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Feb 21, 2004 I first became interested in the Dave Matthews Band when I was a senior in high school. There was this girl that I was seeing at the time and she was totally interested in every single aspect of dancing and movement. Everyday after school she would go to her dance rehearsal at school, which was basically like the equivalent of a sports team. People actually made this dance “team” and the girls practiced religiously for about three months with the sole purpose of putting together a solid show. This show was a virtual who’s who of dancers at our high school, and only the most talented and dedicated girls made the show. The show was a huge production complete with fantastic choreography, props, lightning, costumes, and above all, beautiful women gyrating all across a stage for about two and a half hours. I was sitting in my seat along with a couple of my good friends enjoying bits and pieces of the show. I was not truly a fan of a great deal of the selections that were played but I sat through the show not illustrating any visible signs of fatigue or boredom. Then out of nowhere it happened. As sure as a lightning bolt illuminates the sky it happened. The lights dimmed and the dancers sat frozen on the ground. A slow, sweet, amazing song began to play at a low hum. I was captivated and immediately immersed my entire being into the performance. The song was “Crash” by the Dave Matthews Band. The dancers moved in perfect unison with the lights, and the music was flawless. At that point in time in my life I believed I was closer to perfection than I had ever been before. I don’t think that if I had heard the song on the radio it would have moved me the same way; I do know that the music, in conjunction with the dancers and lighting made it a truly wondrous experience. I have been an avid and loyal fan of the Dave Matthews Band since that moment in time. It is very interesting to me how a woman can get you interested in things you never imagined you would care for; those sentiments however, should probably be addressed at a later time. After my initial dose of Dave and crew I went out and got everything that I could get my hands on that dealt with the band. After listening to the music at length, I was even more enthralled than I had been before. I dissected the lyrics and tried to uncover the meanings or at least assign my own meanings to all of their songs. Whenever I listened to Dave, I was able to take an introspective look at myself, and try to understand the world around me a little better. I always felt like I was listening to pure genius because most music did not prompt me to evaluate the things around me in such a fashion. I believe that Dave along with a select few artists that are out today is woven from the same fabric as William Shakespeare. I believe the appeal that Shakespeare still has and his subsequent notoriety as a genius steams from his ability to write about universal truths. These are events and circumstances that everyday people from all walks of life and different backgrounds encounter on a day-to-day basis. When you address love, death, friendship, deceit, jealousy, and things of that nature you can be sure every generation after you will encounter those same themes at some point or another in their lives. The gift that Shakespeare had was that he was able to write thought provoking prose and dealt with those elements with such elegance that people even years from now will still be able to relate and engage with his material. The true beauty in works of this caliber is that even though the author, or artist sits down with a specific message in mind when they create them, the pieces are malleable enough that one can shape them and shift them to fit their own meanings as well. One also has the option of trying to figure out all probable meanings the artist could have intended, or make up some of their own. I once remember one of my teachers saying, “Just because the author did not intend for that to be the meaning, does not mean that it is not still applicable.” I subscribe to that notion 100 percent. One can often make very sophisticated arguments for meanings in different types of works that were not necessarily what the artist intended. So we fast-forward to about two weeks ago. I was on the phone with one of my good friends and he was very excited to share some news with me. It had come to his attention that “Rolling Stone Magazine” had done a piece on Dave Matthews. He, like myself is also an avid fan of the group, so upon hearing about the spread he was quite eager to share his findings with me. I immediately sat myself down at my computer to try and scour the Internet for this article since I had no intentions of going out to look for the magazine. After a good amount of searching I had finally found that which had eluded me. I found a transcript of the interview that Dave Matthews had done two weeks prior to my search. So like a small kid with his baseball card collection, I threw myself directly into that which intrigued me, and began to read. I was absolutely amazed at some of the thoughts and feelings that this man was sharing to anyone that came across the print. He addressed issues such as death, life, love, politics, and his music. I was very impressed with the elegance in which he illuminated these themes as well as the eloquence of his voice. I think that my biggest shock came when he was talking about death and the interviewer asked him about a song entitled “So Damn Lucky” on his newest c.d. “Some Devil”. He asked Dave what had possessed him to write about a car accident, and if he had been in many. I was completely flabbergasted at seeing those words. I figured that this had to be some error in print because I had listened to that c.d. non-stop since I had purchased it. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined that, “So Damn Lucky” could have been about a car accident. I was under the impression that it was a love song. Perplexed, I grabbed my c.d. and fast- forwarded it to track number two. I was set to get to the bottom of this madness. I knew that there was some mistake, because in my mind I had already set up a meaning for the song, and there was no way possible that it could have meant anything else. So I played the song and listened. The first time that I listened to it I got an almost eerie feeling. I felt almost like I had been transported to another realm, it was like being in the twilight zone. So I played the song again and again, listening to the lyrics and I was absolutely astounded. I did not think that anything like this was possible. Time after time the lyrics hit me with the force of a run away bull. The moment was almost surreal, I felt as if I were in fact in a dream world. This incident had again made me very aware of my tendency to not really “hear” the lyrics in songs; or perhaps it made me realize that I spend too much time analyzing words sometimes assigning meanings that are not truly there. So there I sat, listening and reflecting on the first verse of the song. The words went as follows, “Everything’s different my head in the clouds, I hit this corner with my foot on the gas I started sliding. I lose it; everything’s different just like that. Oh my God, wait and see what will soon become of me.” I felt like I was reliving my very own car accident and revisiting the same thoughts that were poring through my head when it was happening. The last verse of the song forced me to go back to that unmemorable time in my life as well. Those lyrics went as follows, “ Take me back just before I was spinning. Take me back just before I got dizzy. Take me back; it’s amazing what a minute can do. I remembered how I had wished I could have had that single solitary instant back as well. I wished that I could have been empowered to avoid that entire moment. I wanted to take the hands of time and push them back so I would have never experienced that instant. The final refrain in the song was basically a recapitulation of everything he had touched on, but served to bring everything together as a cohesive unit. “Round, round, round again, it’s amazing what a minute can do.” After hearing Dave’s explanation and viewing the song through a new lens, “So Damn Lucky” took on an entirely different meaning to me. That time that I spent listening to the song was like awaking from a deep sleep with a new outlook on my surroundings. It was comparable to having an epiphany or a moment of clarity. It was truly amazing to me that two totally different people that have never met could have shared a similar experience and then arrived at the same conclusion about them. It is very probable that it is just human nature to be thankful for having another chance in anything at all, but that did not stop me from being awestruck by my experience and those amazing coincidences. As horrible of an experience as the car accident was, I rest assured knowing that I came out a lot luckier than most people do. It is very possible that it was “not my time” because I was meant to do something meaningful with this life of mine, or it is possible that it was “not my time” because I was just lucky, period. I suppose that only time will tell which type of luck I was privy to, or if there is another one that I have not even considered that was in charge of the moment. I know one thing for sure though, the mounting coincidences that are prodding me to actually “hear songs” is something that cannot be ignored, and is very interesting to me indeed. The old axiom goes, “Whatever does not kill you only makes you stronger.” I never gave much thought to that before, but my incident has made me look at my surroundings in ways that I never have before and has also given me some different lenses to view the world around me through. It seems that I have become a better person because of the accident, and maybe, just maybe stronger. In any event, if none of that is to be believed or even true, at least I’ll always know that at one point in my life, for whatever reasons, I was “So Damn Lucky”. It truly is amazing what a minute can do. ------------ About the author: Jason Trace is a senior at Michigan State University who is majoring in English. Email Jason Trace: tracejas@msu.edu Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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