25 thoughts on “WABAC Machine”

  2. I’m sure I’ve heard this on an old movie. A great song, proving nothing ever changes, but sometimes it comes back just as bad as before, if not worse. Listening I thought of Hendrix’s cover of All Along The Watchtower. ‘There must be some way out of here – Said the joker to the thief – There’s too much confusion – I can’t get no relief’. It’s great when songs mirror the bad stuff that’s right now going on out there, PM. A thinking post, for sure ~ George

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    1. Thank you, JGC. My creativity has been paralyzed; can I blame it on current events, well not so current, over the course of the last eight plus months? I’ve only been able to manage these collage-puzzles lately. I feel very much like a frantic yellow coalmine canary desperately trying to get back into its cage for safety, only to find the door closed. I’ve hopped on the thread of music and music’s words of the late 60’s, they seem so appropriate for this moment in our history. “All Along The Watchtower” is powerful and painfully sad. Hendrix’s line, “While all the women came and went” reminded me so much of T.S. Eliot’s lines from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”:

      “In the room the women come and go
      Talking of Michelangelo.”

      Made me wonder if Hendrix was influenced by T.S. Eliot. Jeremy Irons does a great job of reading it. I close my eyes and picture it all. I hope you have time to listen to it. Many of the most wonderful poets use the hard and soft sounds (syllables) of words to create rhythm and flow. Subtle sound art times ten. ~ Mia

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      1. You make some good points, PM. ‘Paralyzed’ says it all. It’s funny what a lockdown does. Back in March, at first it was surreal to see emptiness everywhere with no cars nor people, but now we’re in another national lockdown it doesn’t look surreal at all. The music industry is dead, just like loads of others. The only human creativity I’ve come across is face masks. My mum got loads. One is of a freaky clown. She tells me it petrified a small dog and when a waitress turned around and saw the mask she screamed and dropped a tray of drinks. That was just before the latest lockdown though. It’s easy to ask the question of yourself, ‘What’s the point?’ At least I’ve been reading daily, fact and fiction and just about keeping social media alive. Let’s hope things get better soon ~ JGC

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        2. Sadly, JGC, you seem to be describing the forced normalization of something most unnatural, another national lockdown, getting used to the surreal nature of things: psychological warfare? Isolation, ghost towns and the mandatory removal of identity and individuality the likes of the world that Vonnegut created for the Bergeron family to existed in. They seem to just exist under the restrictions, just existing, the perpetual rock-crushing of the stomping jackboot. Is this where we are? Exactly, how can you not ask, ‘What’s the point?’ I like that your mum is having fun with her masks. Enjoy your reading, yes, lets hope things get better. Glad you liked ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. Hopefully some creativity will creep in over your weekend. ~ PM

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          1. I thought you’d said you were running dry on creativity, PM. I had to check out on Google ‘Vonnegut and the Bergeron family’, but reading it all again, what you wrote is brilliant. I’m jealous. A few weeks ago I started playing around with the lyric line, ‘The whole world is imprisoned, but no one locked the doors’. I keep revisiting it. If the line had been written pre-corona, then it would be a simple take of birth, life and death. Post-corona, it reads much darker. Back to the drawing board – again – I think. Anyhow, I’ll keep looking for words that might creep in. Have a good day ~ JGC

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          2. Thank you, JGC. Truly all of my creativity has been sucked into the anti-matter of a black hole caused by imploding red stars. Love the line, ‘‘The whole world is imprisoned, but no one locked the doors’. Really, who is taking responsibility for the global calamity that is upon us? Who is the key keeper, the busy bee keeper, the ones that keep us placed, keep us safe, safely tucked in behind the door? Have we become too afraid to check to see if the door is locked? Maybe so. Not for long, hold on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. So true about the ‘darker’ stuff. All of my thoughts have been rather dark of late, who wants to read that? Laughing! Not many, so I’ve paced myself, drown myself in the bright light, hoped for a tan, remain pale and anemic as this narrative gyrates out of control. Wishing you much success with your stellar line, the rest is sure to follow! Have a good Monday, eat mushrooms! ~ PM

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          3. ‘Who is the key keeper’ PM? Good question. Apart from reading books day after day in a dead music marketplace, I try to finish compositions without much luck, and often end up watching the BBC, CNN and, for a laugh or a suicidal cry, FOX News. The key keepers are the ones who only know the word, ‘absolutely’, like, ‘do you agree all fish can fly?’ – ‘oh yes, absolutely’ or, ‘is it OK the penguins don’t have guns’ – ‘absolutely’. ‘Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, I do’. Now everyone relies on ‘absolutely’ and it’s sending me insane – not in a good way. Most people only know the one word, ‘absolutely’. The rest of the language doesn’t exist. We’re a one word society. In terms of creativity, read ‘absolutely virus’ for ‘corona virus’ in humans. If ‘absolutely’ had a bit of darkness then maybe I could forgive the word, but it hasn’t and I can’t take it much longer – ‘absolutely’ I can’t. I don’t want that much out of life, all I want is to ‘drown myself in the bright light’ and enjoy a bit of darkness sometimes. Have a great day, PM – I still eat mushrooms, ‘absolutely’ I do ~ JGC

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          4. Thank you, JGC, for an absolutely-sadly good laugh. Gosh, talking parrots, ‘The One Word Society’, brilliant! (Brilliant, brilliant spin on The One World Society.) ‘Get out’ (Elaine from Seinfeld), your creativity is still alive and ever-present! Hope Monday was a success and Tuesday will be even better. Haha! Getting out of bed gives a person 10 points these days! ~ PM

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          5. Thanks, PM. Soon I predict that when little kids are learning their first words, it won’t be ‘mum’ or ‘dad’, it will be ‘absolutely’ and it will end up the only word they’ll ever need/use. Absolutely; absolument; absolut; absolutamente – there’s a song in there somehow ~ JGC

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  4. A perfect song for what we are experiencing now. IMO, the main difference between now and when that song was written is that the press back then would expose the corruption. Now, the press is a complicit partner in the theft of America. Just like their Soviet sister Pravda, the press (even Fox) is now part of a larger takeover of freedom and liberty. Who knew Gil Scott-Heron would be so prophetic.

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  5. Mia, The more things stay the same, the more they stay the same. I served with the Michigan National Guard during the riots in 1967; the issues have not changed. McConnell and Trump are not the current cause, they merely brought light to the darkness of white America.

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  6. Stop. Whats that sound? Thanks a mil. I listened to that song when I was a teen back there in Africa. Bought the single (and others) at the only music store close by in Nairobi. held by a Sikh gentleman with a grey beard.
    Had never seen the band. The state TV was too conservative…
    We need more songs, new stories. NOW.
    🙏🏻

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    1. I feel like this era of music lends itself to the struggle we’re currently captivated by, OR are we held captive by it? It doesn’t matter who you are, the current world climate is touching everyone. Please have a lovely evening, enjoy all the lovely and bright colors surrounding you in the form of street art!

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  7. One of my all-time favorite song, an anthem of logic. Of all the great protest songs of the 60s ~ such a time of creativity and expression 🙂 And yes, a bit sad this song is more relevant in 2020 than it was back in the 60s. Such great poetry “…and nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.”

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    1. I’m grateful many of the artists of the 60’s were able to capture such strong emotions in their music. I agree, very relevant now, bring it on! Thank you, Randall. 🙂

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