On Disappearing

Mark Rothko - No.61, Rust and Blue, 1953

Ezra Klein interviews Jeff Tweedy on July 1, 2021 on his podcast.  Here's the entire transcript.  

Klein says, "So there’s a line in your book that I just loved. You say that, quote, “disappearing is the most sustaining part of what I do.” Tell me about that."  Tweedy replies:

Yeah. I think it’s kind of what everybody wants all the time, is to be free from worry, unburdened by a sense of self. That’s what I think of as disappearing. I think people do it a lot of different ways that I don’t think are particularly creative or productive, and I would argue maybe not as good for you.

I think people disappear when they play games on their phone and do things like watch sporting events. And I think that’s good. I think everybody kind of needs to check out a little bit. But I think it’s kind of incredible when you can do that and somehow be present at the same time, which is what I think happens when you create.

We watched Never Let Me Go, which is a lot about how we disappear in different ways.

“What I'm not sure about, is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time.”

“All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.”

Lucy tells the childrend at Hailsham: “The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.”

“When we lost something precious, and we'd looked and looked and still couldn't find it, then we didn't have to be completely heartbroken. We still had that last bit of comfort, thinking one day, when we grow up, and we were free to travel around the country, we would always go and find it in Norfolk...And that's why years and years later, that day Tommy and I found another copy of that lost tape of mine in a town on the Norfolk coast, we didn't just think it pretty funny; we both felt deep down some tug, some old wish to believe again in something that was once close to our hearts.”

“You're always in a rush, or else you're too exhausted to have a proper conversation. Soon enough, the long hours, the traveling, the broken sleep have all crept into your being and become part of you, so everyone can see it, in your posture, your gaze, the way you move and talk.”