I have not given this song a huge amount of attention in the past, since it is not on the normal US release.
I was just wandering if any one that got the international version has strong feelings about it.

i often feel like a thing on a string. i struggle with letting people get to know me but few do ("code will keep your privacy in/it won't help to win friends"). i felt instantly defined by this song when i first heard it, because it so concisely and directly explains our inner world and the way we hide ourselves. should we smile as we walk down the street? ("do i dare eat a peach?" asks t.s. eliot's prufrock.) some of us have broad, open faces that are unafraid to meet anyone with a grin. some of us wear the mask ("mask will keep your features in check/cause face is the place where the private goes public"). for some, the mask is the only thing that lets us be among people. and what hand stays the mask? for me, it's the hand of fear. but what life slips through the day that i don't notice, busy as i am with keeping still, keeping the air solemn?

paula

Standing in the morning in front of a mirror, saying to yourself "Will my face behave today [TPE]" and "Smile no smile on this face today", before going out into the public, the "parade" or "swim" of people, who are all going public the same morning. The "mask" and/or "code", the standard face everyone has for themselves, wear that to make sure no one can see within, so no one can see what you really feel. Also, behave according to the "code", don't try to talk to someone you don't know, explain things no one will understand anyway, or spilling your feelings into the public with all the strangers; don't look angry or start to cry or laugh just like that. I'd better take my last kick in front of this mirror, privately, to my own face.

Smile no
-----Smile

I wouldn't say I have "strong feelings" about this song though I like it a lot (and only reading about it this morning made it start playing in my mind and I won't stop singing it to myself .... is that a "strong feeling"? ). I like what paula and Spikey wrote, I too feel like that sometimes.... What I really like of this song is that it is such a catchy tune and yet says quite insightful things....as if it were normal banal lyrics for a pop song...but they are not. They are special. I wonder why it was only put in the International release... it deserves listening by all the fans (and all the fans deserved listening to it I guess.... ;) ) ! Maybe there's a story behind this that I can't remember....

Miki

i'd just like to add a thought to the beautiful ones written about this song. when talking about the album "99.9F", suzanne says that "it's like coming out. A lot of the early songs are about being within and then you learn to come out. It's like a tree. That's the way it grows". [from the interview in "urgent whispers"] this movement from the inside out runs through the whole album and with it a strong feeling of defiance exhales.

to me, this sense of defiance is directed to the outside in all of its songs, except in "private goes public", where i see it directed to the inside. the character in the song is defying her/his inner world to "come out", to find out
if it's possible to connect the "you" with "they" ("see if they see what you mean"). this is surely the ultimate defiance, the hardest one, where you defy your fear, your mask, and your private world to become public.

with affection,
fatima

Coming from a person who so highly rates "Song of Sand", I largely feel like "Private Goes Public" is a let-down after it. However, upon further thought, this is a song about SUZANNE, or at least it is her commentary about maybe specifically being an admired performer who may have to use masks just to function from day-to-day, and in that case, it is perfectly placed at the end of the album (the artist maybe heaving a sigh of relief that it's over, or maybe a sigh of exhiliration after a job well done - you never know).

Personally, I sort of like the song, but don't have any strong feelings about it. Personally, I think it's anticlimactic after "Song of Sand", but just because something is anticlimactic doesn't mean it's BAD. The "golden years" for many people are anticlimactic, but does that mean they're bad? No.

-M

Every "celebrity" or public figure has to struggle through that jarring transition from "nobody" to "somebody".

It's a classic dilemma. You spend your obscure years dreaming of fame and despising your anonymity, but when you get what you wish for, you spend the rest of your life pining for the days when you could walk down the street as a nobody... free from hassles, questions, autographs, and the rest.

Once you're famous, every move you make is scrutinized by the media and the public. You really need to go out there with the perfect poker face. Everybody's trying to read your mind, and all the photographers are hiding out there just waiting to snap your worst side in it's worst light.

"I was just wandering if any one that got the international version has strong feelings about it."


i just adore 'pgp'
if it weren't for 'in liverpool' it would be
my favorite 99.9 f track

Quote:
[Coming from a person who so highly rates "Song of Sand I largely feel like "Private Goes Public" is a let-down after it.....personally, I sort of like the song, but don't have any strong feelings about it. Personally, I think it's anticlimactic after "Song of Sand", but just because something is anticlimactic doesn't mean it's BAD.]

How does the quality of a song gets directly influenced by the trackorder anyway??? Press shuffle and see if you like it then :D. No serious, climax can be a thing, but you must keep in mind that Song of Sand IS the closing track. There are much more seconds of pause before the bonustrack kicks in. Song of Sand might be the end of the climax of the slightly off norm 99.9F thing, but Private goes public is kind of refreshing after that.

Sorry to hear that this song's not on the US release; it's definitely one of the highlights of the album for me. In fact I wouldn't be exaggerating a great deal to say that it's one of 99.F's few saving graces as far as I'm concerned; not too keen on this album. Still, the next one was a corker.

I found a copy of 99.9 in a pawn shop without a case and noticed this song at the end. Knowing this was the import and I'd never heard it, I picked it up for a buck! Cool song, but I still like Song Of Sand as the closer. Feels more right as the last track. But, of course, all Suzanne is good stuff anywhere on the disc, right?...