Alix Olson is an internationally touring folk poe… Read Full Bio ↴from alixolson.com
Alix Olson is an internationally touring folk poet and progressive queer artist-activist. One part peace vigil, one part protest rally, and one part joyful raucous concert, Alix ignites audiences everywhere she performs. Olson's innumerable stage, broadcast, radio and print appearances include, most recently, twice headlining HBO's "Def Poetry Jam" (Russell Simmons), and an inclusion in Utne Magazine's InRadio compilation. Utne's website calls Olson "...the spoken word diva everyone's talking about."
Alix has graced the cover of Ms. Magazine, who called Olson a "road-poet-on-a-mission," and her work has been featured in Girlfriends Magazine, The Advocate, OUT Magazine, Curve, Lesbian Review of Books, and on the covers of Lambda Book Report, Lavender Lens, and Velvet Park magazines. A recent interview with Olson for The Progressive calls her a "word warrior" and gives a comprehensive peek into just what makes her work so compelling. Alix has appeared on the nationally syndicated Air America's "Unfiltered" radio (co-hosts Rachel Maddow, Rachel Winstead, and Chuck D), as well as on Oxygen television, CNN, HBO, In the Life, and WXPN's World Cafe with David Dye, and local radio stations around the country.
Alix was voted "Best Activist", along with MoveOn, in Venus Magazine's Hott List 2004. Olson was voted 2004 OutMusician of the Year (OutMusic), and was a triple nominee for the 2002 OUTMusic Awards. In June 2003, Alix (along with Margaret Cho and Nobuko Oyabu) received the "Visionary Award" from the DC Rape Crisis Center for her "exceptional commitment to the promotion of social justice." Past honorees include Gloria Steinem, Tori Amos, Patricia Ireland and Sarah Jones. Olson has also received a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and a Barbara Deming grant.
Howard Zinn (historian/activist) calls Alix "an ingenious poet, a brilliant performer, a funny person, a serious thinker. Quite simply, extraordinary."
Alix tours over two-hundred days a year, and has headlined national conferences for the National Organization for Women, GenderPac, and the Lesbian Summit. Most recently, Alix performed for one million people at the Washington, D.C. March for Women's Lives. She has headlined international poetry festivals in Portugal, the Netherlands, and England, and will be touring Australia in January.
Of her live performances, The Progressive Magazine calls Alix "an electrifying performer who seduces the audience with wit and energy, spinning tales of life on the road between her fiery poems. A sharpshooter with theatrical flair, Olson oozes both love and rage."
Above all, Alix Olson is undaunted by being labeled as "controversial." "I think any artist who confronts the status quo will be targeted as 'controversial'. We will also be called 'angry,' 'aggressive,' 'loud,' or at best, 'idealistic,' so that we are discounted, backed into a corner, and our power is deflated. But I have never been intimidated by words, because they've always been on my side."
Eve's Mouth
Alix Olson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
At some joke some scholar made
About her being someone's half
It was a joke, a lie, exaggeration, a fib
And now you all believe I came from his rib
She screams at the top of her lungs:
"I'm whole! I'm body, I'm heart, I'm mind, I'm soul"
Well, Queen Victoria gave her daughter some advice
As her daughter shook and trembled on her wedding night
Queen Victoria, she said to her daughter:
"Baby, lie still and think of the Empire!"
And her husband, though kind and mild
He never stopped to wonder why she never smiled
Little Red Riding Hood was walking down the trail,
She was carrying the goodies,
Thought "They'll go stale"
So, she ate 'em all up and that was that
Then, she threw them all up, fear of getting fat
Cause even Red Riding Hood reads magazines,
The ones prescribing diets for pre-teens
Now, we've got Cinderella, she's chilling at home
Quite content with being alone
She is playing with the mice and singing with the birds
And they're the only ones who ever heard these words
She said "I'll get in the damn pumpkin. Do it all right
Weep and lose my slipper, freak out at midnight
But there's one thing that the prince might not like
It's the Fairygod I'm afte, I'm a dyke."
