in praise of nobody

Public Mag - Volume 04, Summer 2006

The Somebody Song of Monsters Are Waiting.

It begins at the bottom, where feel starts. Bass and drum, as fluid as blood-flow, as elegant as heartbeat, humming a murmur, a stirring. Then a shimmer, a glimmer, the glint of a needle about to go under the skin. Jab. A pinprick glint with a butcher knife’s reach. A solid stabbing. We don’t wince. We can’t. It’s wound we want, so wound we get. A crack whispering, equal parts pout and hurt, rips the heart right out of the matter, platters, serves.

Showing how we feel. It’s one of the toughest things anyone can do.

We speak of “Nobody,” from Monsters Are Waiting. A song that will stir you to stand. When it comes to the keener, fairer sex, men aren’t known to be particularly up-and-up. But whoever the guy was behind this lament brings utter doltness to a whole new low. Dude, as they say, do you have any idea? Obviously not, otherwise he’d’ve been a man. Oh, the cat’s there alright, but “never enough.” He feels, but only just. To him it’s all a flirt, one mean tease. The cowardly lionized. He may get his feet wet, but he’s afraid to soak his soul.
Not so the lioness. She’s courage incarnate. And there’s more than one kinda brave behind this roar. Sure, she breaks. She “had to.” Too much bend and an animal be gins to devour itself. Better to break clean, free, clear.

As if there were such a thing. Broken but unbowed, she summons sass. Goes beyond the brash that brought her to bare in the first place. She knew the game going in; now that she’s on the get-out, she knows even more.
You’re nobody till somebody dumps you.

But it’s more than the same old story that makes “Nobody” more than the same old song. It’s the mood and the sway and the swing, the cut and the sly and the why. And, yes, it’s the emerging triumphant. From this ill-pairing, Annalee and her Monsters got a killer sing to stage, a sound that will reverberate for all ages. What did this guy get? We’re guessing regret.
And, on behalf of all the swell souls of this world, he gets our Thanks, for spur ring a lovely called “Nobody.”