Well I am feeling no pain. Last month I had to replace a body part which was no longer functioning as it should. Oh? … well, just a knee. So yes, I am part robot now. I am happy to report that my surgery was successful and my rehab is way-ahead of schedule. I will finally be able to start that Major League baseball career! I will be able to — not just chase after Sakura Miyawaki — I will be able to catch her as well.
I might need a few more weeks rehab before I can catch Harrupi however!
I owe it all to a certain lady. Am I rambling? It may be because of the medication. I was prescribed Oxicontin for my pain. I told my doctor “Pain pills — no way – I can work through pain.” I never liked taking pain pills. In general I am anti-drug use, and I always thought these things were over-prescribed. Plus, I thought I would be able to work through the pain. Turns out I needed them.
… and Oh, it has been wonderful. One tablet relieves my pain. Two tablets are a party. Lady Oxi as I will call her, provides the relief I need as I am doing my rehab exercises, but there is one other unexpected benefit she provides. She makes me happy. I mean, er… the pills adjust my mood.
She makes me happy — and I was not expecting that. How are you doing today? Have I told you how great you look these day? I think that you are a really cool person. I feel great just being around a friend like you.
I want to share a great song with you today. The song is “There She Goes” by The La’s. The song is about a girl I guess, but it could just as well be about how I feel about Lady Oxi. When she touches me, there is a noticeable difference in sensation … there she is now …welcome back … it has been hours and I have been missing her terribly … no one does it for me like her …
Please enjoy the music video below for this addicting little song. Lyrics are linked here.
There was also a good cover version by the band Sixpence None The Richer. They also do a great version of the song (linked here), but the music video is terrible, and kills my mood.
Would you like to learn how to play it on guitar? Please enjoy this guitar tutorial video Bob (and everyone).
I must feel good, because I don’t mind this exercising. It has been great talking with you. You are a super, super person! You know I love you. Give me a hug before you go.
I will indeed admit it when I am wrong. I watched the new Keith Richards documentary “Under The Influence” on Netflix streaming a few weeks ago. I went in with very low expectations, and I expected it to be crap. WOW, WAS I EVER WRONG!!!
I LOVED it. I was a Rolling Stones fan in the 1970s like all my friends were, but I was never super crazy about them. I was more of a Zeppelin/Who fan. Although I was a 70s rocker, I don’t get into it anymore … now that I have turned my life over to the Idols. So, I thought I was going to have a laugh-fest making fun of an out-of-touch, burned out, rich, arrogant old wanker.
Now I am feeling guilty about that. Mr. Richards showed himself to be a great artist worthy of my (and your) respect. He has aged, but that has only added to his deep, historic perspectives on rock-and-roll music. The documentary is a treat for an amateur music historian (that’s me). Mr. Richards is a MASTER of music history. The documentary shows his love and respect for the roots-music of American Rock-and-Roll, Blues, Country, Rockabilly and Folk.
He plays several examples, and as he does it, he does so with loving affection to the genres. He is warm, charming, smart, very genuine and funny. I loved all the stories of the early Rolling Stones tours in the US during the 1960s. He got to meet and play with many of his blues heroes such as Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry Bo Diddley and many others. Mr. Richards describes the great influence these musicians had on him. There was a time in the 1960s when the Stones described themselves as “Rhythm and Blues” band. There are many great moments when he pays his respects to the landscapes of American culture. I also liked what he had to say about topics like English folk music being an influence on early American Blues and Rock-and-Roll — as well as Country.
Thus “Under The Influence” is surprisingly … less about DRUG influence and more about MUSICAL influences.
When Keith Richards plays or talks about American jazz, blues and folk, he does so with great LOVE. I respected that.
Other musicians such as Tom Waits and Paul Williams also are interviewed, and they discuss their admiration for Mr. Richard’s accomplishments. He still plays with a band. He can still play that guitar. There is a reason why he is a rock god. His voice is a little aged, but he can still do it. He can still play, he can still write, and he can still experiment.
I mean musically. Of course the subject of his drug and alcohol use come up when other musicians recount a number of stories. Basically, Keith drank and smoked everyone (and everything) under the table.
He even discusses that at one point. He admits that many fans and non-fans have the image of him as drug addled. Of course that subject needs to be discussed: Mr. Richards has proven that he is a SURVIVOR. True he pretty much merged his body with drugs and alcohol. He also chain-smokes during the entire documentary.
You see, drugs did not KILL Keith Richards. He made it through the 60s, 70s, etc. without dying, and that is an accomplishment in itself. I did notice that they did not mention his hard needle-drugs period. I guess that is understandable. It is one thing to portray the rock legend as a party animal – that is cool. But to show his heroin and needle-sharing period would have been in bad taste.
No, drugs did not kill him, drugs MUMMIFIED him. Mr. Richards is VERY WELL PRESERVED, THANK YOU. To that end I have made a little slide show which shows Mr. Richards as well as several real mummies:
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Can you spot the ones which are mummies, and those that are Keith?
I am left with this music history question however: Could he have even been a better musician/composer had he not done drugs? What could he have done with his musical life if he had not been stoned much of the time?
Mr. Keith Richards, I SALUTE YOU SIR! Denny highly recommends this gem of a music documentary.
Starlight: I am old enough to remember Rolling Stones singles on my AM transistor radio.
Sit back down you! If you are drinking my beer, you are going to have to listen to my “old man” music. Forget that “hippy-hoppy” crap for a few minutes, and learn some music history.
