Dreamy Al made a surprising appearance at the Grammy Awards last night, presenting the award for Best Rock Album along with Queen Latifah (who acknowledged that most of the cheers coming from the audience were for the Oscar-nominated supa-star). Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to win Melissa Etheridge the Grammy for her Inconvenient Truth score "I Need to Wake Up."
So who were the big winners last night?
Three Texas girls who aren't ready to make nice. Yup, the Dixie Chicks took home five Grammy Awards, including Song, Record, and Album of the Year. It was an especially sweet sweep for the trio, as their album The Long Way and their winning single "Not Ready to Make Nice" were written in response to the fallout from the 2003 controversy that arose when lead vocalist Natalie Maines commented to a London crowd that she was "ashamed" George W. was a fellow Texan.
Upon accepting the final award for Album of the Year, Maines noted, "I think people are using their freedom of speech with all of these awards -- we get the message. I'm very humbled, and I think people were using their voice the same way this loudmouth did."
Introduced by sometimes-treesitter Joan Baez who remarked that she too knew what it felt like to be told to "shut up and sing," the Chicks performed "Not Ready to Make Nice" for a welcoming crowd.
The song -- and controversy -- isn't entirely environmentally related, but it feels relevant. Below, the lyrics:Not Ready to Make Nice
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting.
I'm through, with doubt,
There's nothing left for me to figure out,
I've paid a price, and I'll keep paying.
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round.
It's too late to make it right.
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell,
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should.
I know you said
Why can't you just get over it,
It turned my whole world around
and I kind of like it.
I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over.
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round.
It's too late to make it right.
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell,
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should.
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round.
It's too late to make it right.
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell,
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should.
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting.
Comments
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Delay And Deny Posted 2:10 am
12 Feb 2007
I surfed through the Libbie Awards and didn't see anything of interest. Most new music in 2006 was pretty poorly done...just like the documentaries and science of that period.
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willa Posted 8:14 am
13 Feb 2007
I will say, though, Natalie looks funny as a brunette. I'm generally not a fan of bottle-blonde-ness, but I like it on her. As a brunette, I can see the punk-ish look working for her or a more traditional country-singer look, but not both, whereas somehow with the blonde she manages to look both a bit punk and a bit country. But, whatever makes her happy, natch. She's still cute enough that all of us straight girls have crushes on her. :)
I think DCX did some carbon-offsetting for their tour last year, no? I don't know the details, but there might actually be an environmental argument to have here.
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caniscandida Posted 9:43 pm
13 Feb 2007
Being an old worn-down sentimentalist, I do not listen to this latest by the DXCX for which they won this prize, but much prefer their slightly earlier offering, "Home."
God: Have I lived too long? Should I live, henceforth, in the Falklands?
It is totally incomprehensible to me, why these ladies got punished, after one of them expressed her God-given right to suggest that she did not think much of the president of the United States of America.
It is totally incomprehensible to me, why "supporting the troops" means wishing them ill, death and injury; why "supporting the commander-in-chief" means pursuing a policy of evil, death and destruction; why "criticizing the president's policy treasonously encourages our enemies" makes sense, when in fact we are offering to people of Iraq and elsewhere the hope that at least a few Americans are reasonable.
<<
Cause I'm mad as hell,
Can't bring myself to do what you think
That you think I should
>>
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
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willa Posted 10:44 am
16 Feb 2007
Actually, some of my favorite stuff is pre-Natalie, and thus disavowed by the record label, and, it would seem, by the girls themselves, but can still be found on eBay. Their previous members (they lost Laura Lynch and Robin Lynn Macy and gained Natalie) were very, very different, much more kitschy-retro-country, but I liked that too. They wore silly movie-star-cowgirl clothes and titled their albums things like "Thank Heavens for Dale Evans" and yodeled where appropriate. It was great. Not that I'm obsessed or anything...
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