Tag Archives: genre

“She’s a Whole Lotta Woman.”

It was four listens today of “Desert Eagle.” I wish it was longer because it is only a little over a minute. It is a funky tease of a song but it made me want to find the nearest dance class that uses a chair as part of a sexy routine. For the first time, I Googled the title of a song on this album. I did not understand the reference which isn’t the first time while listening to Cowboy Carter but I chose to forgo searching before this. I wasn’t surprised to learn it’s a powerful gun that may not be the most effective of them all but can be described as “large and unwielding.” Maybe like the woman in the song.

I had to confront some prudeness while listening. I don’t tend to listen to a whole lot of anything that refer to “cream in the middle.” I shock myself with my discomfort. I have danced to, rapped to, sang to lyrics like that for years but I don’t usually read the words. I am usually singing along, almost absentmindedly, and riding the beat. But she is an empowered woman who has sex. Enjoys sex. Enjoys turning her partner on. Enjoys using her gifts to tell him she enjoys turning him on. Wants other people to feel the same if they choose.

To own it.

If it’s mine, why shouldn’t I?

If it belongs to you, why shouldn’t you?

“Come Get Everything You Came For ” and “Howl to the Moon “

I am surprised to watch myself type this but this was the musing I was most inspired to write. By the way, it’s “SpaghettII” on Cowboy Carter—three listens back to back to back. The first time I listened I could not stop shouting back “Come Get Everything You Came For” at the song. I think I was shouting it at my life. I am certain every time we try for something, be it a failure or a success, we are coming for it. Every time we love as hard as we can with all of the fullness, we are coming for it. When I step behind a podium and read my work, I am coming for it. When I board the plane for my next trip, I am coming for it. When I show up for the people who matter. When I say no to preserve my peace, I am coming for it. And it keeps me wanting more, doomed or destined to become the explorer I was meant to be in this life.

I could not stop singing “Howl to the Moon” on my walk today. Something about Shaboozey’s voice made me want to heed his command, be out in the open air with my friends, my own riders. It also transported me to the top floor, La Terraza, and La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico in December 2022. I have written about it here. After a dancing hands meditation, led by Jane Sibbett, where I weeped uncontrollably and she saw my ancestors behind me, I was drawn to the moon. I wanted to free myself from my bra and walk outdoors on the terrace and bathe in the moonlight, my own howling at the moon. I stayed indoors to circle up with my fellow participants and listen respectfully to their experience but my eye would drift to the doors.

I guess it hasn’t completely left me, over a year ago and thousands of miles away.

The last thing I will say here is that the voice of Linda Martell was a wakeup call disguised as an intro: “But in practice, well, some may feel confined.” She was referring to the concept of genre. We are all guilty of being placed in a box or climbing inside ourselves and fastening the lid, scared to come out or even loosen it to peek at what’s on the outside. We should all feel free to bust out of the box and climb back in as we please and not solely for others.

We should all feel free to come get everything we came for, howl at the moon and defy our genre.