Thursday, November 5, 2009

On Hearing MacArthur Park

If ever a song production was over the top MacArthur Park is it.

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I just finished reading Philip Norman's book, John Lennon. What struck me, the thing I liked most about Beatles music was actually mainly the work of George Martin. I absolutely loved the seamless arranging, every bit as profound as any symphony. George Martin was classically trained of course. Early on, I was struck as a singer myself at how really good the Beatles were at vocal harmony. Another thing that struck me, how their lyrics seemed so strange, but as Norman points out over and over, knowing where they lived clears up a great deal because they just wrote about places and people they knew.

******

I have really been knocked down by this low back injury. I can't work and it's been three weeks now. I don't know what I did, woke up with it one morning. I have no clue how I stressed my back. I went for an MRI today. I have been referred to Physiatry but haven't received the scheduling call. I find myself sleeping as much as possible. So far I have been able to cook and bathe and all that, but not without complaint. I can't even type for very long at a time because there is muscular intertie with my low back. I thought sciatica but mostly it stays on my left side in my hip area. We have proved that it is not hip though. This is the first time in my life that back pain has afflicted me like this. The only thing worse I have experienced is gout, but this is coming in a very close second.

*******

On Hearing MacArthur Park

If I had a cake
I would keep it away from
rain in any form.
I would not use green
in the icing either. Weird.
But underneath that
is a spirit song
that rises and fills the wild
places in my heart,
then spreads out from there
reaches the dreams in your life,
changes things for us.

February 24, 2009 8:27 PM

12 comments:

  1. Indeed...well said. The Beatles (like the Beat Generation of the time) were unique.

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  2. All four were really good musicians. The key of course was the synergy of Paul and John who had that unique marriage of talent and truth between them.

    Then they didn't.

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  3. Yes...

    IF I had a cake I would have it and eat it too....:)

    x

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  4. This cake in the rain, the green icing oozing. What a sad image, of course that wasn't supposed to be, you kept it out of the rain and didn't use green, but that's what i see. :)

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  5. Your truthfulness, what you are doing out of your pain, is humbling and impressive. But I hope it stops huring soon!

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  6. I'm sorry you're hurting. I herniated my L5 disk on the left side and it was a bitch, lemme tell ya! I never realized how much I used those disks until they scream with every movement. I hope you feel better soon. It really , really sucks. So been there. No real cure for what ails me...just have to baby it. Ugh! Prayers for you, Christopher.

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  7. Jozien, yes. I wrote a different cake.

    Lucy, you make me sound heroic. I'm not. :)

    A history of Mac Arthur Park

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  8. Yes, W&W. I am trying to find out what the hell and so got an MRI. For the rest of it, find the positions that don't hurt (so much) and wait it out, and only do what is necessary to live.

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  9. I hope you recover soon... meanwhile, relaxing is good to revisit more of this older music, and share your thoughts about melting cakes. :)

    Suggestion: one of my favorite 60s songs is The Band's "Ophelia", but pretty much only when covered. This version in particular!

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  10. Thank you, Ghost. Not quite how I saw a park in Los Angeles in my mind's eye.

    Joseph. Thanks for your share. I am a download dinosaur. I don't have the patience to wait at 28.8 kbps. This is the fault of my local phone lines that are old and electronically dirty.

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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.


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