From:{See sender's address below.] 21 Aug 1997
Another wonderful song about domestic violence can be found on Janis
Ian's 1992 CD, Breaking Silence, particularly the song "His Hands"; for
example, the verse, "His hands, they never hit me sober / His hands,
they
never marked my face / [...] I would rather be deaf / than hear that
sound / Like a pistol cracking / as the spirit breaks /and love comes
tumbling down". Also, on Tracy Chapman's self-titled album (1988),
"Behind the Wall".
Kathleen L. Kellett-Betsos PHONE: (416)-979-5000, xt. 6152 French Department FAX: (416)-979-5273 Ryerson Polytechnic University E-MAIL: kkellett@acs.ryerson.ca
350 Victoria Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5B 2K3
Responses on 22 Aug 1997:
From Larisa Kofman lkofman@inform.umd.edu
I think the name of the woman who sings "Independence Day" is Martina McBride.
From Amy Elaine Wakeland awakeland@aol.com or amy.wakeland@wadham.ox.ac.uk
Hi all. The song "Independence Day" that Amy Speer mentions is
performed by
Martina McBride (and written by Gretchen Peters). You can find it on
McBride's _The Way That I Am_ CD.
From Bud Burkhard bud@qis.net
Unless we are thinking of different songs, Independence Day is a song by Bruce Springsteen...
From Amy Sara Clark clark@qbert.rs.itd.umich.edu
On the popular music representations of domestic violence there is also Suzanne Vega's "My Name is Luka" and I think Paula Cole's *1st* album, "Harbinger" has a song about it.
From Heather Tanner hjtanner@oregon.uoregon.edu
There is also Suzanne Vega's song, the title of which I believe is "My name is Lucca".
Responses on 25 Aug 1997
From Katie Holmes kho;mes@latrobe.edu.au Another song on domestic violence is Toni Childs' 'I've got to go now'.
From Lucinda McGinn pmcginnl@maine.rr.com
Toni Childs has the song "I've Got to Go Now" on her album "House of Hope."
The lyrics start out
'This man I married is buried deep,
And the more I try to wake him, the more he sleeps
I used to think I knew this man
With tenderness, not the back of his hand.'
And the song is about leaving and making it a finality -
'I can't come back here anymore,
And I know it and I know it'
From Allison Helper ahelper@maine.maine.edu
There is also a country/western song by a woman singer called
"Independence
Day" about domestic violence and the accompanying video is very good
about a multitude of issues around domestic vioence.
Responses from August 29, 1997:
From Miguel Juarez mjuarez@acsu.buffalo.edu
On the subject of Teaching/Poetry About Domestic Violence, I would include Catie Curtis' song "The Wolf," off the Women's Work compilation (Putumayo World Music). The Wolf is from Curtis' "Truth About Lies" (Guardian Records). The song is about violence against women from a child's perspective. Putumayo World Music's site is: http://www.putumayo.com
From Elaine S. Caldbeck eca792@lulu.acns.nwu.edu
Canadian Folk/Rock singer Connie Kaldor has a CD, "Gentle of Heart," with several songs that have domestic violence as the theme. Directly on the subject is the song "One Hit Leads to Another." Lines from it include: "Well I got a baby growing inside me now ... We're gonna run till we get somewhere, That the door don't get kicked in ..."
Also pertinent to women's pain on that CD are the title song "Gentle of Heart" which is about loving someone who doesn't love you back. "I go out Walking" is about being "...in love with a pack of lies." Likewise, "Rage Inside" seems to be about a woman being stuck in the rage that comes from being so deeply hurt - an outcome that is not helpful for her either.
Just as interesting is that mixed in with these angry songs are one or two songs with themes of successful passionate love!