It’s almost impossible to find a CD in my house.<\/p>\n
Driving down Chautauqua just shy of midnight, down from Will Rogers, where
I’d gone hiking to clear my mind, we spoke on the phone.\u00c2\u00a0 As I cruised up PCH,
back towards Santa Monica, the conversation elated me, everything was right in
the world.<\/p>\n
After stopping at the Ralphs on Barrington for coffee yogurt and
decaffeinated Coke, I piled back into my ancient machine and fired up the XM.\u00c2\u00a0
And that’s when I heard it, "Pure and Easy".<\/p>\n
Pete Townshend has none of the dexterity of Clapton, he’s a far cry from
Hendrix, but what he wrings out of his guitar is just as precious.\u00c2\u00a0 We try it on
like jewelry.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t want to watch, we want to get INVOLVED!\u00c2\u00a0 In a world
created by an outcast with a big nose who strums his guitar with testosterone,
but sings his sensitive lyrics in a high-pitched voice.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, the first version
of "Pure and Easy" we were exposed to did not feature Roger Daltrey, but Pete.<\/p>\n
I don’t travel without "Who Came First".\u00c2\u00a0 I need "Let’s See Action", "
Sheraton Gibson" and…"Pure and Easy".\u00c2\u00a0 I know it so well, I can sing every note.\u00c2\u00a0
But this version they were playing on Deep Tracks, it was DIFFERENT!\u00c2\u00a0 It was
like the HANUKKAH version…it went ON AND ON AND ON!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s only a five and a
half minute song.\u00c2\u00a0 But by time I parked in front of my house, it was STILL
GOING!\u00c2\u00a0 Just when it should have faded out, Pete started noodling on the guitar,
not in a showoff way, but in a PLAYFUL WAY, like he was ENJOYING playing, like a
kid in the backyard, not the wannabe bluesman grimacing as he squeezes out
the notes, it was INSPIRATIONAL!\u00c2\u00a0 After sitting there in my stationary car for
minutes more, till the track finally ended, I rushed inside and fired up my
Powerbook and tried to download it.\u00c2\u00a0 But I couldn’t find it.<\/p>\n
Then, I settled in at my desktop, researching, downloading other versions,
and none was the one.\u00c2\u00a0 So I e-mailed Earle Bailey, and ASKED HIM, what was the
version of "Pure and Easy" he played at MIDNIGHT?<\/p>\n
He said it was from "Lifehouse Elements".<\/p>\n
I own "Lifehouse Elements".\u00c2\u00a0 But, it’s in one of those slipcases, you know,
the kind with no spine, could I FIND IT?<\/p>\n
I fired up my flashlight, I got down on my knees, I started combing the
stacks, looking for two jewel boxes that didn’t quite fit together, that might hold
a wisp of a package between them.\u00c2\u00a0 And, REMARKABLY, after going through six
stacks of seventy five CDs, I found it.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’ve been playing this eight and a
half minute version of "Pure and Easy" ever since.\u00c2\u00a0 When I haven’t been
playing "Behind Blue Eyes".<\/p>\n
You see, I had to rip "Pure and Easy".\u00c2\u00a0 And seeing there was a take of
"Behind Blue Eyes" entitled "new version" on the CD, I had to take that too.\u00c2\u00a0 And
that’s where my adventure began.<\/p>\n
There are arbiters of truth.\u00c2\u00a0 Rock critics who somehow seem clued in on the
true meaning, the true derivation of famous tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 If I write about the
Beatles or any other legendary act, I get e-mail telling me my interpretation of a
song is wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 That it wasn’t about what I thought at all.\u00c2\u00a0 To the point
where I’m trepidatious about going on record as to the meaning of any classic
track, for fear of looking uncool.\u00c2\u00a0 But the truth is, music isn’t owned by the
creator, it’s owned by the consumer, the listener.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, there’s a joy in
creation, but the true joy comes from others’ reactions.\u00c2\u00a0 An artist in a vacuum is
tortured, just ask Van Gogh.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s why Dylan will never explain his songs.\u00c2\u00a0
They’re yours.\u00c2\u00a0 They mean whatever you think they do.\u00c2\u00a0 And sometimes…the
listener even has insight the author did not, because the greatest music is
written in a trance, with all synapses firing, running on instinct, the creator
isn’t analyzing, isn’t truly in charge of all his faculties, rather, he’s an
electrical storm, just firing off riffs and lines, which somehow end up as a
completed masterpiece.<\/p>\n
Most musicians never listen to their records after they’re released.\u00c2\u00a0 Their
