That we won't be mentioning

Double Leo Sister reminded me at dinner last night, that I used to send her tapes in the 1990s. This was chiefly because I was horrified that she was limiting her listening to classic rock stations, but I didn't bring that up.

Now, she wants digitalized versions of the songs she really likes, so she was asking about "Ing", from a presentation of Prairie Home Companion that I taped off the radio in about 1993, I should think. I told her the song was by the Roches, as in Terre, Maggie, and Suzzy Roche, and not the kitchen vermin. Among other things, the sisters got their big break singing back-up for Paul Simon, and Suzzy Roche dabbled in acting and had a daughter with Louden Wainwright III. (We heard that daughter, Lucy Wainwright Roche, in concert with her half-brother Rufus Wainwright a year ago.)

Here's how "Ing" sounds on the 1992 album "A Dove":



This changes everything
Why is it happening
I got a feeling
That you are changing
The sky was darkening
When we went out wandering
It got confusing
And I started singing

Ing - Ing - Ing

Will we be marrying
Instead of parting
Or are you still singing
The praises of waiting
I had a gift to bring
A simple little thing
I had a little fling
That we won't be mentioning

Where is all this leading
Is there any meaning
Are we just careening
Around?

I'm always wondering
When it starts thundering
Which is the better thing
To be still or running
You with the broken wing
Who fell down flying
How is it dancing
With any old Earthling

The thing with "Ing" is, I heard it first as a live performance, albeit on the radio. I've found this rather fuzzy video that, nevertheless, shows the sisters in action. They always remind me of a quirky quartet of sisters I knew when I was a young woman.

I think this must be an early performance, because the album on which "Ing" appears wasn't released until the following year. The laughter is that of an audience hearing the lyrics for the first time.