Two simple questions based on the Waltz for Eva and Che.

1. Have you ever had a "waltz" with someone you strongly disagreed with? By this I mean a confrontation, political argument, etc. Not turning violent... just a heated exchange of ideas.

2. Who do you side with in the Waltz? Are you for Che or Eva? I, for one will always take Che's side, because he's the idealist questioning someone who has a supposed lot of power.

Discuss...

Andy.

Of course I have had several. I'm sure we all had. Once in college, a political debate erupted on the front steps of the student union building, and it largely boiled down to one young lady and I holding opposite ends, with our supporters gathered around. At times our formation actually moved in circles, putting one of us visually above the other on the steps. It was intense.

I sympathise with Eva in this number. It's easy to look up at someone you see as elite, or too powerful, or whatever the problem happens to be, and criticize them... as the saying goes, "It's too bad everyone who knows how to run the country is already busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair." It's harder to be the person being criticized - when someone below you politically or socially has it in for you and they have support of any kind, you can't win. There's nothing you can say that won't be misinterpreted, taken out of context, or used against you, and nothing you can do that won't be portrayed in the worst light possible. Note that Eva tries her very best to explain herself, but Che isn't hearing any of it.

I remember in high school, I asked one of my teachers to look at the lyric and explain to me what was going on.

"They're having a political argument." He broke it down like this:

Che is the idealist. He is saying "come on. You have power, you have the people eating out of the palm of your hand. Why not use that power and solve all the problems?"

Eva is the realist. Her position is "Get real. I'm only human, you idiot! I can't stop war, polution, famine, etc. by myself. It's just not possible."

(I recently found the notes he made for me. I was 16 at the time. Our discussion was a lot more than what's here. What a learning experience for me.

Andy.

I once started fighting with my sister as we dances a waltz on a party, after the piece ended we didn't talk for over a week...
And I'm with Eva, Even with all the power she might have had, she couldn't do more than what she did, it would have killed her even younger...