Isn’t It Quaint, Isn’t It Queer?

Grant Lee Buffalo “Drag” (Live in 2012)

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much I envy singers and poets, because they have the license to say things with great emotional resonance that don’t have to make sense. I spend all of my time now writing things that are meant to be understood easily – I write about specific things, I write for a general audience, my job is focused on creating things that people might share. I like making things for other people, and at least in the sort of writing I mainly do, I strongly believe it should be made for other people’s benefit rather than just being entirely indulgent. Communication is the most important thing, but I feel more and more like there’s just a lot I don’t say, and now I don’t quite know what to do with it. I was listening to this song over and over yesterday, and thought a lot about how Grant-Lee Phillips words sketched out a feeling, some kind of situation, but it’s really all about the musicality. The dynamics creates the meaning. The sound of his voice creates the meaning. This is one of my favorite things about music – if you read enough of my writing, that should be clear – and right now it just leaves me with this envious feeling. I want that freedom, in some form. I want to get away from having to make sense all the time.

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