Jig of Life

[Lori]

Hello, old lady
I know your face well
I know it well

She says "Ooh-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na!
I'll be sitting in your mirror
Now is the place where the crossroads meet
Will you look into the future?

"Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life
No, no, no, no, no!
Oh, oh, oh,

"Let me live!"
She said
"C'mon and let me live, girl!"
She said
"C'mon and let me live, girl!"
("C'mon and let me live!")

"This moment in time"
(She said.)
It doesn't belong to you"
(She said)
It belongs to me

"And to your little boy and to your little girl
And the one hand clapping:
Where on your palm is my little line
When you're written in mine
As an old memory?
Ooh, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-


"Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life
Oh no, no, no, no, no!
Never, never, never!
Never, never let me go!"

She said,
"C'mon and let me live, girl!'
("C'mon and let me live!")
She said
"C'mon and let me live, girl!"
("C'mon and let me live!")

I put this moment...here
I put this moment...here
I put this moment

"Over here! "Over here! Can't you see where memories are kept bright?
Tripping on the water like a laughing girl
Time in her eyes is spawning past life
One with the ocean and the woman unfurled
Holding all the love that waits for you here
Catch us now for I am your future
A kiss on the wind and we'll make the land
Come over here to where When lingers
Waiting in this empty world
Waiting for Then, when the lifespray cools
For Now does ride in on the curl of the wave
And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools
We are of the going water and the gone
We are of water in the holy land of water
And all that's to come runs in
With the thrust on the strand"

[Al Truest]

Listen to this song! It does not get enough attention. Report back to me on this! ;D

[strabley]

One thing I paid closer than normal attention to is the drums. They are so immediate, demanding, rich and intense. It must have been amazing to have been there live in the studio when they were recorded.

[Adey]

This was always one of my favourite parts of the Wave.

For once, I'm not going to rabbit on about how it works musically, just confine myself to it's part in the story.

I loved the idea that this victim of this terrible accident would fantasise a meeting with her future self as an old woman. That in the midst of her trauma and her desperate fight for survival, this image should come to encourage and sustain her.

" I am your future " she says. " You must live, you have to live if I am to be the person you will once see in your mirror ". " Don't say goodbye to me, or you are saying goodbye to your life (our life) ".

I also like the reference to the character's children. " Your little boy and your little girl ". it makes you wonder if she has had them yet, or whether they are also part of her future. I assume not, as they are not told how much she loves them in the Morning Fog.

It seems fitting, that in a piece inspired by poetry, that this part of it concludes with prose/poetry, in the form of John Carder Bush's narration. I wonder if this is his work, or if he is speaking Kate's words.

The Jig of Life is the clearest indicator to me, that the character survives her ordeal. Even more so than The Morning Fog, where the character's intentions are expressed in the future tense, as opposed to the present.

[Xanadu]

Thanks for your thoughts here Adey, I really enjoyed the references you made and your opinions. I love this song as well...

I particularly like the haunting poetry read by her brother in the end. And the incredible and infectious rhythm!

I'm still unsure about the heroine's fate. I feel differently depending on the day. I think mainly that she does survive. Kate would put the character though a life-altering ordeal to learn to appreciate her life. I don't really think she'd let it end. Thus, what I refered to in the quote we discussed Adey. So, I guess I agree with you.

The part that may convince me otherwise is her brother's. He seems to be summoning her to another life. Which life is it, and does she take it? Take these lines:

"Time in her eyes is spawning past life,
One with the ocean and the woman unfurled..." (my personal fave)

"Catch us now for I am your future..."

"We are of the going water and the gone.
We are of water in the holy land of water..."

[Adey]

Xanadu said:

I'm still unsure about the heroine's fate. I feel differently depending on the day. I think mainly that she does survive. Kate would put the character though a life-altering ordeal to learn to appreciate her life. I don't really think she'd let it end.

The part that may convince me otherwise is her brother's. He seems to be summoning her to another life. Which life is it, and does she take it?

Yes, this is one of the beauties and the deliberate contradictions of the piece. You sense that at this point, the character is at her crossroads - it is time to decide if she will live or die. The 2 opposing voices of the old lady and the unidentified narrating character, are almost like the opposing counsels in a metaphysical court room scene (and yes I did think of the " Matter of Life and Death " film parallel - Michael Powell again) with the Kate character as her own jury.

Just to take this a little further, we then move to the Hello Earth sequence - which I always think of as the revelation of light and total understanding that signifies her approaching death. (" Feeling no fear, of leaving her body here " if I may misquote Blow Away ) and the suggestion of her becoming re-absorbed or re-joining the Cosmos, of leaving the Earth behind.. Until of course she is rescued (or not, depending on your own point of view). This suggests to me at least, that she had actually lost the personal survival battle at the end of Jig of Life.

I need to stop here as I'm becoming fanciful, but that's where the Wave takes me..

