Friday, April 04, 2008

Day off--music becomes flesh

I'm at Forbes Library, my new place to spend a few hours writing, away from the distractions of home.
Writing is writing, right? So even if I'm not doing what I set out to do, I consider this just warming up (and hopefully not running down) my brain.

Anyway, after a long winded comment to Tony's last blog, I just thought I'd continue the thought with which I ended the comment.

Jimi Hendrix wrote in his song Manic Depression, "music, sweet music, I wish I could caress and kiss". This is a sentiment not too far from making the word flesh--instead, it's making music flesh.

I'd like to take it to another place and ask, Ever want to LIVE inside a passage of music?

I can think of two pieces of pop music that come to mind, that would suit me fine.

1) the solo in the Monkees' "French Song". It's otherwise a shmaltzy Davy song, but the solo--led by vibes and flute--is just perfect. It's plush velvet with a snifter of cognac.

2) the teasingly short passage in Brian Wilson's Smile--oh crap, what song is it part of? I'm in the library so I can't listen. There are so many fragments...it's near the beginning, maybe 3 or 4 measures long and it a sweet, descending violin melody that is based on Heroes and Villians, with a simple 4/4 drums behind it, and a french horn just at the end--that bit (it leads into a harmonica playing an upwards scale--which is where my fantasy ends)

Ok, that's all.

If I was to extend this conversation here's another theme:

If each band I play(ed) in was a girlfriend, what would each relationship be like?
Gonna have to think about that.

Here are the first thoughts:

The Steamtrain: swingers. do and try anything. find ourselves in crazy situations and never bat an eye. go into major debt doing lavish things. during separations, continue to secretly see each other.

The Figments: that couple you always see at the bar and think "how have they kept it together for so long? they still seem so happy."

SFTD: You see them with their kids and dogs playing frisbee in the park. you see them happily shopping during the holidays. you and your cynical friends wonder what darkness goes on behind closed doors.

SNTB: invites comparisons to Woody Allen and Diane Keaton while trying to play itself off as Mick and Bianca.

The Fawns: n/a--already one couple in that band

Lo Fine: you just hope to get a postcard or an email once a year--it's usually cryptic and invites more questions than it answers.

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