{"id":21798,"date":"2025-03-16T16:13:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T00:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=21798"},"modified":"2025-03-16T16:15:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T00:15:19","slug":"take-the-long-way-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2025\/03\/16\/take-the-long-way-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Take The Long Way Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@franfloyd\/video\/7473656464880438551\" data-video-id=\"7473656464880438551\" data-embed-from=\"oembed\" style=\"max-width:605px; min-width:325px;\">\n<section> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@franfloyd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@franfloyd?refer=embed\">@franfloyd<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><a title=\"supertramprogerhodgson\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/supertramprogerhodgson?refer=embed\">#SupertrampRogerHodgson<\/a>  <a title=\"takethelongwayhome\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/takethelongwayhome?refer=embed\">#TakeTheLongWayHome<\/a>  <a title=\"rogerhodgsonsupertramp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/rogerhodgsonsupertramp?refer=embed\">#rogerhodgsonsupertramp<\/a>  <a title=\"breakfastinamericasupertramp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/breakfastinamericasupertramp?refer=embed\">#breakfastinamericasupertramp<\/a> <a title=\"takethelongwayhome\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/takethelongwayhome?refer=embed\">#takethelongwayhome<\/a>  <a title=\"childofvisionsupertramp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/childofvisionsupertramp?refer=embed\">#childofvisionsupertramp<\/a>  <a title=\"supertrampsrogerhodgson\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/supertrampsrogerhodgson?refer=embed\">#supertrampsrogerhodgson<\/a>  <a title=\"rogerhodgsonthelogicalsong\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/rogerhodgsonthelogicalsong?refer=embed\">#rogerhodgsonthelogicalsong<\/a> <a title=\"supertrampschool\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/supertrampschool?refer=embed\">#supertrampschool<\/a>  <a title=\"rogerhodgsonsupertramp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/rogerhodgsonsupertramp?refer=embed\">#rogerhodgsonsupertramp<\/a>  <a title=\"takethelongwayhome\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/takethelongwayhome?refer=embed\">#takethelongwayhome<\/a>  <a title=\"rogerhodgsonschool\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/rogerhodgsonschool?refer=embed\">#rogerhodgsonschool<\/a>  <a title=\"breakfastinamericasupertramp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/breakfastinamericasupertramp?refer=embed\">#breakfastinamericasupertramp<\/a> <a title=\"foryou\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/foryou?refer=embed\">#foryou<\/a> <a title=\"foryoupage\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/foryoupage?refer=embed\">#foryoupage<\/a> <\/p>\n<p> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"? suono originale - francesco\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/suono-originale-7336322797591907105?refer=embed\">? suono originale &#8211; francesco<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I was served this up on TikTok.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve got a special place in my heart for &#8220;Take the Long Way Home&#8221; because that&#8217;s the song I sang in my head after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. This was when California was still hip and natural disasters were not everyday events. Still&#8230;unless you&#8217;ve experienced an earthquake you don&#8217;t really get it. It&#8217;s so unnatural. I guess because it is natural. You count on terra firma being&#8230;firm. And when it&#8217;s not, your body is not prepared for it.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, the freeway collapsed, ergo &#8220;Take the Long Way Home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now I never saw Supertramp in their heyday, even though I was a huge fan. Actually, &#8220;Breakfast in America&#8221; was the last hurrah. The audience finally caught up with the band, then again the band compromised too&#8230;gave up most of the alienation.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s what made &#8220;Crime of the Century&#8221; so fantastic. You could resonate with it.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, of course, we can all resonate with love songs, either dreamy or breakup. But the human condition&#8230; Today people will testify they&#8217;re depressed, but not that they&#8217;re alienated, that&#8217;s taboo. You&#8217;ve got your tribe. But in reality, you may not. Certainly not in the sixties and seventies, before money was everything and income inequality was rampant.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m an alienated f*ck. Have been my entire life. I feel&#8230;just outside of life. I&#8217;m here, but my mind is elsewhere. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. It seems that everybody else is on a different wavelength, getting with the program, hopping through the steps, investing in a car, a spouse, a house, a retirement account&#8230; Where are my people, who are questioning everything?<\/p>\n<p>In a song.<\/p>\n<p>So I&#8217;m watching this performance of &#8220;Take the Long Way Home&#8221; and it&#8217;s so perfect, I cannot believe it. First and foremost, Roger Hodgson still has his pipes, unlike many of the singers of his vintage. But all the flourishes in the original, they&#8217;re reproduced, with an orchestra.<\/p>\n<p>These are some of my favorite finds. One of my Napster gems was Neil Finn singing &#8220;Message to My Girl&#8221; with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. You can see it on YouTube:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6-6Ta_8T7QM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No more empty self-possession<\/p>\n<p>Visions swept under the mat<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s no New Year&#8217;s resolution<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s more than that&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Message to My Girl&#8221; comes from the last real Split Enz album, before Tim Finn left. And I&#8217;d like to say &#8220;Conflicting Emotions&#8221; is as good as &#8220;True Colours,&#8221; the band&#8217;s best work, or even &#8220;Waiata,&#8221; but it&#8217;s not.<\/p>\n<p>However, it&#8217;s got &#8220;Message to My Girl.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s infatuated, but he&#8217;s having a hard time crossing the gap, telling his object of affection, but finally&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t spend the rest of my life<\/p>\n<p>Buried in the sand&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>These are the moments of every alienated, pessimistic life. You realize that you&#8217;ve got to stop listening to your records and take a risk.