Dar Williams

Dar Williams in concert, Feb. 5, 1998

Monmouth University, New Jersey

"Just like the newly found artist and her haunting melodies, it's time to discover those Dar songs stuck in my head."

Haunting Dar songs are stuck in my head

By Anthony Buccino

Dar Williams and Spike at Monmouth U. 2/5/98,

"Who invented roses?" she asks in a throwaway line on "What Do You Hear in These Sounds." I never thought about that before, but someone must have invented roses and said, "These are beautiful. Let’s sell them to give to loved ones on Valentine’s Day. We’ll make a fortune."

On "Road Buddy" she sings, "You drive so bad I lost my patience, pass the chips and turn the station." It’s about a cross-country trip that didn’t quite live up to its challenge against the "crossroads devil." If we all have not had that kind of trip, there is still time in this century to hit the road.

And speaking of the next generation, here in these Dar songs that are stuck in my head, her song, though new, is so familiar, like the refrain, "Teenagers kick our butts, tell us what the future will bring, Teenagers look at us, we have not solved everything." For sure, we’ve all hear that before, but probably not in a song that we could almost dance to.

Nor from a folk-singer who sounds like, at times, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Sheryl Crow and Nanci Griffith, among others. It is on her newest CD "End of the Summer" that Dar Williams is at her most mainstream sounding. "Are You Out There," "Party Generation" and the above-mentioned "Teenagers" all seem to this aged and ancient rock music critic to be the most in vogue with what the younger folks listen to.

However, it is not because of these few mainstream sounding tracks that these Dar songs are stuck in my head. Quite the contrary, it is a mix of old and new tracks from her three CDs that have me sutured to the headset and replay mode. After two years of owning a CD player, I first used the program track to playback my favorite Dar songs in my own eclectic order onto a tape. Now I have my favorites all on one cassette to play again and again.

This is actually better than it was. Last summer I picked up Joan Baez’ "Ring Them Bells" with performances by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mimi Farina, Janis Ian and Dar Williams. The song that stuck in my head was "You’re Aging Well" by none other than this woman whose voice seemed so familiar yet so fresh ¾ Dar Williams. Using a 90-minute tape I crash-edit-recorded that song over and over, then took long walks to listen to it over and over.

A scan of the area music stores uncovered no other titles by this ‘Dar Williams’. I had to be content with ‘Aging Well’ ¾ yes, this does have two meanings ¾ on my extended tape loop. It was good enough. I could almost hear it without having it play. I wondered what the line is after "the road to enchantment was not mine to take" while humming along every four minutes when the line came around on the loop.

Through a combination of dumb luck and remembering to look under "Williams" a month or so ago in a record store, I actually found Dar’s "The Honesty Room" from 1995. And of course, not only did it have "You’re Aging Well" on it, but the inside bonanza was all the songs’ lyrics.

Now a dozen new songs echoed for me to savor and ponder. First off there was that "When I Was a Boy" song she wrote. And then came "Alleluia" the song written post-mortem. From heavenly insight she reveals "God looks like a guidance counselor, God’s got that smile." And as odd as that revelation is, I know just what she means.

A bit of summer shopping found not only Dar’s "Mortal City" from 1996, but her mid-summer release "End of the Summer." Wow, this has been a Dar summer for me. From "The Christians and the Pagans" to "Southern California Wants to be Western New York" on "Mortal City" to "Are You Out There" and "What Do You Hear In These Sounds" on EOTS, it is as if I had known her music for a long, long time.

The familiarity goes beyond the words and music. Much of it has to do with, for better or worse, having lived for quite a while in this metropolitan area and listening to the same radio stations and watching the same TV shows. Perhaps that is where the unsaid is hidden in "Arrival," ". . . this world can’t be saved, only discovered . . ." Just like the newly found artist and her haunting melodies, it’s time to discover those Dar songs stuck in my head. So, if you hear me humming to a tune where there is none, unless you know who invented roses, keep walking.

Check out more on Dar Williams, including sound bites.

'Dar Williams rarely appears in concert in jeans ...' however, at Monmouth University in February 1998, she made an exception... and these photos are the the proof....

Other notes on the concert at Monmouth University

Here is my post on the Dar-List ....

The Dar show at Monmouth U 2/5 was an incredible event. To finally see Dar live is to hear her songs for the first time. You should have seen the teens from No. Haledon (N.J.) when they walked in and picked up their tickets -- practically flying above the ground, they were so excited. The teens' designated driver, Elaine, said she was delighted to bring them along to hear her music. She said the kids and she all enjoy Dar and the kicker is that the kids weren't embarrassed to be seen with Elaine.

Dar seemed to rush through the first half-dozen songs. She settled in and charmed the audience out of its pants, so to speak, and encouraged a sing-along on Iowa. Her endless, if absolutely necessary guitar tuning between songs was distracting and disconcerting, and positively annoying. But not bad enough to spoil the show.

Elaine, the mom from No. Haledon, waited till after the concert to tell the kids that Dar would be around to sign Dar-Loot. She said the kids would have exploded if they knew they could meet Dar after the show. Sure enough, the teens were well-behaved and when they got to the front of the Dar-Loot table, Mom set them up for a photo with Dar, "C'mon, Mom, make the flash go off."

As for the never-ending tour, this was a concert I never wanted to end. Hey, Dar even gave me an award for punctuality for my 'arrival' four hours early and hanging around peacefully at the university. Anyone lucky enough to have tickets for Friday's sold-out Rutgers show, will be the envy of all who were turned away.

SET: What do you hear?, As cool as I am, If I wrote you, Iowa, Are you out there, End of summer, Ocean, Mortal City, Wilder than her, Christians and Pagans, February, I love, I love, 1st-enc. Babysitter.

Also, a big how-do-you-do to the lister (Jane - her real name) from Cranford!!

On Cloud Nine with my punctuality award.

PS. Dar has beautiful blue eyes, and no photo I've yet seen does her justice.

(I remember the concert, that's the work that I do;-)

Check out folkies Christine Lavin and Richard Shindell.