Dreamy Al made a surprising appearance at the Grammy Awards last night, presenting the award for Best Rock Album along with Queen Latifah (who acknowledged that most of the cheers coming from the audience were for the Oscar-nominated supa-star). Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to win Melissa Etheridge the Grammy for her Inconvenient Truth score "I Need to Wake Up."
So who were the big winners last night?
Three Texas girls who aren’t ready to make nice. Yup, the Dixie Chicks took home five Grammy Awards, including Song, Record, and Album of the Year. It was an especially sweet sweep for the trio, as their album The Long Way and their winning single "Not Ready to Make Nice" were written in response to the fallout from the 2003 controversy that arose when lead vocalist Natalie Maines commented to a London crowd that she was "ashamed" George W. was a fellow Texan.
Upon accepting the final award for Album of the Year, Maines noted, "I think people are using their freedom of speech with all of these awards — we get the message. I’m very humbled, and I think people were using their voice the same way this loudmouth did."
Introduced by sometimes-treesitter Joan Baez who remarked that she too knew what it felt like to be told to "shut up and sing," the Chicks performed "Not Ready to Make Nice" for a welcoming crowd.
The song — and controversy — isn’t entirely environmentally related, but it feels relevant. Below, the lyrics:
Not Ready to Make Nice
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I’m not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I’m still waiting.I’m through, with doubt,
There’s nothing left for me to figure out,
I’ve paid a price, and I’ll keep paying.I’m not ready to make nice,
I’m not ready to back down,
I’m still mad as hell
And I don’t have time
To go round and round and round.
It’s too late to make it right.
I probably wouldn’t if I could
Cause I’m mad as hell,
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should.I know you said
Why can’t you just get over it,
It turned my whole world around
and I kind of like it.I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don’t mind saying,
It’s a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over.I’m not ready to make nice,
I’m not ready to back down,
I’m still mad as hell
And I don’t have time
To go round and round and round.
It’s too late to make it right.
I probably wouldn’t if I could
Cause I’m mad as hell,
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should.I’m not ready to make nice,
I’m not ready to back down,
I’m still mad as hell
And I don’t have time
To go round and round and round.
It’s too late to make it right.
I probably wouldn’t if I could
Cause I’m mad as hell,
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should.Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I’m not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I’m still waiting.
