Reckoning/Revelling
Listening to Ani DiFranco's double album
Reckoning/Revelling (2001) again today, it sounded like the chronicle of a poly/mono relationship that hasn't been entirely ironed out yet (though perhaps that's mere projection?).
The song "whatall is nice" sounds like it's about realizing that one can inadvertently start merging with one's partner even if one has political objections to doing so:
"you were not a
dot dot dot / waiting for me to complete you
and it was like I just forgot / to measure everything that I do
we woke up with the notion that enough is not enough without more
and then we pushed with one motion like the ocean heaves a wave at the shore
and you were not a
dot dot dot / leaning forward expectantly
and I was not in such a rush / to insure my autonomy"
The song "reckoning" wistfully asks "remember when it was just you and me stepping up to bat?," then goes on to muse about how it stinks to realize you're more possessive than you thought you were:
"we thought we left possession behind / but truth was I was yours and you were mine ...
cuz nothing is as it appears / in the funhouse mirrors of your fears...
just tell me baby, that when you're done / with your marathon / you still got cab fare home
cuz the finish line is a shifty thing / and what is life but reckoning
and, you know / you are still the song I sing / to myself / when I'm alone"
The way that the song "grey" muses (in a way I find very familiar) about how difficult it is to quantify exactly what you want when your life has suddenly and significantly changed:
"what can I say / but I'm wired this way / and you're wired to me
and what can I do / but wallow in you / unintentionally
what kind of paradise am I looking for?
I've got everything I want and still I want more"
The entire song "School Night," which is also on this album, is about giving up a relationship due to prior commitment. This song is the reason that I'd describe the album as chronicling a poly/mono album, rather than a poly one. The "you" who's addressed in most songs is legible as poly; the "I" who's singing is not. I started to type representative line, then realized I was typing the entire song. So here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dih3n_6b8X8
And the song "revelling" seems like an illustration of NRE:
"you were so in love / that it was all you could talk about
and I think I felt a little left out / you were on cloud nine all the time
while I was levelling / I was wringing my hands and you were revelling
but then why shouldn't you? it was such a beautiful thing to do
would that I could get me some / of your yum yum delirium
I could level off the ground that we stand on
but with you down on bended knee / always looking up at me
that feeling of standing up together is gone
and though I love you through all time and space
my love always seems to take second place"