The other night we were resting in our air-conditioned home, trying hard not to move too much for fear that beads of sweat would reemerge. I took out Natalie Merchant’s Tigerlily CD and put in it the CD player.

Although we recently listened to Ophelia, this was the first time in a long time that I had brought out Natalie’s earlier album, Tigerlily.

There are some CDs that instantly transport me to another place and time, and Tigerlily is one of those.

Last night I heard Natalie’s silky smooth voice enter the first notes of “San Andreas Fault,” a few hours before that fault rumbled to life.

Go west, Paradise is there
You’ll have all that you can eat
Of milk & honey over there

You’ll be the brightest star
The world has ever seen
Sun-baked slender heroine
Of film & magazine…

San Andreas Fault moved its fingers
Through the ground earth divided
Plates collided such an awful sound

San Andreas Fault moved its fingers
Through the ground terra cotta shattered
And the walls came tumbling down

Another song on the album is “Jealousy,” which you might recognize…it was a radio hit from the album. That song reminds me of my college roommate, Michaelanne, who bought me a copy of Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady and inscribed the following lyrics inside:

Is she bright so well read are there novels by her bed

Is she the sort
You’ve always said
Could satisfy
Your head?

I was going through a bad breakup at the time, and that was Michaelanne’s poetic way of saying “you’re a woman who would make other women jealous of you.” Just what a girl needs to hear at a time like that.

There were other times when I would listen to that song and (sinfully) relish the jealous feelings that are embraced in the song. I remember confessing that to David, who was my big brother and honest friend at the time. He said, “If you think that song is bitter, you should listen to ‘Seven Years‘!” He was right…Natalie had some serious baggage there…my issues didn’t even come close to that….

Another favorite, on the death of a spouse:

You were the love
For certain of my life
For fifty years simply my beloved wife
With another love I’ll never lie again
It’s you I can’t deny
It’s you I can’t defy
A depth so deep into my grief
Without my beloved soul
I renounce my life
As my right
Now alone without my beloved wife

And now another memory to associate with this album…reclining at the table, the house quiet and calm, sipping a lovely white wine and talking about politics, theology, and history with David and our friend Peter. Sweet times.