What are you listening to?

goyacobol said:
Yes, I think I have read that SOTT article (I'll read it again to make sure) but I get your drift. This is such an engineered world that we have to "think with a hammer" to even reminisce about nostalgic songs. I hesitated to post that song due to the possible undue levity considering the seriousness of the Vietnam war. While I think there was a probable intent to use these artists/musicians to "wishfully" manipulate the population of that era, I think they may have unwittingly also given us a sense of "mirth" needed to buffer the harshness of those "times".

Having received my draft notice from my parents at the end of my college graduation ceremony in 1970, I was duly inducted into the U.S. Army. While serving my time in Korea I remember some of these Laurel Canyon inspired songs. I now rejoice in the fact I can look back and more accurately assess how that music was used to soothe and comfort so many.

If you kind of felt kind of mirthful listening to the Country Joe and the Fish song , I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag, maybe that will give you an idea of where I am coming from. And in a musical sense "It ain't over till the fat lady sings."
Click to expand...

Good words, goyacobol. I heard Country Joe do that song a couple times live. My favorite band in that era was Spirit. Pretty much long forgotten. A lot of guys in Nam, I know, could relate to things like "Death falls so heavy on my soul. Somebody tell my father that I died. Somebody tell my mother that I cried.".

Anyway - I got my draft notice about that time too. I will never forget my number (155). I fought it - I resisted - I refused to go. It was a pivotal point in my life. I just 'knew' I would die if I went, whether physical or spiritual/psychic death or both. Talk about high level stress. I had my self psyched up enough to jump out of a 2nd story window picture window at the induction center in LA if they had said 'You are going'. What a berserker! But yeah - stress like that really made music a place of refuge and support, especially when there was none at home.
 
Here is the Spirit song I was referring to: Mechanical World - somebody put some video with it which is actually pretty effective although it misses the Viet Nam era pics of war.


really basic, repetitive lyrics but highly effective in an archetypal way - mood is intense - Randy California lays down some nice licks -
they don't play with the same emotional fire these days - too many notes and scales, not enough phrasing - e.g., at about 1:26 the brief outburst of the guitar still rips into my soul.

Mechanical World:

Death falls so heavy on my soul
Death falls so heavy, makes me moan
Somebody tell my father that I died
Somebody tell my mother that I cried

Once in my younger days
Once in my younger days I had a girl to love
 
BHelmet said:
Anyway - I got my draft notice about that time too. I will never forget my number (155). I fought it - I resisted - I refused to go. It was a pivotal point in my life. I just 'knew' I would die if I went, whether physical or spiritual/psychic death or both. Talk about high level stress. I had my self psyched up enough to jump out of a 2nd story window picture window at the induction center in LA if they had said 'You are going'. What a berserker! But yeah - stress like that really made music a place of refuge and support, especially when there was none at home.
Click to expand...

BHelmet,

It's interesting that we both made it through those sometimes confusing and stressful years and are now possibly facing "the unknown" this time around. I know this thread is mostly for sharing the music but our thoughts about the music I hope is sometimes good too.

I can't help but think of this excerpt from Carlos Casteneda's book The Fire From Within Chaper 1 The New Seers:

He explained that one of the greatest accomplishments of the seers of the Conquest was a
construct he called the three-phase progression. By understanding the nature of man, they were
able to reach the incontestable conclusion that if seers can hold their own in facing petty tyrants,
they can certainly face the unknown with impunity, and then they can even stand the presence of
the unknowable.
"The average man's reaction is to think that the order of that statement should be reversed," he
went on. "A seer who can hold his own in the face of the unknown can certainly face petty
tyrants. But that's not so. What destroyed the superb seers of ancient times was that assumption.
We know better now. We know that nothing can temper the spirit of a warrior as much as the
challenge of dealing with impossible people in positions of power. Only under those conditions
can warriors acquire the sobriety and serenity to stand the pressure of the unknowable."
Click to expand...

Today there is no shortage of petty tyrants to face and if we can make it past them and through these times I feel we can then face the "unknown with impunity".
 
goyacobol said:
BHelmet said:
Anyway - I got my draft notice about that time too. I will never forget my number (155). I fought it - I resisted - I refused to go. It was a pivotal point in my life. I just 'knew' I would die if I went, whether physical or spiritual/psychic death or both. Talk about high level stress. I had my self psyched up enough to jump out of a 2nd story window picture window at the induction center in LA if they had said 'You are going'. What a berserker! But yeah - stress like that really made music a place of refuge and support, especially when there was none at home.
Click to expand...

