The Blues

Ohhh, Yes, I am Wise . . .

On June 2, 2010, in Family, Movies, music, by Rosie

Recently, I bought Sex and the City 2 soundtrack. Mostly for AK’s version of ‘New York‘ (without the dude rapping Jay), the ever-challenging Dido, and the mood-changing song of my youth, ‘True Colo(u)rs’ by The Cyndi Laups.

Also, I’m a Sex and the City fan. Always have been, although in retrospect, I think you can do without Season 1 entirely. It’s a show that gets better. It ages, and with maturity comes the beautiful mix of humour, pathos, drama, rudeness, and the presentation of so many issues confronting women, it’s quite remarkable.

It’s really the multi-layered show, and when we dare to look beyond Samantha’s attitude to sex, Miranda’s pragmatism, Carrie’s dreamscape and Charlotte’s effervescent social standing, the messages are clear. Friendship between women can be challenging, fulfilling, hideous, bitchy, enriching, and perhaps one of the best life experiences. Friendships between women need not exclude men. Friendship between smart, savvy women does not automatically mean all men are dumb or inferior. Friendships between women are worth nurturing.

This post isn’t about Sex and the City, but about the song ‘I am Woman’ by Helen (really an Aussie) Reddy. It’s on the Sex and the City soundtrack and it’s sung (perhaps karaoke) by Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha in the movie.

Pip Jones has taken the anthem-like women’s cry ‘I am Woman’ and made it her own. She heard it on the SaTC CD, loved it immediately and asked for the lyrics to be downloaded. She requested all versions be played on YouTube and watched them in rapture. She’s nearly nine. Currently, she wanders around the house, wrenching lyrics like:

You can bend but never break me

’cause it only serves to make me

More determined to achieve my final goal

And I come back even stronger

Not a novice any longer

’cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul

She even pauses in her recital, places down her beloved sheet of lyrics and grabs my face. Looking deeply into my eyes, she says things like ‘what I think the singer means here is that women were . . . you know . . . they couldn’t get jobs or do stuff. They were down! NOW THEY CAN GO TO SCHOOL, BE STRONG AND WISE, AND LIVE LIKE THEY WANT.’

Yes dear. In fact, she’s amazingly insightful about women’s history. She even tried to lecture me on suffragettes, ffs.

She loves the chorus the best, and she has to pitch it so loudly, I’m sure the neighbours expect us to start a bonfire in the backyard for all our underwire bras.

Oh yes I am wise

But it’s wisdom born of pain

Yes, I’ve paid the price

But look how much I gained

If I have to, I can do anything

I am strong (strong)

I am invincible (invincible)

I am woman

This is where Pip goes to town about women being in PAIN. ’SO MUCH PAIN, but now they are wise and strong.’

Naturally, Pop Jones joins in. She uses her strong singing voice to back up the important words, like ‘STRONG’ and ‘INVINCIBLE.’ Pip has tapped the basic notes out on the piano, and now we have the tune of ‘I am Woman’ resonating through the home as well as the accompanying vocals.

Last night, Mac realized exactly what was going on. Because the girls are always singing, often the tunes and lyrics fade into the background of a busy home, the call of data bases and the male mind. However, he couldn’t ignore his budding Helen Reddy’s as they marched around singing the new anthem of 7 and 8 year olds the world over.

He smiled. ’Imagine if they sing it at school,’ I said to him.

It’s preferable than them singing ‘Take me on the Floor’ or ‘Rude Boy’, so you go girl!

I leave you with VanAm’s version of ‘I am Woman’, sung to mark the entry of Helen Reddy into the Australian Recording Industry Hall of Fame.

HEAR ME ROAR….