where my sister was that night
Back at home under the tanning bed lights
I can still see the glow
Strange rays from her window
Each night as I was skating home
Started messing with my dad's guitar
Taught me some chords just to start me off
Whittling away on those rainy days
And that's how we get to where we are now
A kid in class passed me a tape
A band called The Jesus and Mary Chain
I started messing with my dad's guitar
He taught me some chords just to start me off
Whittling away on all of those rainy days
And that's how we get to where we are now
And that's how we get to where we are now
~ James Mercer (The Shins)
I included all the lyrics for this new song from The Shins, since James Mercer is telling a story. It's autobiographical, as you may have guessed. The lyrics appear on the linked video, so you can watch, listen, and read, all at the same time! The new Shins album, Heartworms, came out two weeks ago. "Mildenhall" sounds a bit different from most of The Shins' songs, I think. Consequence of Sound, in a commentary on it, said it had a lot of "campfire guitar strumming and clopping percussion." And Mercer's voice is lacking that unique and melodious pitch, I think. Nonetheless, it's a good song. Then again, I never met a Shins song I didn't like.
So Mercer's story is obvious. Chance happenings pointed him toward a life in which music played such an important part. What if those kids never passed him those tapes? What if his dad didn't have a guitar? What if he never had the opportunity to explore music? And these questions raise much larger questions. How does the happenstance of where one is born and raised and by whom have a bearing on the development of one's innate talents?
My grandmother's piano was a featured piece of furniture in my house growing up. Because of that, my mother saw to it that I took piano lessons. I would like to tell you that I am an accomplished pianist . . . but I am not. Although I did learn a thing or two about reading music, I had no innate musical talent (something I am sure has to do with karma). On the other hand, my father was a talented craftsman. His woodworking shop was in our basement. I loved to spend time down there with him when he was building some piece of furniture. I loved the smell of sawdust. He would let me brush the sawdust off the machines, an assignment that made me feel very necessary and important. But did he teach me any woodworking skills? No. "Girls don't do that." As a rising senior in high school, I wanted to put Mechanical Drawing into my schedule. "Girls don't do that," my guidance counselor said.
Might I have had a career as a woodworker? An architect? A designer? I'll never know.
So what determines, as much as the happenstance of family and location, how we develop our talents into satisfying careers and lifestyles? That great equalizer . . . our educational system.
You know where I am going with this. I will spare you my diatribe on the current state of the Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the elimination of "unnecessary courses" once offered by our public schools. Either you get it or you don't.
And that's how we get to where we are now.
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