(Title Credit: Dar Williams / The Honesty Room / 1993)

Some years ago, back when we were first introduced to being able to make our own mix discs on CD-Rs, I made my first. Now, this had been a habit of mine for years and years – making mix tapes, that is – but this was my first foray into the new technology. At the time, I had been feeling a little self-conscious about my strength as a female. Then, I listened – let me rephrase – really listened to “The Honesty Room” by Dar Williams. I grew some self-confidence then and there and I made myself a disc called Flinty Kind of Women. On it, I included lots of Dar songs, as she seems to me to be a strong woman – and I thank her for that – but I also included people like Kate Bush, Cher, Jonatha Brooke and Lynn Miles. All of the songs that I recorded have special meaning to me. I should have taken the disc to the concert where I saw Dar next (at the Common Ground in Bryn Athyn) but I was too intimidated – the story of my life! I took special care to print out the lyrics to all of those songs and format them with pictures of the artists, making a special little booklet for me, and I thanked Dar at the end for inspiring thoughts of strength within me, but she never saw it.

My recommendations for strength-inspiring lyrics from Dar Williams:

When I Was a Boy
Flinty Kind of Woman
As Cool As I Am

We’re going to see Dar again tomorrow night at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside. This will be the third time I’ve seen her perform live. She is great and everyone needs to listen to “The Green World” before life ceases to exist. Go listen to it!!

np – I Had No Right – Dar Williams
from the album “The Green World”