Oh, "Angela" is an incredible song; it's held the status of "new favorite song of all time" for the past couple of months--a label only ever so gradually wearing off. The "seriously" is about how my iPod fucks with me, as in, "Seriously, two John Vanderslice songs in the first 10 of the day?" [iPod answers: "seriously...and you like it."] But here's a question for you Scott: is "Angela" a song about the terrific sadness of freedom being joined with loss or about the speaker's terrible arrogance?

I don't quite agree on "Not Ready to Make Nice," though. It's holding up for me. There's something about how the "you think" is slipped in so subtly in the chorus, as though to say "I can't bring myself to do what it is (you think) I should," as in this anger's eating me up, but goddamnit I've turned the corner, and I'm gonna embrace it. And hence: whether or not "it's too late to make it right," "I probably wouldn't if I could"! For me, this bare hatred is beautiful, not because it's bitter or debilitating, but rather the opposite: one realizes herein that one can't "make it right" with the Right.

Now, on Cellar Door and all hyper allusive songs (such as perhaps my favorite Bob Dylan song, Desolation Road), I'm basically paralyzed with questions. It's like a puzzle I'm supposed to be able to figure out, but there are just too many variables. Even when we're told of "All these people that you mention," "I had to rearrange their faces / And give them all another name," I'm left thinking there are all these damn characters with whom we can't quite match a name or a face. So how is this other than just an epistemological nightmare? (Which is okay: I need a regular step back from certitude.)