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issue 1 june 2004

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the fannish disposition (con't)                                                                                         2

and what are we? i bet many readers have the answer “traaaaash!!” going through their minds. if they do, they have an idea of the truth as i see it. we are, of course, the people in their songs, living many of the things they write about. and while it might sound cool to talk about how “suedey” we are, it isn’t always so great a life: suburban homes, loneliness, entangled relationships; drowning sorrows in alcohol or drugs. which is probably why people sometimes seem to think suede fans are all a bunch of depressed people. but there is also a good side to it which, perhaps, people don’t see so much, but which i find so very important. that is the passion in the songs, the hope, the lust for life in spite of not always being much or having much, the ability to see the beauty in tragedy. it is the commitment to life with all its quirks and problems. 

to continue answering what we are, we are also the singers of the songs, figuratively speaking: the ones seeing all the rottenness and decay, all the fears and problems - but also the beauty in it, having compassion for the people we see, especially for those who are giving up, who stop caring, because that is so far from what suede fandom is all about.

suede fans might very well face things that hurt and suffer from them. but i think the main thing about us is taking an interest in life through it all, it is seeing beauty in unlikely places. it is choosing to live and enjoy life, rather than holding back in fear of the pain.

…in the bar, the band reach the last song of the set. they play an encore afterwards, but i will end with some of that last “regular” song, because it says it so well:

“and maybe we’re just kids who’ve grown. and maybe not. and maybe when we’re on our own, we don’t have much. but oh, we are young and not tired of it…”

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