It’s no secret that we live in wildly divisive times. With a nation and in a way a world feeling more at odds with one another than ever before (thanks internet), it can be hard to find a unifying feeling on many things these days. It doesn’t help that within a year that we’ve been primarily trapped indoors with no major sense of catharsis, these feelings have been boiling for some time. Tragedy has somewhat become a norm, and when you hear about so many of the same instances of pain afflicted by others, you become numb in a way.
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This is gonna be a difficult thing to discuss for some given the song’s subject matter, but we have to talk about gun violence. For a subject that’s painfully straightforward (VIOLENCE IS BAD), we tend to make a real meal out of the discussion of something that is truly not that complex. Rebecca “DawgGoneDavis” and her song “Boulders Weeping (Cry No More)” is a damning inditement on those who seem to roll over in the face of countless tragedies of which we’ve had many in the years since the now infamous Columbine shooting. Davis commands the song with a real precise emotional anchor. It’s anger, but it’s focused. It’s emotional yes, but in a way, it feels procedural. Like a mother who’s talking to a child with gritted teeth as they have to explain again why their actions have consequences, you can really feel the discomfort and agitation in Davis’ voice.
She reminds me of the unfortunately maligned Dixie Chicks after 9/11 in which you can feel the underlying shame she feels in her people and her country for their actions, even slamming our strange focus on other countries. She evokes images of life, nature, even citing mother as a call of mother earth. It’s painfully uncompromising and she wastes no time getting into it. She “raps” but it’s really more like angry spoken word, and her lyrics are among her best weapons, plus the fantastic melodies crafted by her and her featured artist Dorian Paul. The two work swimmingly with Davis being aware of her vocal abilities and gifting the chorus primarily to Paul who can really allow the song to, well sing. Because of the norm in which the subject matter has taken, I can’t say that if you’re a victim of the shootings that this will provide a catharsis. Davis isn’t standing on empty platitudes either as she donates to organizations and obviously uses her art as a platform to raise awareness. She doesn’t provide easy answers, and she’s not as tasteless as to devolve into “give peace a chance” mantras.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/boulders-weeping-cry-no-more-feat-dorial-paul-single/1569874813
She’s a frustrated woman, an artist who’s trying to make sense of a senseless world. It honestly reminds me of the alternative hits of the 70s, experimenting with sounds and lyrics to make a passionate plea to the powers that be. The title says Cry No More, but that’s not a command, it’s an expression of desire. An expression I think many share.
Claire Uebelacker
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