Got lost in this over the weekend, streamed it on my phone multiple times on bike rides and a Sunday drive.
Reputedly the longest song he's put out at 16:54.
Such deep lyrics for baby boomers.
I'd just turned ten years old when JFK was shot and of course will never forget where I was, how I heard.
That was the first time there was continuous TV news coverage for a week of any event.
Of course, that was only the beginning of the surreal 60s mix of music, pop culture, war, nuclear threats and many more assasinations we lived through in the next decade just trying to make it to adulthood.
Random lines from the stream-of-consciousness lyrics resonate with me deeply.
The Beatles hit the Ed Sullivan show just a few months after the JFK nightmare.
Kids figured out that the adults couldn't explain the random senseless chaos of current events, but what could we do but keep going?
And listen to music?
I don't think it was a coincidence he chose to release it for free streaming at this strange and chaotic time...
Random excerpts of pop song references:
hush little children you'll understand
the Beatles are comin, they're gonna hold your hand
slide down the banister, go get your coat
Ferry across the Mersey and go for the throat
there's three bums comin all dressed in rags
pick up the pieces and lower the flags
i'm goin to Woodstock, it's the Aquarian Age
then i'll go to Altamont and sit near the stage
when you're down in Deep Ellum put your money in your shoe
don't ask what your country can do for you
i'm goin down the Crossroads, gonna flag a ride
the place where faith, hope, and charity died
shoot him while he runs boy, shoot him while you can [Jr. Walker & the Allstars Shotgun]
see if you can shoot the invisible man
Tommy can you hear me on the Acid Queen?
i'm ridin in a long black lincoln limousine
ridin in the backseat next to my wife
headin straight on into the afterlife
What's New Pussycat, What'd I Say?
i said the soul of a nation been torn away
play Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
play it for the First Lady, she ain't feelin too good
play Don Henley, play Glenn Frey
Take it to the Limit and lettin' it go by
play number nine play number six
play it for Lindsey and Stevie Knicks
play Nat King Cole, play Nature Boy
play Down in the Boondocks for Terry Malloy [Marlon Brando's character in On The Waterfront}
☮