People
Mirah
Musician Mirah talks to Claire Miccio about appearing on Double Dare, getting her audience to sing along, the details of her new tour, and exactly why she stays away from the word ‘coxswain.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Better Baby Names Bureau (The Non-Expert)
- This Is Not a Eulogy (Profiles)
- The Vanishing Date (Spoofs & Satire)
Also by Claire Miccio
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- Bill Keaggy (March 28, 2005)
- Clear Cut Press (July 15, 2004)
- Martha Nussbaum (May 27, 2004)
Also in People
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INFINITE SUMMER
Dracula
Sponsored by TMN, the online book club reads the vampire novel that sired them all.» READ ALONG
Mirah is a much-loved musician on K Records, with three full-length albums to date (click for her current tour schedule). Her songs are luscious amalgamations of folk, rock, and indie pop set to stirring, often fervid lyrics about sex, love, and natural disasters. Adorable but far from twee, Mirah’s voice is her best instrument—there is something remarkably intimate about it, as though she’s known you for years and is singing her hopes and secrets into your ear. Much like a loved one taking a nap on your lap, a note from Mirah’s mouth has the precious ability to make you feel special.
Full name and era of birth: Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn. Mid-’70s autumn.
Occupation title(s) both real and desired in-another-lifetime: Singer and music maker and traveler and generally interested person. (Next time: aerialist, technical genius and inventor, mountaineer.)
You grew up outside Philadelphia. Have you ever had the Pennsylvanian delicacy scrapple?
I grew up in a Jewish hippie macrobiotic household and, thankfully, scrapple never made even a sneaky visit to our family palate.
Since you often sing of consummate love, chivalric struggle, and wayfaring loneliness, I fancy you as a fan of medieval lit. Or maybe just a sucker for a fairy tale? I guess what I’m asking is, what do you like to read?
Well, when I appeared on the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare in 1987 and Marc Summers asked me what kinds of books I liked to read I answered “fantasy books.” My favorite books when I was little were The Hobbit, Watership Down, A Wrinkle in Time, The Chronicles of Narnia—those sorts. I never considered myself a follower of science fiction, but I was always a fan of mythical beasts, strange lands, general pageantry, weird happenings, and fancy outfits. Hence my 12-year-old term “fantasy books” (now that sounds kind of dirty). I liked books that traveled and that taught me something and I liked to relax into my active imagination and to foster what would later blossom into full-blown adult hopeless romanticism syndrome. Books that I’ve loved as an adult tend to be more educational and less fictional.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever read any medieval literature. Maybe I should. I think my tendency towards high-drama imagery in my lyrics comes more from other music that I listen to or being in amazing-looking places or caught in thunderstorms than from what book I might be reading.
You are well loved on the college tour circuit for encouraging the audience to participate, dance, and sing along. Making people visibly happy is no small feat. What’s your secret?
I really love to sing. It’s one of my favorite things in the world to do and it always seemed natural to just have other people sing, too. I’ve only just recently started playing live with other musicians.
Before this new “band” thing, I’ve always considered my voice to be the main instrument of my show, and since a voice is an instrument everybody has, why not sing along? I couldn’t expect everybody at a show to have a guitar in their pocket but everybody (or pretty much everybody) can clap and sing. It’s a good way to be together with people and I like to be together with people. Sometimes I feel when I play a show like all the other bands do and just play songs without the singing along, there’s some disappointment, but sometimes I just want to sing my little self, not twirl the baton, strut strut.
What makes you laugh?
This question and how dorky all my possible answers seemed.
Your lyrics are sensual and simply gorgeous. So here’s a challenge: can you think of an uglier word than “coxswain”?
Funny you should bring up that word. Did you know that I was one in high school? I was terrible and actually crashed my shell into a bridge during a race. It would seem that I should stay away from ugly words like that.
Charity worth giving to?
I’ll just use this as an opportunity to remind all humans in the U.S. eligible to do so to please vote George W. Bush out of office on Nov. 2, 2004. Even if you’re not so hot for the other guy.
Full name and era of birth: Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn. Mid-’70s autumn.
Occupation title(s) both real and desired in-another-lifetime: Singer and music maker and traveler and generally interested person. (Next time: aerialist, technical genius and inventor, mountaineer.)
You grew up outside Philadelphia. Have you ever had the Pennsylvanian delicacy scrapple?
I grew up in a Jewish hippie macrobiotic household and, thankfully, scrapple never made even a sneaky visit to our family palate.
Since you often sing of consummate love, chivalric struggle, and wayfaring loneliness, I fancy you as a fan of medieval lit. Or maybe just a sucker for a fairy tale? I guess what I’m asking is, what do you like to read?
Well, when I appeared on the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare in 1987 and Marc Summers asked me what kinds of books I liked to read I answered “fantasy books.” My favorite books when I was little were The Hobbit, Watership Down, A Wrinkle in Time, The Chronicles of Narnia—those sorts. I never considered myself a follower of science fiction, but I was always a fan of mythical beasts, strange lands, general pageantry, weird happenings, and fancy outfits. Hence my 12-year-old term “fantasy books” (now that sounds kind of dirty). I liked books that traveled and that taught me something and I liked to relax into my active imagination and to foster what would later blossom into full-blown adult hopeless romanticism syndrome. Books that I’ve loved as an adult tend to be more educational and less fictional.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever read any medieval literature. Maybe I should. I think my tendency towards high-drama imagery in my lyrics comes more from other music that I listen to or being in amazing-looking places or caught in thunderstorms than from what book I might be reading.
You are well loved on the college tour circuit for encouraging the audience to participate, dance, and sing along. Making people visibly happy is no small feat. What’s your secret?
I really love to sing. It’s one of my favorite things in the world to do and it always seemed natural to just have other people sing, too. I’ve only just recently started playing live with other musicians.
Before this new “band” thing, I’ve always considered my voice to be the main instrument of my show, and since a voice is an instrument everybody has, why not sing along? I couldn’t expect everybody at a show to have a guitar in their pocket but everybody (or pretty much everybody) can clap and sing. It’s a good way to be together with people and I like to be together with people. Sometimes I feel when I play a show like all the other bands do and just play songs without the singing along, there’s some disappointment, but sometimes I just want to sing my little self, not twirl the baton, strut strut.
What makes you laugh?
This question and how dorky all my possible answers seemed.
Your lyrics are sensual and simply gorgeous. So here’s a challenge: can you think of an uglier word than “coxswain”?
Funny you should bring up that word. Did you know that I was one in high school? I was terrible and actually crashed my shell into a bridge during a race. It would seem that I should stay away from ugly words like that.
Charity worth giving to?
I’ll just use this as an opportunity to remind all humans in the U.S. eligible to do so to please vote George W. Bush out of office on Nov. 2, 2004. Even if you’re not so hot for the other guy.
—Published October 8, 2004
