Wednesday, January 18, 2012

i was driving the other day, listening to tchaikovsky's violin concerto (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATK_pj2iMqg)
and as soon as the violin solo started playing
i had a very strange reaction
i felt very overwhelmed
like i knew how powerful this sound was
and i couldn't do anything about it
(it is going to go on; it is its own being)
this feeling manifested itself as follows:
my fingers needed to be tight, as if trying to create a void
but the wheel was on the way
it was as if i was trying to get rid of this overwhelming feeling
so my arms tightened, my grip tightened around the wheel
and i was pushing my body with my arms away from the wheel
and i closed my eyes
until i could breathe again
(once the violin could breathe as well)
and i kept driving
but my fingers were dancing on my leg, on the wheel, on my face
and when i got to the place i was going
and the music stopped
i sat back and let my body melt with the silence for a while

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Annabel Lee- lyrics to the song cycle and explanation

Dear Josh,
If you're reading this.... thanks!!!!

Annabel Lee (this is Edgar Allan Poe's poem lyrics put to the piano piece, Un Sospiro, by Franz Liszt. I thought Un Sospiro sounded like the "sounding sea".)

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Another New World (you probably recognize this)
The leading lights of the age all wondered amongst
themselves what I would do next
After all that I'd found in my travels around
the world was there anything else left?
"Gentlemen", I said, "I've studied the maps"
"And if what I'm thinking is right"
"There's another new world at the top of the world"
"For whoever can break through the ice"

I looked round the room in that way I once had
and I saw that they wanted belief
So I said "All I've got are my guts and my God"
then I paused,"and the Annabelle Lee"
Oh the Annabelle Lee, I saw their eyes shine
the most beautiful ship in the sea
My Nina, My Pinta, My Santa Maria
My beautiful Annabelle Lee

That spring we set sail as the crowds waved from shore
and on board the crew waved their hats
But I never had family just the Annabelle Lee
so I didn't have cause to look back
I just set the course north and I studied the charts
and toward dark I drifted toward sleep
and I dreamed of the fine deep harbor I'd find
past the ice for my Annabelle Lee

After that it got colder the world got quiet
it was never quite day or quite night
And the sea turned the color of sky turned the color
of sea turned the color of ice
'Til at last all around us was fastness
one vast glassy desert of arsenic white
And the waves that once lifted us
sifted instead into drifts against Annabelle's sides

The crew gathered closer at first for the comfort
but each morning would bring a new set
of the tracks in the snow leading over the edge
of the world 'til I was the only one left
After that it gets cloudy but it feels like I lay there
for days maybe for months
But Annabelle held me the two of us happy
just to think back on all we had done

We talked of the other worlds we'd discover
as she gave up her body to me
And as I chopped up her mainsail for timber
I told her of all that we still had to see
As the frost turned her moorings to nine-tail
and the wind lashed her sides in the cold
I burned her to keep me alive every night
in the loving embrace of her hold

I won't call it rescue what brought me here back to
the old world to drink and decline
And to pretend that the search for another new world
was well-worth the burning of mine
But sometimes at night in my dreams comes the singing
of some unknown tropical bird
And I smile in my sleep thinking Annabelle Lee
has finally made it to another new world

Be Here Now by Mason Jennings


Be here now
No other place to be
Or just sit there dreaming
Of how life would be
If we were somewhere better
Somewhere far
Away from all our worries
Well here we are
You, are the love, of my life
Be here now
No other place to be
All the doubts that linger
Just set them free
And let good things happen
And let the future come
Into each moment
Like a rising sun
You, are the love, of my life
You, are the love, of my life
Yea you know you are
Sun comes up and we start again (x 6)
And it's all new today
All we have to say
Is be here now
Be here now
No other place to be
This whole world keeps changing
Come change with me
Everything that's happened
All that's yet to come
Is here inside this moment
Its the only one
You, are the love, of my life
You, are the love, of my life
Yeah you know you are
Sun comes up and we start again (x 6)
Its all new today
All we have to say
Is be here now

My Response to all of these lyrics- using your music from Another New World and keeping some of the lyrics too! So it is kind of an extension of your song =0)

The leading lights of the age all wondered amongst
Themselves what I would do next
After all that I'd found in my travels around
The World was there anything left?
Gentlemen I said, I've studied the maps
And if what I'm thinking is right
In any part of this great big circular world
We can always break through the ice

I looked round the room in that way I once had
And I saw that they wanted belief
So I said "All I've got is one simple idea, in order to bring us relief"
Well I looked for a sparkle or shine in their eye
To help me begin to speak
But I didn't find it, so I closed my eyes and remembered the Annabelle Lee

Here I sit with you all right here at my side
In this Old World of drink and decline
Pretending the search for Another New World
Is well worth the burning of mine
But this Old World we're in, wouldn't look quite so dim
If we took a good look around
And smiled for the light flooding down on us bright
That we cover with troubles we've found

The crew gathered closer at first in confusion
But each passing moment would bring
A new recollection of moments right here
In this Old World that still made them sing
Why should we ignore the crowd waving from shore
They don't have to be waving good bye
For its sheer good fortune to miss those you love
Every day that you're sharing alive
The ice started melting

Oh Annabel Lee may have died by the sea
But at such cost doesn't it seem
We'd all better take this Old World we know
And break through the ice and just be

Oh Annabel Lee may have died by the sea
But at such cost doesn't it seem
We'd all better take this Old World we know
And break through the ice and just be