Context is everything with him. From the context – him barging into my office, closing the always-open door after him, waving a smallish sheaf of papers with musical notes on them – I concluded he was saying, “Take a break for a second from what you’re doing.”
Ok.
I then concluded that he then said that, although he could understand the surface meaning of the English song lyrics, would I be so kind and explain the deeper meaning to him, because he was playing this song on organ, possibly in a church.
Ok. Lemme see the lyrics.
First they appear to be getting drunk, then I dunno what after that. I’ve never given it a lot of thought, it’s just a pretty song.
He then asked for further elucidation, I concluded from his words and actions.
So I told him that in the sixties and seventies people got high a lot and wrote mystical, meaningless shit. Only I told him in other words.
To bolster my case, I did a quick google search and found a site that described an interview, where the organist of the band was asked what the lyrics meant and he had no idea.
My colleague asked me to print out the website, I think. I did, and he took the printout and seemed happy. This made me think I was right to assume he wanted me to print it out.
He then gestured and made sounds, and I printed out another website I’d found about the band.
It’s a very pretty song.
“A wither shade of pale” is ofcourse a shameless ripoff.
reminds me of the Bug
I’m still trying to figure out “if there’s a bustle in your hedgerow Don’t be alarmed now It’s just a spring clean for the May Queen.”
Some Bulgarian students I once had asked me to explain another song, I forget which one or by whom – it was from the same era. It’s an interesting thought, people all over the world scratching their heads for hours, or even years, trying to figure out verse written by some stoner in 15 minutes, probably, by the light of a lava lamp. But, it just might really mean something, you know?
Bustle in your hedgerow – is she throwing out old bustles? Making a bustle as she cleans out her hedgerow? I listen to that album about once a day on my commute to work, but usually fast forward past the slower songs.
It must have been Inna Gadda da Vida. Begins with a nice chromatic organ thingie and then has a dynamite seventeen-minute drum solo.
in no particular context at all, here’s today’s referer #69 at peacedividend: fantasias miguel
there’s only one way to interpret lyrics from that era: chemically. it’s nearly impossible without significant hallucinogenic help.
What I wonder is what was wrong with the light fandango that they felt the need to skip it?