Rites of Passage
Indigo Girls
1992: Epic EK 48865
CHICKENMAN!!!
I think this CD must have been a gift, probably from my sister, because I can’t recall or imagine that I would have bought an Indigo Girls album sight-unseen, and I’m pretty sure I only knew a couple of songs from this one from radio play. However, I do like it—most of it—and it will remain in my collection until the day I die for one reason alone: “Chickenman.” That’s just mighty and raw, a locomotive blazing guns and screaming “DANGER DANGER DANGER,” even its lyrics. I’ve been hypnotized by these lyrics for years…some of them have even become iconic to me (notably the “darkness into darkness” stanza, my GOD how perfect…). I still have very little idea why the name of the song became so solid, although one or two Indigo Girls fan websites have illuminated that issue a little, but I’ll tell ya, I’d love to hear one of those rambling monologues Amy apparently drifts into during this song in concert. It’s a beautiful, beautiful song.
I hasten to add that many of the other songs on this album are great too—in particular I think “Airplane” is so adorably funny; it’s just that “Chickenman” grabs me at bone level and stares at me earnestly.
Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.