Dan Liebke's Astonishing Tales

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For quite some time now, I’ve been listening to the song She’s So High by a person who as far as I understand has been dubbed Tal Bachman. It’s been difficult not to listen to the song, given that it was the third most played song on Australian radio in 2000 (after Korn’s cover version of Hey, Hey We’re The Monkees and (bizarrely) Craig McLachlan and Check 1-2′s Mona). And, like most people, I assumed that the song was a simple ode to self-loathing. You know, there’s a woman, she’s amazing with heaving lips and pouting breasts whereas I’m just a worthless troubadour who no doubt she wouldn’t even bother to spit on. I might as well go set myself on fire. Typical stuff – the kind of lyrics we hear from most musicians, given their introverted natures (yes, I am looking at you, David Lee Roth).

But then I saw the film clip for She’s So High and realised I could not have been more mistaken. For the song is simply expounding a literal truth. She’s so high because she’s a tightrope walker!! Tal doesn’t loathe himself – she’s above him, but only in the literal sense. This is good stuff, and I hope others follow Tal’s lead and one day, we see the scourge of metaphor completely removed from all art.

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