<\/p>\n<p>That Neil Finn with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra track\/video was recorded in 1996, when was this iteration of &#8220;Take the Long Way Home&#8221; recorded?<\/p>\n<p>Well, when the camera pulls back, you can see the words &#8220;Jazz Open Stuttgart,&#8221; so I Googled and it came right up.<\/p>\n<p>2013.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, okay&#8230; I remember the early days of YouTube, when we&#8217;d find amazing things and send them to each other. But that era faded, just like the early days of e-mail when you forwarded jokes.<\/p>\n<p>So Google told me the full show was on YouTube.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dBUCNKQyTIQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>So I clicked and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I went through the track listing and the second song was &#8220;School.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t do this and don&#8217;t do that<\/p>\n<p>What are they trying to do? (Make a good boy of you)<\/p>\n<p>And do they know where it&#8217;s at?<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t criticize, they&#8217;re old and wise<\/p>\n<p>Do as they tell you to, don&#8217;t want the devil to<\/p>\n<p>Come and put out your eyes&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s what they teach you in school, to obey the rules. And if you continue to go to school, matriculate at a college, you ultimately realize it&#8217;s all&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>B.S.<\/p>\n<p>The puffed up professors. The grinding students. All for what? A grade that will mean nothing in your future life? Maybe you can trade in your grades for a good graduate school, or a job, but at some point you&#8217;re going to wake up and realize none of this make sense. Or you&#8217;re going to get fired and confront reality.<\/p>\n<p>Which is why baby boomers can&#8217;t understand the techies. You dropped out of college, WHAT DIDYOUR PARENTS SAY?<\/p>\n<p>The concert also includes &#8220;Hide in Your Shell,&#8221; the second longest song from &#8220;Crime of the Century,&#8221; it&#8217;s got multiple movements, it&#8217;s a tour-de-force.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But what you see is just illusion<\/p>\n<p>(What you see is just illusion)<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re surrounded by confusion<\/p>\n<p>(You&#8217;re surrounded by confusion)<\/p>\n<p>Saying life&#8217;s begun to cheat you<\/p>\n<p>Friends are out to beat you<\/p>\n<p>Grab on to what you can scramble for&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now ultimately &#8220;Hide in Your Shell&#8221; is akin to &#8220;Message to My Girl,&#8221; a hand extended to bring you into the world of love.<\/p>\n<p>However&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Crime of the Century&#8221; closes with the title track.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now they&#8217;re planning the crime of the century<\/p>\n<p>Well what would it be?<\/p>\n<p>Read all about their schemes and adventuring<\/p>\n<p>Yes it&#8217;s well worth the fee<\/p>\n<p>So roll up and see<\/p>\n<p>As they rape the universe<\/p>\n<p>How they&#8217;ve gone from bad to worse&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Us versus them. That&#8217;s the way we saw it back then. To sell out was anathema. Now selling out is the goal, that&#8217;s the backbone of social media influencers. Screw credibility, it&#8217;s money I want!<\/p>\n<p>But the acts of yore left money on the table. Not everything felt right.<\/p>\n<p>Not anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Now &#8220;Crime of the Century&#8221; is not a part of the Stuttgart show, it was sung by Rick Davies.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Crisis? What Crisis?&#8221; followed &#8220;Crime of the Century,&#8221; it was for fans only.<\/p>\n<p>But after that came &#8220;In the Quietest Moments&#8221; with &#8220;Give a Little Bit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s a Hodgson song, and it&#8217;s part of this show. But also included is the title cut, my favorite from the album.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you let the sun fade away<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t you let the sun fade away<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t you let the sun be leaving<\/p>\n<p>Won&#8217;t you come to me soon?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a reaching out, an optimism.<\/p>\n<p>But the pure sound of the record&#8230; It&#8217;s hermetically sealed. It&#8217;s not made for dancing, but listening. You want to sidle up to it, try to get inside it.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s music.<\/p>\n<p>Assuming you&#8217;re a big fan from the seventies. When the charts meant nothing, even though those who were not there keep referencing said charts whilst depicting a reality that is far from the one those who were there experienced.<\/p>\n<p>So I&#8217;m thinking how this music wouldn&#8217;t float today. Sure, we&#8217;ve got some introspection, but everybody&#8217;s looking for a way in, nobody is on the outside feeling that they don&#8217;t fit in and this might be their condition for the rest of their life, people with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, the outsiders question the status quo, whereas the insiders are invested in it.<\/p>\n<p>Now punk was a reaction to corporate rock, which Supertramp was not, however Supertramp was a bunch of skilled musicians taking their time to create a seamless statement. So the punks didn&#8217;t embrace it. However, Supertramp and the punks did share a basic trait, the aforesaid ALIENATION!<\/p>\n<p>So you may pooh-pooh Supertramp, not only not watch this video, but feel a need to insult it.<\/p>\n<p>However, for a chosen few&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>This is manna from heaven.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>@franfloyd #SupertrampRogerHodgson #TakeTheLongWayHome #rogerhodgsonsupertramp #breakfastinamericasupertramp #takethelongwayhome #childofvisionsupertramp #supertrampsrogerhodgson #rogerhodgsonthelogicalsong #supertrampschool #rogerhodgsonsupertramp #takethelongwayhome #rogerhodgsonschool #breakfastinamericasupertramp #foryou #foryoupage ? suono originale &#8211; francesco I was served this up on TikTok. I&#8217;ve got a special place in my heart for &#8220;Take the Long Way Home&#8221; because that&#8217;s the song I sang in my head after the 1994 Northridge [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-5FA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21799,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21798\/revisions\/21799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}