lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: go

amy ray quote from 1999-10-01: indigo girl, the duke chronicle:

can you explain the title of your new album, come on now social? it was somewhat obscure to me...

one line in the song "go" really struck me: "rock is cool, but the struggle is better."

"that line came to me after listening to a lot of reggae music for a couple of days. then i was walking in the east village in new york, and all of a sudden i went, 'rock is cool, but the struggle is better.' it's just the idea that it's really cool to be able to play music and stuff, but sometimes it's more important and it feels more solid to be doing something for the world."

you're doing both of those, of course. is this a call to your audience to go out and be activists?

"yeah! it's like saying this is really cool, and we could all get caught up in this, and it's really fun to have a good time. but the struggle is even cooler. i mean, r.e.m. is cool, but what they do with their money is cooler. because kids, and we as adults who are still kids, i think, get caught up in how to be cool and what's cool, you know. and sometimes you feel the struggle is cool, but rock is better. i feel both ways some time."

amy ray quote from 1999-11-xx: amy ray interview, rant n' rave:

"go started out as a song about my own personal rebellion but this didn't feel right, so i shelved it. when all those kids in south carolina and tennessee came to our aid i felt inspired. they understood the importance of struggle and stance and rebellion. sometimes this struggle is more important than the hipness of rock. on the other hand i recognize that music/rock is a rebellion - when music can gather people together - well that's a movement in itself. but i was feeling thankful to them for staying out the storm with us and inspired because they had the fire inside."

amy ray quote from 2000-10-03: retrospective liner notes:

"a compelling writer and activist, meridel le sueur lived a life that spanned two centuries. although much of her writing was blacklisted, her ideas and actions continue to inspire those dedicated to a life of social activism. her legacy was in the air, when high school students risked being excluded from graduation and final exams to protest the cancellation of 3 high school concerts by the indigo girls because we are gay. we recorded the meat of this track in our producer, john reynold's london apartment. the elderly neighbor downstairs was a little miffed at my attempts to play guitar. john r. was able to capture the rocker in me and emily."

amy ray quote from 2011-04-25: original spirits, the canberra times

"i didn't finish it and i was inspired to finish it after we did a tour of high schools and we were banned from certain high schools after the parents found out we were gay. and all these kids [at irmo high in columbia] had protests for us, so the song was really in their honour too."