Dept. of Song
Saturday, 29 January 2022 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rSinging, Not Saying
So here I am, again, with little to say.*
The world around me is covered with snow that is mostly not dirty; our building's maintenance lady snow-blew enough snow on my office's south window that I can't see out of it. That's alright; until yesterday, the entire place was rather dark. We had weather cold enough that I didn't open the blinds or curtains, or only pulled them open an hour or so. So being able to open blinds and curtains and not have the furnace on all the time means it's brighter in here, even if there's snow blocking one window. It will melt, and I can see out of other windows.
The world beyond me is ... pretty awful, at least intermittently, at least when it comes to politics, at least when it comes to war. So I'm not thinking about those things. I have signed up to mail postcards to voters in Wisconsin as a get-out-the-vote-and-maybe-turn-Wisconsin-back-into-a-democratic-Democratic-state effort. A small thing, but I have to start somewhere that isn't just signing online petitions. And I'm watching the situation in Ukraine; what I wouldn't give to see this become what begins to bring Putin down. Dude, the USSR is dead. Why not be more honest and have yourself crowned Czar of All The Russias? At least you could get some flashy headwear.
Personally, I've managed most days since I last posted to get something done. A big one is progress on the novel; I finally crossed the bridge over an abyss between two sections of work. Now the end is in sight and I only have to, you know, figure that out. I know in general, but, as always, the devil is in the details.
Today I should get to my back exercises, but I'm focused on cleaning my winter boots of the several layers of salt on them (UPDATE: cleaned and protected with mink oil, and no, I'm never buying something made of mink oil again, but this was what we have currently, and my boots are protected, hurrah!). And then maybe I'll do my exercises. (UPDATE No. 2: Nope.)
I had my annual physical, although I came close to cancelling. I don't like physicals. But I didn't cancel. Go, me. Actually, I asked the doc about my recent habit of tilting - losing my balance for no reason, which most recently landed me flat on my back on the floor after cracking my temple and my hip on the corner of a table on the way down. She checked my ears, said I should clean maybe clean them out even though she'd also said they were clean, and that was that.
Yeah, I know. I should be a little more assertive. But I just can't these days.
Oh; you wanted to know why the headline?
After reading a Guardian listicle story on "the 40 best Beach Boy songs", I remembered how much I loved "Sail on, Sailor." I was a little bemused by the writer calling the song optimistic and joy-bringing; listen to the lyrics, for heaven's sake. The singer is determined to survive, sure, and I guess that's optimistic if you squint. Still, the lyrics are riveting in the way they're put together, line by line. I wasn't surprised to find that Van Dyke Parks co-wrote the song with Brian Wilson (and maybe two or three others; the differing ways people involved remember the process is amusing). Parks is one of my favorite writers, on the basis of "Tokyo Rose", his concept album from the 1990s. Bob and I first heard him premiere it on one of Jools Holland's shows before many of you were out of leading strings. Today the album might come off as Problematically White Guy, but I think it's still brilliant, heartfelt and beautiful.
So, after talking and talking and talking and (ohgodwontsheshutthefuckUP) talking, here are the songs I've had inside my head for days.
First "Sail On, Sailor", from the Beach Boys "Holland" album, followed by "America" and "Manzanar" from Parks' "Tokyo Rose"
*This is, of course, a lie.
So here I am, again, with little to say.*
The world around me is covered with snow that is mostly not dirty; our building's maintenance lady snow-blew enough snow on my office's south window that I can't see out of it. That's alright; until yesterday, the entire place was rather dark. We had weather cold enough that I didn't open the blinds or curtains, or only pulled them open an hour or so. So being able to open blinds and curtains and not have the furnace on all the time means it's brighter in here, even if there's snow blocking one window. It will melt, and I can see out of other windows.
The world beyond me is ... pretty awful, at least intermittently, at least when it comes to politics, at least when it comes to war. So I'm not thinking about those things. I have signed up to mail postcards to voters in Wisconsin as a get-out-the-vote-and-maybe-turn-Wisconsin-back-into-a-democratic-Democratic-state effort. A small thing, but I have to start somewhere that isn't just signing online petitions. And I'm watching the situation in Ukraine; what I wouldn't give to see this become what begins to bring Putin down. Dude, the USSR is dead. Why not be more honest and have yourself crowned Czar of All The Russias? At least you could get some flashy headwear.
Personally, I've managed most days since I last posted to get something done. A big one is progress on the novel; I finally crossed the bridge over an abyss between two sections of work. Now the end is in sight and I only have to, you know, figure that out. I know in general, but, as always, the devil is in the details.
Today I should get to my back exercises, but I'm focused on cleaning my winter boots of the several layers of salt on them (UPDATE: cleaned and protected with mink oil, and no, I'm never buying something made of mink oil again, but this was what we have currently, and my boots are protected, hurrah!). And then maybe I'll do my exercises. (UPDATE No. 2: Nope.)
I had my annual physical, although I came close to cancelling. I don't like physicals. But I didn't cancel. Go, me. Actually, I asked the doc about my recent habit of tilting - losing my balance for no reason, which most recently landed me flat on my back on the floor after cracking my temple and my hip on the corner of a table on the way down. She checked my ears, said I should clean maybe clean them out even though she'd also said they were clean, and that was that.
Yeah, I know. I should be a little more assertive. But I just can't these days.
Oh; you wanted to know why the headline?
After reading a Guardian listicle story on "the 40 best Beach Boy songs", I remembered how much I loved "Sail on, Sailor." I was a little bemused by the writer calling the song optimistic and joy-bringing; listen to the lyrics, for heaven's sake. The singer is determined to survive, sure, and I guess that's optimistic if you squint. Still, the lyrics are riveting in the way they're put together, line by line. I wasn't surprised to find that Van Dyke Parks co-wrote the song with Brian Wilson (and maybe two or three others; the differing ways people involved remember the process is amusing). Parks is one of my favorite writers, on the basis of "Tokyo Rose", his concept album from the 1990s. Bob and I first heard him premiere it on one of Jools Holland's shows before many of you were out of leading strings. Today the album might come off as Problematically White Guy, but I think it's still brilliant, heartfelt and beautiful.
So, after talking and talking and talking and (ohgodwontsheshutthefuckUP) talking, here are the songs I've had inside my head for days.
First "Sail On, Sailor", from the Beach Boys "Holland" album, followed by "America" and "Manzanar" from Parks' "Tokyo Rose"
*This is, of course, a lie.
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Date: Wednesday, 2 February 2022 01:32 am (UTC)