[W.HI.P]

In "Jig of life" ,my understanding of "C'mon let me live girl" at the crossroads is Kate keeping the inner door open, the door that leads to herself beyond time. She is advising herself, guiding herself inward.
Kate comes from a specific tree, it is not a suprise that her brother shares with her their awakening.
Waking the witch, is realization of ones self, a recolection of the past, and who one is.
Hello Earth is about acheiving the metaphysical, her travels beyond the body.
And more generally "The morning fog" about After the cleansing and awareness, clear vision and understanding.
One could connect this with a highly enlightment state.
The magic is how she shows this not only through her lyrics, but how she combines the energy of her voice with the music. This is not regular music. This is what I call a Masterpiece!
(Rephrased)
BB
Wiccan High Priest

[Sven Golly]

Thanks for clearing that up. Sorry, but can we not speak in 'opinion' mode as opposed to stating what I construe as alleged fact.

[W.HI.P]

I do not mean to speak in opinion mode,simply trying to communicate in the best way I know possible. I will try not to offend. Simply stating my understanding. Her messages have been sent, Those grasp what they will , but not always to her intent.

[Al Truest]

wiccanhighpriest said:

I do not mean to speak in opinion mode,simply trying to communicate in the best way I know possible. I will try not to offend. Simply stating my understanding. Her messages have been sent, Those grasp what they will , but not always to her intent.

Thanks for your concession. However, it is still presumptious to claim to know her intent. But, if you preface your comments IMO or use discourse that states that your thoughts are opinion, then we have no problems. ;D

[Adey]

wiccanhighpriest said:

Kate comes from a specific tree, it is not a suprise that her brother shares with her their awakening.

Nicely put..

This is not regular music. This is what I call a Masterpiece!

We are in accord..

[W.HI.P]

Why thank you abey, my heart just skipped a beat.

[Sven Golly]

wiccanhighpriest said:

Why thank you abey, my heart just skipped a beat.

As did mine while you were unwittingly banjaxed. ;D We serve your own medicine cold.

[~Passion~]

altruest said:

Listen to this song! It does not get enough attention. Report back to me on this! ;D

And to your little boy and to your little girl
And the one hand clapping:
Where on your palm is my little line
When you're written in mine
As an old memory?

This line caught my attention abruptly the first time I heard it. How frightening it must be to choose especially when children are involved. I'd give up my life for my own child but for nothing else... I'd die trying.


I have become obsessed with Jig of Life. Listening to it every day, the rhythm and fiddling are set on repeat inside my head. I've never listened to an artist who pours her heart out in song as much as Kate does. I thought I was addicted to Tori Amos... a divorce is in session.

All of her music is becoming new to me. Little by little, I am opening her up inside of my life. One day, things will become clear and I'll have a little more understanding of what this tale means to me. Presently, this is my favorite song out of the 6 CDs I currently received as one gift.

[tannis]

“Jig of Life introduces the first note of "hope" into The Ninth Wave, by telling the story of the heroine's encounter with her own future self. The old woman is the heroine scolding the girl in the water, and admonishing her not to die because she still has to get married and have children, etc…” - gaffa.org/dreaming/tnw_gen.html


"You gotta keep thinking
You can make it thru these waves..."
Blue,
by Joni Mitchell, 1971


Reaching out from the darkness comes this awesome, life-affirming ‘pull and push’ (Homeric) visitation… Our heroine has survived the trial of the past, the weight of the present; and now her unconscious mind employs her sense of future self in an attempt to buoy herself up and restore focus…

Her ‘Old Lady’ cries: “Live for us both! Don’t give up! You cannot let me drown! ... Don't die! Stay alive for our children!"
[à la assassination of ARCHDUKE FERDINAND: "Soferl, soferl! Don't die. Live for our children!" (the duchess died fifteen minutes later, followed shortly by the archduke).]

‘mirror… crossroads… future… palm…’ - The Old Lady gives our heroine no right to drown! It cannot be her Destiny! She cannot allow it to happen!
"Jig of Life" encourages the unsinkable, the heroic, the human potential…

‘Over here’ ...
The poem was composed and is spoken by Kate's brother John Carder Bush.
Wiki gives a link to the online exhibition of his limited edition book "Cathy: The child with the woman in her eyes...":
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Carder_Bush
Maybe JCB serves as KB's consulting literary editor, and has 'contributed' to her lyrics far more than we know?

"The recitation of John Carder Bush, Kate's brother, at the end of the song serves to reinforce the Old Lady's message, advising Kate that her past, present, and future are inextricably linked; though "now does ride in on the curl of the wave," she must also remember "all that's to come runs in at the first on the strand." Kate Bush's ordeal has brought her to the crossroads, the place where past, present, and future converge, where she must choose between physical and spiritual existence. [The place where three roads meet is also prominent in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex]... Lest anyone doubt that 'The Ninth Wave' is a description of Kate Bush's own struggle for spiritual understanding, it is interesting to note that lines from 'The Morning Fog' accurately describe the Bush family unit" (Kruse, 1988).


So, did she make the land? Or did she drown? ...

"This moment in time,"
(She said.)
It doesn't belong to you,"
(She said.)

“She said”: These two repeats are sung by another voice. They suggest a sense of the past, even sadness, like the Old Woman tried but didn’t make it?
Haunting… Changing the tone of the song to anger/sadness?

...And while the Homeric gods might mourn the fall of a hero, they do not interfere with his/her allotted Fate.