Listening to 'Otis and Marlena' today I heard a line that I never heard
before:
"Marlena, white in stretcher sheets,
watches it all from her 10th floor balcony
Like its her opera box
All those Pagliacci summer frocks..."
and I am surprised I never heard this line before, but I am confused as
to what it means.
Pagliacci is one of my favorite operas - it is everyone's favorite,
right, the only opera to appear in a Motown lyric ("Tears of a Clown" if
I remember correctly but I could be wrong) (and Joni does know her
Motown, and lived in Detroit) -
but that is a very sad and tragic opera: people thinking that what they
are seeing in real life is merely the play, so that the double murder
that the audience witnesses, the audience thinks is merely part of the
play so they applaud the confrontation that leads to the murders and
then applaud the murders - which murders happen because of infidelity,
duplicity, deceit -
the gut wrenching cry of "ridi Pagliacci" as Canio proclaims that while
he is a clown in a traveling theatre, "no, Pagliaccio non son", his life
is now ruined and misery, he is the clown no longer, and then the opera
ends with "La commedia e finita" (the comedy is finished) after he has
done the second murder, as the audience only begins to realize that it
has been applauding and laughing at what is in fact a real life horror -
this is one of the most tragic of operas and makes sense for what
precedes in the song 'Otis and Marlena' -- but "Pagliacci summer
frocks"?
In the opening of the song Joni refers to "Foster Grants" and those are
a real thing; is there actually such a thing as a Pagliacci summer
frock? Is this a terrible way to make a rhyme with "opera box"? Is
this sublime beyound comprehension because the Pagliacci reference is to
people confusing reality and fiction, applauding death? And what does
it mean, "white in stretcher sheets"?
And how much of an opera fan is Joni, do we know? She certainly picked
the most appropriate opera for that song; "Le Nozze di Figaro" wouldn't
have worked meter wise or allusion wise.... but then I would think (if
I thought about this) that a Le Nozze di Figaro (the Marriage of Figaro)
summer frock would be a hell of a lot more attractive than a Pagliacci
summer frock... (pardon me, is that catsup, or is that blood?)
(the Rev) Vince, out of his mind on a Saturday night
