"The royalty checks had started coming in, and I thought, I'm really wealthy,' " she jokes, mocking her own naïveté. "I showed the apartment to somebody and they said,You're thinking of moving there? You could never afford it!' " But it wouldn't be a Dar Williams song if the thought process stopped there. Williams, who's hyper-analytical of herself and everything around her, realized how close she had come to betraying her authenticity by coveting that SoHo apartment. "The song is scary because, basically, I thought I could replace coolness with the commodity of coolness." When I point out with near-airhead redundancy that SoHo has long symbolized the "commodity of coolness," she pauses for a half-beat of effect. "Well, yeah. That's why I called the song Spring Street.' Instead ofDar.' It's about fear of self-commodification."
"The royalty checks had started coming in, and I thought,
I'm really wealthy,' " she jokes, mocking her own naïveté. "I showed the apartment to somebody and they said,You're thinking of moving there? You could never afford it!' " But it wouldn't be a Dar Williams song if the thought process stopped there. Williams, who's hyper-analytical of herself and everything around her, realized how close she had come to betraying her authenticity by coveting that SoHo apartment. "The song is scary because, basically, I thought I could replace coolness with the commodity of coolness." When I point out with near-airhead redundancy that SoHo has long symbolized the "commodity of coolness," she pauses for a half-beat of effect. "Well, yeah. That's why I called the songSpring Street.' Instead ofDar.' It's about fear of self-commodification."