Not 'bout Ellen, but I can use some help..

[laura123]

As some of you might know, I'm having a school presentation about the song Tuesday Morning by Melissa Etheridge. Now I have some questions about the lyrics, about dubble meanings and stuff. Is anybody willing to help?? I'll post the lyrics over here:

Tuesday Morning- Melissa Etheridge

Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44

10:03 on a Tuesday morning
In the fall of an American dream
A man is doing what he knows is right
On flight 93
He loved his mom and he loved his dad
He loved his home and he loved his man
But on that bloody Tuesday morning
He died an American

Now you cannot change this
You can't erase this
You can't pretend this is not the truth

Even though he could not marry
Or teach your children in our schools
Because who he wants to love
Is breaking your Gods' rules
He stood up on a Tuesday morning
In the terror he was brave
And he made his choice
And without a doubt
A hundred lives he must have saved

And the things you might take for granted
Your inalienable rights
Some might chose to deny him
Even though he gave his life
Can you live with yourself in the land of the free
And make him less of a hero than the other three
Well it might begin to change ya
In a field in Pennsylvania

Stand up America
Hear the bell now as it tolls
Wake up America
It's Tuesday morning
Come on let's roll


Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44

What is meant by that??

On flight 93 This was the number of the plane that was trying to prevent a terrorist airplane from flying into the Pentagon, right?

And he made his choice Which choice does she mean?

In a field in Pennsylvania Is this the place where the Pentagon is situated??

Hear the bell now as it tolls
Wake up America
It's Tuesday morning
Come on let's roll

I don't really get this part. Can someone explain??


thanx in advance!! :)

[tartanfan]

Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44
I dont really know that one myself. I dont ever even really hear those lyrics anyway!! lol!

On flight 93 This was the number of the plane that was trying to prevent a terrorist airplane from flying into the Pentagon, right?
Flight 93 was the flight that the guy 'Mark Bingham' was on. (Thats who melissa wrote the song about). It was supposed to be going from Newark in New Jersey to San Fransisco, but was forced off its usual course. Its not exactly known where this plane's target was, but one idea is that it was heading for Camp David. A group of people on the plane, including Mark, decided to take on the hijackers to bring the plane to the ground before they did hit anything. In other words they were willing to give up their own lives in order to save some on the ground. There's a website about flight 93 here (http://www.september11news.com/Flight93.htm) if you want a look. theres some stuff about Mark on there as he apparently phoned his mother from the aeroplane.

And he made his choice Which choice does she mean?
The choice that he and some others on that flight made to get up and do something about the hijackers. He chose to be brave, knowing that he was giving his own life, because he thought the plane could do a lot of damage if it was to hit something.

In a field in Pennsylvania Is this the place where the Pentagon is situated??
No, thats where the plane was brought down. Instead of it reaching a target which could have had a lot of people and proved fatal, the people on the plane managed to take over and crash it into a field in Pennsylvania.

Hear the bell now as it tolls
Wake up America
It's Tuesday morning
Come on let's roll
I think thats talking about the fact that America needs to wake up and move on. Mark was gay, and he gave his life to save hundreds of others, but yet his partner doesnt have the same rights as the wives of the other brave men. And even when he was alive, he was denied so much simply because he was gay.

Thats my take on it anyways :D
Have you heard that last line "come on, lets roll" live, laura??? even on the Lucky dvd? Its so chilling. A friend of mine saw a Lucky concert in New York and there was utter silence and tears flowing during that song. So moving.

[HoJoFan]

I think I can help a bit....

On flight 93 : On Sept. 11 United Airlines Flight 93 was travelling from New Jersey to San Francisco. It was hijacked by 4 hijackers. It is assumed that the hijackers intended to crash the plane into whitehouse, however several passengers on the plane grouped together and stormed the cockpit. They forced the plane to crash into an empty field instead of a building.

In a field in Pennsylvania: the plane crashed in an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Hear the bell now as it tolls
Wake up America
It's Tuesday morning
Come on let's roll : It is reported that after the group of passengers from the plane grouped together and made their choice to storm the cockpit, they initiated the assault after one of the passengers said "Let's Roll", and they all went. It has also been reported that a passenger was heard in the cockpit during the assault yelling "Roll It".

And he made his choice: The song is a dedication to Mark Bingham, one of the passengers who stormed the cockpit. I think here she means that he made his choice to intervene and do something about the hijacking - and as a result he saved the lives of all the people who may have been in whatever building they were intended to hit. He made his choice to do something very brave, and he became a hero.

Here is a quote of Melissa Etheridge I found on the Mark Binham tribute website about the song: "Of course I was affected by 9/11 as most Americans were, and I remember reading one of our popular magazins over here called “People”. They were talking about the four men from Flight 93 that brought the plane down, and they mentioned Mark Bingham, a gay man, and I didn’t know this, this was news to me, I was moved, one of four man was a strong and smart gay man that helped and saved many lives. I saw how that story unfolded in our society, and how our government handled the benefits of the survivors, the families of 9/11, and how the partners received no compensation because they weren’t recognized by our government, and it’s just a growing discrepancy in our society’s refusal to acknowledge homosexual relations, so I sort of put this up to my country, and say “Hey come on now, here is something that matters to all of us, here’s a hero from our community” to show that we are contributing members to this society, it is time to step up and move on."

hope that helps...

