Noe Venable (born April 20th, 1976 in San Francisco, California) is a folk/… Read Full Bio ↴Noe Venable (born April 20th, 1976 in San Francisco, California) is a folk/pop singer-songwriter. She has earned a loyal fan base in her native San Francisco, in part through frequently performing in small, intimate venues. Her advocacy of small venues caused a stir in the San Francisco music community when she took San Francisco Chronicle reporter Joel Selvin to task for claiming that the city's music scene was "dead".

Venable performed in numerous theatrical and musical productions as a youth with the San Francisco-based Young People's Teen Musical Theater Company. She was also in the cast of the Lewis Carroll-themed musicals "Right Mind" and "Right Mind is Nowhere" directed by George Coates.

Her original one-act play "Annie Beckstead Does Her Homework" won at the Rocky Mountain Student Theater Project in Telluride, CO. She attended Bennington College as a Dramatic Writing and then a Music major before deciding to pursue music as a career.

In 2004 Venable moved to Brooklyn where she continues to compose and perform with longtime-collaborators Todd Sickafoose and Alan Lin. Her songs are noteworthy for their striking melodies and complex subject matter, and she invites comparison with musicians Elliott Smith and Mazzy Star.

Her albums include You Talking to Me? (1996), No Curses Here (1998), Down Easy (2000), Boots (2002), The World Is Bound by Secret Knots (2003), and The Summer Storm Journals (2007).

Noe is rumoured to have a second new album in the works, "a concept album-rock-opera-story thing" (the first being the recently released SSJ, a collection of songs), as stated on one of her rant room entries on her website.

In the Dark
Noe Venable Lyrics

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Ask this girl
You for me
In the dark
What did you see?

First I stopped listening 'til I couldn't hear
Then I stopped living out of books and mirrors
Then I stopped looking 'til I couldn't see

When I say darkness this is what I mean

Ask this girl
Eye to mind
In the dark
What did you find?

And in the dark I touch with all my toes
And in the dark I taste with all my teeth
And in the dark I kiss and dance and scream
I'm not afraid of being anything

And I remember when I was a kid
Feeling about unicorns the way I did
First I poked through to it like a stitch in time
Now I am reuniting horn and mind

I will buck up against the city lights
When it goes blurry and I am afraid

'Til I can feel you uncompromised
'Til I can feel you

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Noe Venable's song "In the Dark" are mysterious and open to various interpretations. At first glance, the song seems to be about a person experiencing a revelation of some sort while in the darkness. The opening lines of the song, "Ask this girl, you for me, in the dark, what did you see?" suggests that the person is asking someone else if they have seen what they have seen in the darkness. This could be interpreted as the person seeking validation for their experience or trying to understand it better by sharing it with someone else. The repeated lines, "When I say darkness this is what I mean, ask this girl, eye to mind, in the dark, what did you find?" further emphasize the importance of this experience in the darkness.

The lyrics also suggest a transformation that the person has undergone. They have stopped listening and living out of books and mirrors, indicating that they have moved away from relying on external sources of information and are now looking internally for answers. The line, "When I say darkness this is what I mean," could be interpreted as the person finally finding the answers they were looking for, or gaining understanding in a place they least expected it – in the darkness. The later part of the song talks about the person not being afraid of being anything, which could be a reference to the fact that they have overcome their fears and insecurities, and are finally able to express themselves wholly and unapologetically.

Overall, the song "In the Dark" is a powerful piece of introspection, celebrating the power of personal discovery and transformation.

Line by Line Meaning

Ask this girl
Request someone to inquire

You for me
Can you ask on my behalf?

In the dark
When I'm not able to see

What did you see?
What was your perception?

First I stopped listening 'til I couldn't hear
I disconnected from expectations and noise

Then I stopped living out of books and mirrors
I ceased trying to define myself through others' opinions or images

Then I stopped looking 'til I couldn't see
I relaxed my efforts to perceive, and my vision became unclear

When I say darkness this is what I mean
My 'darkness' is a state of letting go

Ask this girl
Request once again to ask

Eye to mind
Contact from senses and thoughts