work is done.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, you own them.\u00c2\u00a0 They unfold in your brain.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve been
listening to "Behind Blue Eyes" for almost thirty five years and I’m still figuring
it out, I’m still gaining insight.\u00c2\u00a0 And a burst came through Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
I’m not absolutely sure what makes "Behind Blue Eyes" so great.\u00c2\u00a0 But I’m sure
it wouldn’t be the masterpiece it is without the change, the bridge, the part
deep into the song where it turns, where notes and words are played and sung
that have not come before.\u00c2\u00a0 You think you’ve got the song completely figured
out, and then…it changes on you.<\/p>\n
And I’ve loved this part forever, but it was only Tuesday night, in this "new
version", that I finally understood the lyrics.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought Pete was singing
something about his "best friend"…\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, what came thereafter didn’t quite
make sense, but so many song lyrics don’t.<\/p>\n
Turns out I was wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 Pete’s not singing about a friend at all, he’s
singing about his FIST!\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, when his fist CLENCHES!<\/p>\n
When my fist clenches, crack it open Maybe it’s the artistic temperament.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not in control of my emotions.\u00c2\u00a0 My But this is not how people act in society.\u00c2\u00a0 They assess situations, they make But real life isn’t like writing.\u00c2\u00a0 You wouldn’t last long at the corporation Oh, life is a game.\u00c2\u00a0 And if I told you I played it well, I’d be lying.<\/p>\n I can do this.\u00c2\u00a0 Not much more.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, maybe ski the zipper line in the bumps But there’s a problem with this strategy.\u00c2\u00a0 I get frustrated, I get angry.\u00c2\u00a0 But myself doesn’t like to play any games, myself likes to get hot, get into Oh, my fist was clenched.\u00c2\u00a0 I used it, and I lost my cool.<\/p>\n And now I don’t know how to feel about it.\u00c2\u00a0 I tried to explain, but the But what if they need ME?\u00c2\u00a0 What if I need them and THEY’RE not available.<\/p>\n I want to be nice.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to be who everybody wants me to be.<\/p>\n But sometimes, I just can’t. <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s almost impossible to find a CD in my house. Driving down Chautauqua just shy of midnight, down from Will Rogers, where I’d gone hiking to clear my mind, we spoke on the phone.\u00c2\u00a0 As I cruised up PCH, back towards Santa Monica, the conversation elated me, everything was right in the world. After stopping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Before I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool<\/em><\/p>\n
whole act is based on just channeling what’s in my brain.\u00c2\u00a0 Laying it down
without contemplation.\u00c2\u00a0 If I think about it, if I change it after I write it, I
ruin it.<\/p>\n
judgments, they PLOT!\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, people think with all the vitriol I spill that I’m
one of those devious assholes, out to get them when they least expect it.\u00c2\u00a0
They don’t realize that what I feel inside…is what they read on the page.\u00c2\u00a0
There’s nothing more, that’s it.\u00c2\u00a0 No rumors behind the news.\u00c2\u00a0 No unexpressed
anger.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, there tends to be calm.<\/p>\n
if you constantly told people what you felt.\u00c2\u00a0 And although I can get away with
it on the printed page, I’ve got trouble in real life.\u00c2\u00a0 Can I really say what
I feel, won’t there be trouble?<\/p>\n
when my back doesn’t hurt, but that’s about it.\u00c2\u00a0 And this makes it tough to
fit in.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m included because I do this, but I’m not sure how to play.\u00c2\u00a0 So
usually, I just shut up, enjoy being a member of the group, fearful if I let out
what I truly feel inside, there will be trouble.<\/p>\n
I’m not who I want to be, I’m not myself.<\/p>\n
a creative streak and surf the zeitgeist, burn the candle on both ends, till
it’s extinguished, till it flames out and I collapse.\u00c2\u00a0 And, I don’t think
anybody can truly understand this trance, so when I’m in it, I avoid contact, I
won’t pick up the phone, I won’t interact.\u00c2\u00a0 But today I did.<\/p>\n
points of reference don’t add up to others, they’re not easily understandable.\u00c2\u00a0 I
need to be alone, don’t bother me till…I need you?<\/p>\n