by Gary Graff (section: Living page: 4C)
Pity Natalie Merchant. The singer and lyricist for the pop group 10,000 Maniacs writes songs worthy of attention; in fact, a new album's worth of them, Blind Man's Zoo, was released a few weeks ago.
But Merchant and her bandmates, who'll be at the University of California, Berkeley's Greek Theater on Saturday, are spending lots of time talking about their version of Cat Stevens' Peace Train, which appeared on their 1987 album, In My Tribe. The group, with its liberal leanings and songs about social and political issues, has stopped performing the song after Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, voiced support for the late Ayatollah Khomeini's death crusade against British author Salman Rushdie.
Merchant & Co.also are trying to get their label, Elektra Records, to drop Peace Train from future copies of In My Tribe.
"I don't think Cat Stevens will be silenced just because we don't perform his song," Merchant, 25, said, "but I just couldn't sing it with a pure feeling anymore".
Since emerging from Jamestown, N.Y., in 1983, Merchant has written songs that explore issues from personal and human angles. On Blind Man's Zoo, her subjects include: a youth who travels to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., to remember his father (The Big Parade); a woman dealing with an unwanted pregnancy (Eat for Two); and a racist who burns down a dance hall where he saw a biracial couple dancing (Jubilee).
Merchant cites a variety of inspirations. "It's just from observing life, which is pretty simple," she said.
"It's a dark world,'' she added. "Nothing outside of my little world has changed too much, but these problems still exist. Writing the songs doesn't solve the problems. I know that things are going well for 10,000 Maniacs, and that's all very pleasant, but that doesn't mean that my frame of mind has to go into pleasant seclusion".
Besides, Merchant and her bandmates -- guitarist Robert Buck, bassist Steven Gustafson, keyboard player Dennis Drew and drummer Jerome Augustyniak -- figure those challenging, relevant songs are what's attracting an audience.
"Music should move you in some unspeakable way," Merchant said. "I think we've done that, especially for some of the younger kids who haven't really been exposed to that."
Copyright 1989, San Jose Mercury News