If I had to pick an Anthem that would define the spirit of KCAC, Bill Compton and inevitably Dwight Tindle, Dwight-Karma Broadcasting and KDKB, it would be this one.
"Astral Weeks" by Van Morrison was the most played off-the-air album on Bill Compton's stereo - no question. He wore out several copies of it and Bill was quite careful with vinyl LP's.
THIS is the song that was the common denominator of it all. Spiritualism, Poetic Content, Jazz, Rock, Fusion, Folk, Viscera - it goes right to your gut. I have seen young men in tears, having heard it for the first time.
Perhaps here and now - it has even more meaning than ever before.
Artist: Van Morrison
Song: Astral Weeks Lyrics
If I ventured in the slipstream
Between the viaducts of your dream
Where immobile steel rims crack
And the ditch in the back roads stop
Could you find me?
Would you kiss-a my eyes?
To lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again
To be born again
From the far side of the ocean
If I put the wheels in motion
And I stand with my arms behind me
And I’m pushin’ on the door
Could you find me?
Would you kiss-a my eyes?
To lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again
To be born again
There you go
Standin’ with the look of avarice
Talkin’ to huddie ledbetter
Showin’ pictures on the wall
Whisperin’ in the hall
And pointin’ a finger at me
There you go, there you go
Standin’ in the sun darlin’
With your arms behind you
And your eyes before
There you go
Takin’ good care of your boy
Seein’ that he’s got clean clothes
Puttin’ on his little red shoes
I see you know he’s got clean clothes
A-puttin’ on his little red shoes
A-pointin’ a finger at me
And here I am
Standing in your sad arrest
Trying to do my very best
Lookin’ straight at you
Comin’ through, darlin’
Yeah, yeah, yeah
If I ventured in the slipstream
Between the viaducts of your dreams
Where immobile steel rims crack
And the ditch in the back roads stop
Could you find me
Would you kiss-a my eyes
Lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again
To be born again
To be born again
In another world
In another world
In another time
Got a home on high
Ain’t nothing but a stranger in this world
I’m nothing but a stranger in this world
I got a home on high
In another land
So far away
So far away
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
In another time
In another place
In another time
In another place
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
We are goin’ up to heaven
We are goin’ to heaven
In another time
In another place
In another time
In another place
In another face
2 comments:
Ohhhhhhh, So fine....Just the liquor to hit the belly, sweeten the mind...at this tragic, magic time....Back in the Van, we're movin on....
Wish we were all with them angels, then and now,.. dancing at the gates of hell to the ringing of the bells...
Vans awaiting...Taking us back to where we all know the songs...Vans all gassed, tanked to the max, Buffy rides along....
Eternity not the destination, just another road so long.....So long, sooo long.....Gods were alive...there was Magic in their songs.....Bless us all that are still...singing their songs....
Thanks Ron, it was a long road day back from Bagdad....Thanks for the song....
Bobby G, Aqui in PHX
My desert-island album. There is no second choice. An album full of contradictions: an Irish white boy singing the blues without copying black singers. A great rock album from the height of the psychedelic era, without a single electric instrument on it. Memorable songwriting even when the words don't make a bit of sense. Long, meandering tracks with improvised codas that go on forever, without a single wasted note. Also an album filled with questions. Is Van singing "Madame George" or "Madame Joy"? Is that "playing dominoes in drag" or "playing dominoes is a drag"? What is it that falls down into the street below? Gotta go, he keeps saying... but where? And whoever provided the lyrics to the title song on the blog... that's not quite the way I hear it (I think it's mobile steel rims, not immobile). That whole first verse is about the limits of the worldly life, about transcending it to go into a different place where the ditch and the back roads stop... far beyond...where you can be born again...gotta go...into the mystic? Where the streets have no name? Who knows??? I don't know and I'm not sure Van does either. But art is built on questions, contradictions, mysteries, inexplicable juxtapositions (what exactly is Huddie Lebetter doing in the middel of the title song???), and on the refusal to explain it away or make it sound consistent or logical. I think it was Lester Bangs who said that this album "haunts like a beautiful dream, or a nightmare." More like the former for me, but it depends on whether I've just listened to "Slim Slow Slider" which closes down the album like a door slamming shut. But then I just go back to the title song to start the cycle all over again. Born again. And not in no southern-fundamentalist-right wing way. Starting over. A brand new day. Glad tidings. Radio, radio... TURN IT UP!!!
Enough rambling. Forgive any typos, still haven't figured out how to use Spellcheck on this thing. Gotta go. See you on Sunday as we celeberate Dwight's life.
Tom
Post a Comment