She screams at the top of her lungs "I'm whole,
I'm body, I'm heart, I'm mind, I'm soul"
She screams at the top of her lungs "I'm whole,
I'm body, I'm heart, I'm mind, I'm soul"
So we've got Snow White, she's a homemaker of sorts
Cause she cleans and she cooks and she takes care of dwarves
One day, I said "Snow White, go back to school"
She said "No, I can't, I'd feel like a fool
You know, it's hard for us women to try to be ourselves
We spend our whole damn lives taking care of little elves
Now, Helen of Troy, they say, launched a thousand ships
With the short of her skirt and the shape of her lips
And when that old bard lay the blame at her face
For the rape of a nation
Wrong time, Wrong place
Helen simply whispered, "history's our test
Look between the lines, girls, Read beneath the text."
Now we've got to Rapunzel, she's chilling in the tower
Waiting for the handsome prince
She's sapped of all her power
Finally, one day, the handsome prince in town
Called up to Rapunzel, "Yo girl, let it down!"
But our dear Rapunzel was nowhere to be seen,
Yes our dear Rapunzel had learned something keen
"All that time alone kinda taught me how to cope,
So I shaved my head and I made me a rope!"
She screams at the top of her lungs, "I'm whole,
I'm body, I'm heart, I'm mind, I'm soul"
She screams at the top of her lungs, "I'm whole,
I'm body, I'm heart, I'm mind, I'm soul"
She screams.
The song Eve's Mouth by Alix Olson is a feminist analysis of the traditional stories of women in history and folklore. The song starts with Eve feeling hurt by jokes that scholars make about her being someone's half, an exaggeration that led to the belief that Eve came from Adam's rib. Eve declares that she is a whole person, with a body, heart, mind, and soul. The song then goes on to other stories of women, like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, Helen of Troy, and Rapunzel, all of whom have been shaped, misrepresented, or oppressed by patriarchal narratives.
The lyrics of Eve's mouth highlight the oppressive gender norms in traditional stories and remind us that women have always been active agents in their own lives, rather than passive objects or supporting roles. The repetition of the phrase, "I'm whole, I'm body, I'm heart, I'm mind, I'm soul," echoes the importance of recognizing women's full humanity beyond their physical appearance or traditional roles. The song calls for a reimagining of these narratives, where women are not just objects of desire, but the authors of their own stories.
Line by Line Meaning
Eve's mouth hurts from trying not to laugh
Eve is trying not to laugh, but her mouth hurts due to the joke some scholar made about her being someone's half. A joke, which now everyone believes, that she came from his rib.
She screams at the top of her lungs: "I'm whole! I'm body, I'm heart, I'm mind, I'm soul"
The women in these stories are asserting their wholeness by screaming at the top of their lungs that they are not only their bodies but their hearts, minds, and souls too in spite of being reduced by the men in their lives.
Well, Queen Victoria gave her daughter some advice
Queen Victoria gave her daughter some advice on how to be dutiful to her country but not be fulfilled in her personal life.
Little Red Riding Hood was walking down the trail
Little Red Riding Hood was carrying goodies, thought about them going stale, ate them, then threw them up because of her fear of becoming fat, as she was influenced by magazines prescribing diets for pre-teens.
Now, we've got Cinderella, she's chilling at home
Cinderella is content with being alone, playing with animals, and acknowledging the prince might not like something about her (her being attracted to women and not men).
So we've got Snow White, she's a homemaker of sorts
Snow White is limited to being a homemaker even though she could do more. When asked to go back to school, she refuses stating that it's hard for women to try to be themselves.
Now, Helen of Troy, they say, launched a thousand ships
Helen of Troy is blamed for the rape of their nation, but she tells the other women to look beyond the text and read between the lines to get the truth of the matter.
Now we've got to Rapunzel, she's chilling in the tower
Rapunzel is in the tower waiting for the prince to come, but instead of waiting for him, she decides to take matters into her own hands by shaving her head and making her own rope to escape.
She screams.
A continuation of the affirmation of these women's completeness and identity beyond what men have reduced or boxed them into. They scream to break out of that limiting confinement.
Contributed by Katherine F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.