This is “Dogs” by Pink Floyd, from their great 1977 LP “Animals”. The record was a concept album (slight sarcastic inflection in Denny’s voice). Each song title describes a different domestic animal. The central theme is that people often are like the animals. Each describes some of the worst aspects of humanity. People might be greedy pigs, are often docile sheep, and may live in a dog-eat-dog world.
You are going to need the lyric sheet. I am posting the full lyrics at the end of this post, if you want to view them while you listen to this SEVENTEEN-MINUTE PROGRESSIVE ROCK SONG.
Oh, right you use your phone for everything. Try to follow along. The song is about how people act like aggressive dogs. The song is directed at businessmen in particular. My favorite lyrical part captures very clearly how I view the cutthroat world of business.
After a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You’ll get the chance to put the knife in.
The song then describes one unlucky company man who dedicates his life to pursuing money, but in the end has accumulated nothing of true value. Near the end he faces disillusionment with the corporate world, and how one must act in order to survive in it. The ruthless businessman must face death, realizing that he is unloved, and has wasted his life in the pursuit of financial gain. Someday you will understand the meaning of the line: “it’s too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.”
I can remember seeing Pink Floyd performing this live on their 1977 tour. During this song, the band had inflated blimps which hovered over the stage. The blimps were of such as objects as a car, a TV set, refrigerator, etc. All of these are objects which the protagonist sacrificed his life for.
Oh, you want to hear more of my “war stories” from rock life in the 1970s do you? Let me tell you a little more about the Pink Floyd 1977 tour. The band would only play five cities in North America. I saw them in Cleveland, Ohio.
It was a hot and humid summer day. Fortunately it was partly cloudy, thus I avoided a lot of sunburn …
“General Admission” – meaning you have to fight drug addicts for a place on the baseball field close to the stage.
80,000 potheads filled the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I may have been the ONLY CLEAR-HEADED person in the entire stadium.
I hate marijuana. It never made me “high” — just stupid. It was tough growing up in the 1970s when so many of my peers were using weed to attain euphoria. Everyone else would mellow out and feel great. Marijuana turns me into a paranoid psychopath. Lucky you if you can use it as a euphoric … er … I mean, to treat your glaucoma. Luckily I attended this drug fest accompanied only by my stoner friends and a gallon jug of green Gatorade. (My anti-drug stance will have to wait for another post. I know, I’m a hypocrite because I drink like a tree). I don’t like drug culture, but I love the “altered state” which Pink Floyd transported me too. Hypnotic, perhaps ethereal, but with a small sense of underlying dread.
Denny is NOT making this up: To this day I can remember how the show opened. The crowd was waiting for the show, when all of a sudden a 747 jet airliner flies DIRECTLY OVER THE STADIUM. I mean it flew just above the top of the structure. No one had ever seen anything like it. In my minds eye, I can still remember … at least I think I do … maybe I embellish it now … seeing people inside the plane WAVING OUT THE WINDOW. That is HOW CLOSE the band plane flew to the top of the stadium. It was very quick, and as far as I know, there is no photographic evidence of the flight.Today (post- 9/11) of course, you could never get an airplane that close to that big of a crowd. I would find out later that Pink Floyd was cited for the FAA infraction.
The stoned crowd was of course freaked out. While we sat there all agog, no one noticed that the band had already taken the stage and was already playing “Sheep”. This was a great practical joke on a crowd that was already hallucinating. I guess we really were all easily manipulated sheep … good one guys!
Find the young Denny.
Oh, back to “Dogs” … there is that one part right after the “dragged down by the stone” lyric where the word “stone” is repeated, then phased-synthesized so that the word slowly becomes a sound instead of a word. It is a good example of the dreamlike steam-of-consciousness aspect of Pink Floyd music. Also, if you are listening to this — your dog may come running into the room, as the song also has some real dog-barking, and synthesized dog sounds. Legend has it — there are also sounds which only a dog can hear are included. Test it out for yourself.
What do you mean it is depressing? Of course it is dark … it is ART! A lot of Pink Floyd is kind of depressing … and kind of scary. Like a bad dream.
It was a great show. The band played the full “Animals” and “Wish-You-Were-Here” albums. The WYWH set had a big-screen animated movie to accompany it. I once saw a song from it on VH1, but I have been looking forever for the full movie. Like a lot of PF, it will put you into a trance.
Unfortunately, people CAN be animals. I saw a lot of bad behavior. Plenty of mean dogs, sloppy pigs and clueless sheep. One of my friends had his pockets picked and lost his ticket, There was a lot of fighting between the druggies of course. The police were harassing a lot of the stoners, but there is no way that they could arrest all 80,000, so they had to let a lot of drug use slide.
I was very saddened to see that inebriated fuckwads kept trying to take down the animal balloons as they flew over the crowd. Jerks were grabbing the tethers. At one point, the show had to stop so that an announcement could be made to stop pulling down the pig.
REFERENCES:
See this radio station blog for further description, but it looks like they got it mostly right.
You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you’re on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You’ll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it’s going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
get older.
And in the end you’ll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.
And when you loose control, you’ll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it’s too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone… (stone … stone …)
[instrumental]
I gotta admit that I’m a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I’m just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don’t stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
maze?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone’s expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything’s done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone’s a killer.
Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back.
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.
——————–
Regarding the “Animals” album: I wondered why there were not more songs about more animals. If people behave like Sheep, Pigs and Dogs, then why not “Monkeys”? People basically are like monkeys, so why not another animal song. Yes, humanity is often ape-like. We are basically “monkeys” … just a bunch of wild monkeys. Just a bunch of masturbating, feces-throwing, infant cannibalizing monkeys.
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Denny Sinnoh 
I HEAR YOU!