"Who I Am"
Aug. 19th, 2015 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerI'm quite fond of a show called Sue Thomas: F B Eye. It's not sf or fantasy, being about a deaf woman who worked for the FBI, but it's nice, it's upbeat but not absurdly so, and the lead actor, Deanne Bray, is not only believable (being deaf herself) but very endearing in the role.
One of the things I like is the opening sequence, which is accompanied by a song entitled "Who I Am," all about who the person singing is. But who is the person singing?
It's not "Sue Thomas"; she's a fictional character. It's not Deanne Bray; she's an actor. It's nobody involved with the show, including the real-life Sue Thomas whose work inspired the series; they didn't write or sing the song. Could it be the singer, Jessica Andrews? Well, she is literally "the person singing," but she didn't write it, and here we have another puzzle, because Wikipedia says it was written by Brett James and Troy Verges, while Metrolyrics (to which Wikipedia links) says it was written by Marti Frederiksen and Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora. None of whom, unless Brett or Troy is a female name, could possibly be "Rosemary's granddaughter," per the lyrics.
Of course it doesn't matter; the person singing represents each of us, and it's all about being who you are and who you are being the right person to be and all that self-realisation rubbish, but even its rubbishness doesn't matter because it's a nice rousing song and I like it.
But the fact that there isn't a real "Who" behind "Who I Am," and the fact that that fact is of no significance whatsoever, has something to tell us, I think, about the relative importance of fact in our lives. People cry when fictional characters die, cheer when they win through. Things, and people, do not have to be real to engage us.
Whether that's a good or a bad thing I leave to you.
But I'd be interested to know who actually did write the song.
One of the things I like is the opening sequence, which is accompanied by a song entitled "Who I Am," all about who the person singing is. But who is the person singing?
It's not "Sue Thomas"; she's a fictional character. It's not Deanne Bray; she's an actor. It's nobody involved with the show, including the real-life Sue Thomas whose work inspired the series; they didn't write or sing the song. Could it be the singer, Jessica Andrews? Well, she is literally "the person singing," but she didn't write it, and here we have another puzzle, because Wikipedia says it was written by Brett James and Troy Verges, while Metrolyrics (to which Wikipedia links) says it was written by Marti Frederiksen and Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora. None of whom, unless Brett or Troy is a female name, could possibly be "Rosemary's granddaughter," per the lyrics.
Of course it doesn't matter; the person singing represents each of us, and it's all about being who you are and who you are being the right person to be and all that self-realisation rubbish, but even its rubbishness doesn't matter because it's a nice rousing song and I like it.
But the fact that there isn't a real "Who" behind "Who I Am," and the fact that that fact is of no significance whatsoever, has something to tell us, I think, about the relative importance of fact in our lives. People cry when fictional characters die, cheer when they win through. Things, and people, do not have to be real to engage us.
Whether that's a good or a bad thing I leave to you.
But I'd be interested to know who actually did write the song.