Friday music: Wonder by Natalie Merchant
My favorite song about being bodily different:
Direct link to YouTube music video here.
Wonder
by Natalie Merchant
Doctors have come from distant cities, just to see me
Stand over my bed, disbelieving what they're seeing.
They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God's own creation.
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation.
Newspapers ask intimate questions, want confessions
They reach into my head to steal the glory of my story
They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God's own creation.
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation.
Ooo, I believe, Fate smiled
And Destiny laughed as she came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience, and with faith
She'll make her way, she'll make her way.
People see me, I'm a challenge to your balance.
I'm over your heads how I confound you
And astound you
To know I must be one of the wonders
Of God's own creation.
And as far as they see, they can offer
No explanation.
Ooo, I believe, Fate smiled
And Destiny laughed as she came to my cradle,
Know this child will be able,
Laughed as she came to my mother,
Know this child will not suffer,
Laughed as my body she lifted,
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience and with faith
She'll make her way, she'll make her way.
11 comments:
Oh yeah, one of my favorites too. Such celebration, such defiant exuberance, especially in the video.
The opening "doctors have come from distant cities just to see me, stand over my bed, disbelieving" always makes me smile. My son seems to attract doctors from, well, distant departments, anyway, whenever he has a hospital stay. He's a "wonder," all right. "No explanation" (just a very rare diagnosis--which is not the same thing!).
Oh, thank you, Kay. This is one of my favorite pop songs of all time, though it always makes me sob -- and sing along, really loud, at least 'til my voice chokes up. :) I've always wondered if there was a specific backstory, and what it was.
I never saw the video before. Thank you for that, too. I wonder who all those people are, if they are all friends as they appear or were just professionally cast.
I'm with saraarts--this song chokes me up. I haven't seen the video in years, so I appreciate the chance to see it again.
I love this song.
Many years ago, a friend introduced me to this song with the premisse that it reminded her of me. Thanks for the video, which I also had never seen.
Natalie Merchant's mother operates a vintage store a few miles from here called TIME WARP, and one rack features clothes "previously worn by Natalie Merchant"!
Unfortunately, I can't fit in any of them. ;)
Thanks for the video and lyrics, Blue!
I know nothing at all about Natalie Merchant (being on a library computer due to my internet being down at home, i can't actually listen to the song, only watch the video with no sound). Is she disabled and/or part of the "disability arts movement"? What would you describe her style of music as?
(i'm preparing a post for my blog on music with (intentional and/or unintentional) disability themes...)
I love the lyrics, but I don't think the video lives up to them. Most of the women in the video are young, thin and healthy-looking. I think this tune is mostly one about women being strong and wondrous even though they are not what the medical world sees as the ideal: a man. I read the lyrics as being about being bodily different in a broader sense and would have liked to have seen more than one person with a visible disability in this video. The song itself will always resonate for me as I live in my odd body.
Shiva: Sorry for the delayed response. Natalie Merchant was the lead singer for the '90s ('80s?) alternative pop band 10,000 Maniacs before she went off on a solo career. I don't have any knowledge of her being either disabled or a part of the disability arts movement, specifically.
Donimo: Yep, with all girls and women in the video, I do think it's definitely a gendered response to medicalization of bodies.
I heard the official backstory almost a decade ago from my best friend, who saw Natalie Merchant being interviewed about it on VH1's old show Storytellers... She explained that it was about a girl she'd gotten to know some time back that has Down Syndrome. I remember my friend also explaining that when the album came out, the singer was slammed by people (critics?) that misinterpreted the song as self-aggrandizing; I have no idea if that's in the show or just background he was giving me.
When I did a bit of a web search, I found one blogger referencing similar info from the same show, except she says it includes kids with other disabilities; a DS society agrees on the specification of the one girl. (Perhaps she's also the same kid in the video?) "The Barista wrote that Natalie mentioned in-concert that she had worked with autistic & Down Syndrome kids as a fifteen-year-old.
Ah -- I just saw I can get the "Storytellers" disc through Netflix... I'll have to check it out. :O)
I enjoyed reading this post, thanks
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