[tartanfan]

It is reported that after the group of passengers from the plane grouped together and made their choice to storm the cockpit, they initiated the assault after one of the passengers said "Let's Roll", and they all went.
ohh yeah, i remember reading about that too. Maybe it has a wee bit of a mixed meaning in the song?

[HoJoFan]

[ohh yeah, i remember reading about that too. Maybe it has a wee bit of a mixed meaning in the song?]

I think you are right. That's what makes Melissa so brilliant!

[laura123]

thanx guys for your responds. It really helped me understanding the song better. Thanx!!! :)

[judo56]

The part that says:
Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44
It was taken from an old gospel song from the 60's about civil rights.

[laura123]

The part that says:
Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44
It was taken from an old gospel song from the 60's about civil rights.

Yeah I know that, by Ella Jenkins I thought, but what does she mean with that last sentence 'from a 44'??

[mom_of_12]

While I don't mean to detract anything from the passengers who lost their lives in this senseless tragedy, didn't the black box reveal otherwise, meaning that the passengers did not storm the cockpit, as previously thought? I'm confused between the relatively recent accounts on the news & what is on the Website.

[missundaztood22]

The part that says:
Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44
It was taken from an old gospel song from the 60's about civil rights.

Yeah I know that, by Ella Jenkins I thought, but what does she mean with that last sentence 'from a 44'??

I think a 44 is a gun.

[laura123]

The part that says:
Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44
It was taken from an old gospel song from the 60's about civil rights.

Yeah I know that, by Ella Jenkins I thought, but what does she mean with that last sentence 'from a 44'??

I think a 44 is a gun.

Okay, that's a good possibility! But then I don't really get this last part. Skippin and dodgin from a 44 I have no clue what she means by this :roll:
Does anybody get this???

And again, thanx for your replies!! :)

[missundaztood22]

Dodgin bullets maybe?

[laura123]

Dodgin bullets maybe?

yeah I guess this is what she means. So she's talking about the fact that people have to dodge from bullets all the time?? :?

[laura123]

an other question, on a website I read that the plane was heading to Camp David, but do they mean that it was just flying towards Camp David, or that the terrorists wanted to make it crash into Camp David??
thanx!

[laura123]

never mind my last question, I already found the answer. Thanx again for y'all who helped!

[laura123]

Today I had my presentation and I thought I'd let you know how it went!
It went quite alright, although my voice was a bit shaky. Man I always have that when I've got to talk in front of an audience!! Well this is more or less what I said:

First of all I picked this song because I’m a big fan of Melissa Etheridge and I chose this particular song, because the lyrics are based on 9/11 and gay rights and I found this very interesting topics.
The story behind this song is about a plane, flight 93, which was highjacked on 9/11. It was supposedly heading to Camp David, a residency originally built for President Roosevelt, but now it’s used to hold congresses with foreign leaders. The hijackers wanted to make it crash into Camp David, but four brave passengers prevented that from happening. They made the plane crash in some field so none of the pople in the building they were heading to would die. They gave their lives cuz they wanted to save other people’s live. One of these passengers, Mark Bingham, was gay and some people don’t want to acknowledge him for what he did because of that.
*let them hear the song*

Now I had to explain the lines. I picked a few:

Up and down this road I go
Skippin' and dodgin'
From a 44

This is part of a song from the 1960's during the civil rights movement. It was a very hard time for the US. Black people and their supporters were persecuted. What the line (the song is by a Civil Rights Gospel singer in the '60s, named Ella Jenkins) means is that the person is running away and trying not to get shot by a gun (a .44) This was discrimination and you could say that in some sorta way Mark (and other gay people) have to run, because people don’t acknoledge them because of his sexuality.

In the fall of an American dream

I believe this also has double meaning. It happened in September, which was in the Fall, and also, the plane "fell", and Americans were no longer safe, so it was the 'fall'ing of an American dream.

On flight 93

This was the plane they were flying on

And he made his choice

Mark Bingham's choice was to fight the terrorists, and take down the plane knowing that he and everybody else would die. He did this in order to save MANY MORE lives.

In a field in Pensylvania

The field in Pennsylvania is the field where the plane crashed.

Wake up America
It's Tuesday morning
Come on let's roll

The event happened on a Tuesday morning. Also, Tuesday is the day of national elections, the day America should Wake Up and vote for people who can make a positive change.



I didn't get that much reactions to it, but a good friend came immediately over to me that she really liked the song and thought the lyrics were really powerful and she liked it!! So that was pretty okay..

I thought I was quite controversial by chosing this song, and I'm glad I was. Most people would chose a song by Jennifer Lopez or Pink, but I choose one no-one knew. And a while a go I came out to my best friend and I thought it was quite difficult to talk about gay people and all as I'm one myself but no-one knows, but everything turned out okay!!!:D

[indecisive]

glad you did alright. congrats :!: