Everybody Knows--Dixie Chicks

This song has been rattling around in my head for a couple of days.

I think it's a quintessential trait of a person born in the United States to think that they can reinvent themselves, move somewhere else and start a whole new life, regardless of the past. It's steeped in our popular culture, and is becoming more prevalent as fame transcends talent in our collective psyche. Having been subject to enough people in my life who played judge, jury, and hangman, I can fully appreciate this.

But you can't run from the past. Yeah, the past is done and gone, but it would take a colossal, psychotic effort--repression worthy of Sam Shepherd or Tennessee Williams--to pull it off. And there's a big difference between nuts and nutty. Nutty is okay, but run like hell from nuts.

Anyway, no matter how crazy the person, there are still cracks, and the past will seep in somewhere and do it's work.

Sometimes, the best thing to do is turn around and face the past bearing down on you like a herd of half-crazed wildebeests. It's gonna hurt, but once the herd passes, you can (hopefully) dust yourself off and resume your journey.




Tell me now if you came sneaking up behind
Would you know me and see behind the smile
I can change like colors on a wall
Hoping no one else will find what lies beneath it all
I think I hide it all so well

Stepping out, everyone can see my face
All the things I can't erase from my life
Everybody knows
Standing out so you won't forget my name
That's the way we play this game of life
Everybody knows

Looking through the crowd
I search for something else
But every time I turn around
I run into myself
Here I stand
Consumed with my surroundings
Just another day
Of everybody looking
I swore they'd never see me cry
You'll never see me cry

Stepping out, everyone can see my face
All the things I can't erase from my life
Everybody knows
Standing out so you won't forget my name
That's the way we play this game of life
Everybody knows

You say I'll pay the price
That's the chance that I'll take
Though you may think I'm telling lies
But I just call it getting by

Stepping out, everyone can see my face
All the things I can't erase from my life
Everybody knows

Standing out so you won't forget my name
That's the way we play this game of life
Everybody knows I am just barely getting by