Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Cold Hearted Orb

"Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watchlights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament,
Another day's useless energy spent.
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one,
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son,
Senior citizens wish they were young.
Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white.
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion???"

From Nights In White Satin. The Moody Blues. The poem was written by Graeme Edge, drummer for The Moody Blues and read by keyboardist Mike Pinder, inserted into Nights In White Satin..

I have heard this a million times. You have heard this a million times. The song and poem were written in 1967. And yet my brain chose yesterday, forty five years later, to take notice.

Powerful, beautiful stuff. We are tortured by music on an eternal loop at The Booze Emporium. As employees we hear the same stuff over and over. Surprisingly enough it is not complete torture for me because there is a lot of Allman Brothers on there. Even heavy duty blues like Stormy Monday. There is even some Johnny Winter included. The liquor commission had to make a mistake in authorizing that stuff; they have proven conclusively that they have no taste whatsoever.

Anyway, I am in a vulnerable mental state at the moment and Late Lament punched me right in the face yesterday.
This morning I dialed it up online and read the lyrics over and over again. There is a lot more to it, you should check it out and fertilize your mind.
One thing that occurred to me was the sensitivity and poetic attitudes and grasp of reality that so many artists exposed in the sixties. Attributes that were overlooked by some in dismissing the music as amateurish, unprofessional, too loud. You name it. Pick whatever close minded critique you were exposed to as a teen and run with it.
They were looking at life from a different angle and they dared to expose the truth, to mock it, to reveal the fragility and tenderness and pain and irony of life.
The poem knocks you down with harsh reality expressed in tender words.

Just those thirteen lines quoted above, which end the song, sum up life for millions of people. People who waste their days, people in love, lonely people, new life, and elders wishing for youth. Reality blurred, forcing us to decide what is real and what is illusion. Given the handicap that we are not equipped to make that distinction.
How much more real can you get?
That is the beauty of poetry, of lyrics and music, of any artistic expression. To take powerful emotions, mind blowing reality and express it concisely. Most people can't even ask for a Big Mac in thirteen lines.
What is even more powerful is the opportunity to shake you up, make you realize that your life has just been described and that you don't like it and you want to change it. Or make you more resolute in making damn sure that your life never becomes what the poem describes.
If you read those words and you FEEL something, then your heart has been touched. Parts of you that you thought were dead have been brought back to life.
You need that feeling, that life, that uncomfortable emotion to make your life worthwhile.
Dead automatons are what the world requires to function smoothly. They make up a sickening per centage of the seven billion.
Living, breathing, emotionally alive people are what is required for change.
I'm glad Late Lament invaded my mind on an August nothing day in 2012. You are ready to receive inspiration when you are ready to receive inspiration.
Another weapon to add to my arsenal.

8 comments:

  1. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS POEM. IT SPEAK OF LIFE. ABSOLUTELY REAL. IT'S A GOD SENT. FOR PEOPLE THAT GET IT'S UNDERSTANDING .EMMANUEL .MEANING GOD WITH US .1.16×2=1

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great Helios wake up your Steeds. Bring the warmth the countryside needs. Our travels through life, one story, one experience and the promise of a new day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. But, who read the poem in Knights in white satin? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. While listening to this 50 years ago, I tried to take my life. I thank God I failed and am reading this today having lived a life WORTH living.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great poem. I thought it was from some famous poet, e.g., Poe. Glad to know that ordinary musicians have the sensitivity for profound wisdom.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I seriously thought it was taken from Shakespeare!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The poem was written by Graeme Edge, drummer for The Moody Blues and read by keyboardist Mike Pinder, inserted into Nights In White Satin..

      Delete