BHelmet,

It's interesting that we both made it through those sometimes confusing and stressful years and are now possibly facing "the unknown" this time around. I know this thread is mostly for sharing the music but our thoughts about the music I hope is sometimes good too.

I can't help but think of this excerpt from Carlos Casteneda's book The Fire From Within Chaper 1 The New Seers:

He explained that one of the greatest accomplishments of the seers of the Conquest was a
construct he called the three-phase progression. By understanding the nature of man, they were
able to reach the incontestable conclusion that if seers can hold their own in facing petty tyrants,
they can certainly face the unknown with impunity, and then they can even stand the presence of
the unknowable.
"The average man's reaction is to think that the order of that statement should be reversed," he
went on. "A seer who can hold his own in the face of the unknown can certainly face petty
tyrants. But that's not so. What destroyed the superb seers of ancient times was that assumption.
We know better now. We know that nothing can temper the spirit of a warrior as much as the
challenge of dealing with impossible people in positions of power. Only under those conditions
can warriors acquire the sobriety and serenity to stand the pressure of the unknowable."
Click to expand...

Today there is no shortage of petty tyrants to face and if we can make it past them and through these times I feel we can then face the "unknown with impunity".
Click to expand...

LOL yeah - I can't remember the gradations of petty tyrants - the Draft Board and US Army are NOT the Pinches Tiranitos level - more like Gigante Huevon de Tiranos. Something like that. And some of the same characters from my life at that time are ironically returning once again as we face that unknown.
 
You play safe
You loose the game
You keep your secrets
I wanna fly on a high trapeze
I get dizzy off my knees
Hope there is a dove waiting to fly with me
Because I know that shelf’s no place for me to be

Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious

I played hide and seek and found you
I brought a small bouquet to give you
Full of daydreams and cliches to please you
I’m such a novice at this
Forgive me, forgive me

Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Delirious

I’ll try a little harder every day, every day
To take in what you say to me
To give you what you want me to
To love you like I should do

Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Delirious…
 
The waterboys were mentioned in this thread before (one time by me :lol:), but I see no harm in bringing them up again. I discovered this band last year and I think they're great!

Check out: Strange Boat


We're sailing in a strange boat
heading for a strange shore
We're sailing in a strange boat
heading for a strange shore
Carrying the strangest cargo
that was ever hauled aboard

We're sailing on a strange sea
blown by a strange wind
We're sailing on a strange sea
blown by a strange wind
Carrying the strangest crew
that ever sinned

We're riding in a strange car
we're followin' a strange star
We're climbing on the strangest ladder
that was ever there to climb

We're living in a strange time
working for a strange goal
We're living in a strange time
working for a strange goal
We're turning flesh and body
into soul

See also: Spirit


Man gets tired
Spirit don't
Man surrenders
Spirit won't
Man crawls
Spirit flies
Spirit lives
When man dies

Man seems
Spirit is
Man dreams
The spirit lives
Man is tethered
Spirit free
What spirit is man can be

:clap:
 
Bruce said:
You play safe
You loose the game
You keep your secrets
I wanna fly on a high trapeze
I get dizzy off my knees
Hope there is a dove waiting to fly with me
Because I know that shelf’s no place for me to be

Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious

I played hide and seek and found you
I brought a small bouquet to give you
Full of daydreams and cliches to please you
I’m such a novice at this
Forgive me, forgive me

Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Delirious

I’ll try a little harder every day, every day
To take in what you say to me
To give you what you want me to
To love you like I should do

Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Sometimes
Stranger to a kiss
Sometimes
Delirious
Delirious…
Click to expand...

Uh, Whew! Whirling Dervish with a guitar! Fantastic energy and the words could be taken at different levels I think (at least for me). Thanks. :thup:

And...for my Dad and Father's Day.

 
An oldie but a goodie:

Rush - Limelight

Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage

Cast in this unlikely role
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact

[Chorus:]
Living in the limelight
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme

Living in a fish eye lens
Caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend

All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKpn0esJ73w​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Trending content

Back
Top Bottom