she's always a woman to me was written about jennie carter.
she's always a woman to me was written about jennie carter.
who was she's always a woman to me written about?
jennie carter
the song "vienna (billy joel song)", which opens up the album's b-side, got inspiration from joel's trip to vienna, austria, where he went a few years after starting his career in musicianship to visit his father. while there, he found that austrians had a vastly different outlook on life than the one he was familiar with in america. as he recalls, joel had this realization after taking notice of an old woman sweeping out on the city streets, telling his father that he pitied the woman for having to do such a menial and unimportant task; joel's father responded by lamenting that the woman was giving herself a sense of worth by doing a service that helped everyone rather than "sitting at home wasting away." joel tried to make the song itself viennese in nature, comparing it specifically to something from a european 3-penny opera. "only the good die young," which is sung from the point-of-view of a boy trying to appeal to an abstinent catholic woman, was inspired by a girl named virginia davis who joel had a crush on in high school. according to joel, he saw davis looking at him while he was playing in his high school band, the echoes, which was the event that had him "completely hooked" to the prospect of being a musician. "only the good die young" was written by joel while opening for the beach boys in knoxville, tennessee, at which point it sounded slower-pace and more akin to a reggae tune, with joel even singing the song's lyrics in a jamaican accent. the mood of the song was shifted at the insistence of drummer liberty devitto, who reportedly said to joel "why are you singing like that? the closest you've been to jamaica was the long island rail road!" ramone suggested that the song be played as a straight-four piece while devitto played a shuffle beat, a proposition which joel found he enjoyed the sound of despite the concept initially seeming "odd and clunky." the song featured guitar playing by hugh mccraken, a famous session player who ramone brought in. "she's always a woman", like "just the way you are," was written about elizabeth weber, described by joel as "a commentary on women in business being persecuted and insulted." joel tried to stylize the song as one which would be sung by gordon lightfoot. "get it right the first time" is inspired by the challenge of first meeting and confronting a person, highlighting the importance of not flubbing such an encounter and "gett[ing] it right the first time." the album's final song, "everybody has a dream," a gospel-influenced piece, was also inspired by joel's wife. the song closes the album out with a reprise of the whistled theme from "the stranger."
the stranger (album)
woman's entrance into the world of mainstream art is largely against social conditions. the sort of art that women are prepared to create is completely different from high or mainstream art. this is due to the indisputable fact that women and men are different. they are different even though they belong to the same society, family and environment because in the patriarchal society where they grow up, there is great discrimination between them from the very beginning. this discrimination channelizes the aesthetic consciousness and view of life in different directions. heide-goetner abendroth has written. as matriarchal art derives from the structure of matriarchal mythology which is a completely different value system and not merely a reversed or contradictory one from that of patriarchy, it too shares this different system of values. the erotic is the dominant force and not work, discipline, renunciation. the continuation of life as a cycle of rebirth is its primary principle, and not war or heroic death for abstract, inhuman ideals. thus woman's primary aesthetic consciousness is used to hold patriarchal society together. this positive female force nurtures patriarchy with love because woman's consciousness and therefore her art is never self-centered. woman always works at a level which is generally understandable and easily accessible. her art and life is never separated. the separation of art and life in patriarchal society has divided mainstream or high art into many different branches. in fact, woman's matriarchal values are cooperative and universal at the core of which is the desire to awaken fertile energy. this value system works as an undercurrent in patriarchal society in the conscious and sub-conscious states of woman. this matriarchal value system has been recast by patriarchy for its own purpose. thus, when woman enters the world of art created by the male, she enters it going against her training and instincts. the enormous and extraordinary maternal energy of woman becomes a separated, individual entity when a woman enters the unknown world of male created aesthetics; she enters the competition on unequal terms. often we find women who show great promise in their art education but cannot later keep pace in the actual world of mainstream art. this world of art seems to be very difficult to harmonize with social pressure, family life and child rearing. this world of pure art separated from the flow of life seems to be at odds for a woman to manage while leading a normal family life. that is why we often observe women leaving art divorced from life and society and leaning towards applied art. perhaps because the self-centeredness, self-consciousness and sense of self-esteem of women do not develop along the same lines as males that this situation is created. women are forever busy trying to satisfy others. she finds fulfillment by being secondary herself and bringing happiness, peace and taking care of the family. it is impossible to find a place in the world of art with this attitude. thus, if we study the lives of women who do find a place in the world of art we find a sudden break of a few years in their professional life. perhaps they are busy rearing children as mothers or trying to adjust to a new role in a new family or keeping herself in the background to give preference to her husband's profession.
women artists of bangladesh