{"id":7641,"date":"2010-06-11T06:48:44","date_gmt":"2010-06-11T10:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=7641"},"modified":"2010-06-16T17:18:29","modified_gmt":"2010-06-16T21:18:29","slug":"a-matter-of-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/a-matter-of-form\/","title":{"rendered":"A Matter of Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/object><\/p>\n

[See the note about this video at the bottom of the post.]\n

From whiskey river<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Any Morning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just lying on the couch and being happy.
\nOnly humming a little, the quiet sound in the head.
\nTrouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has
\nso much to do in the world.<\/p>\n

People who might judge are mostly asleep; they can’t
\nmonitor you all the time, and sometimes they forget.
\nWhen dawn flows over the hedge you can
\nget up and act busy.<\/p>\n

Little corners like this, pieces of Heaven
\nleft lying around, can be picked up and saved.
\nPeople won’t even see that you have them,
\nthey are so light and easy to hide.<\/p>\n

Later in the day you can act like the others.
\nYou can shake your head. You can frown.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(William Stafford)<\/p>\n

…and<\/a> (italicized portion only):<\/p>\n

There’s a great deal to say about how we tend to see, and hear, only what has been pointed out to us… We are given words for those things that are pointed out to us. What about everything else? What are we missing? <\/em>That\u2019s one reason I like poetry, because it allows me to surmise, to question what may be beyond what we presently see and hear simply because it\u2019s never been noticed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Pattiann Rogers [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For all my skepticism, some trace of irrational superstition did survive in me, the strange conviction, for example, that everything in life that happens to me also has a sense, that it means<\/em> something, that life speaks to us about itself through its story, that it gradually reveals a secret, that it takes the form of a rebus whose message must be deciphered, that the stories we live compromise the mythology of our lives and in that mythology lies the key to truth and mystery. Is it an illusion? Possibly, even probably, but I can’t rid myself of the need continually to decipher<\/em> my own life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Milan Kundera, from The Joke<\/em> [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

[Eidothea<\/span> explains to Menelaus how to trap her father, Proteus:]<\/em><\/p>\n

The never-erring Old Man of the Sea
\ncomes from the depths just when the sun has reached
\nthe sky’s midpoint — the time when Zephyr breathes
\nand screens him with the dark and ruffled waves.
\nHe sleeps encircled by the sleeping herds
\nof seals, whom lovely Amphitrite<\/span> raised;
\nup from the bitter brine, the same gray swell,
\nthese seals emerge; they bear a bitter smell.
\nAt break of day I’ll lead you to those caves
\nand have you lie in wait; and you must take
\nthree of your crew along with you — but choose
\nthe best of those who man your stalwart ships.
\nI’ll tell you all that Old Man’s traps and tricks.
\nFirst, one by one, he’ll count those seals — and when
\nhe’s finished tallying and scanning them,
\nhe’ll lie among them as a shepherd would
\namong his flocks. When he lies down to rest,
\nbe quick: attack with daring, spare no strength.
\nGrab him and hold him fast, however hard
\nhe strives and writhes. He’ll try to take the shape
\nof every animal upon this earth,
\nas well as water forms and dazzling shapes
\nthat blazing fire takes. Don’t let your grasp
\nfall slack; just grip him harder still — hold fast.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Homer, The Odyssey<\/em>, Book IV; translation by Allen Mandelbaum [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

For some reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about writing versus<\/em> the other arts. Universities, for instance, often have a Fine Arts department — and a wholly separate creative-writing program, under the aegis of the English department. I’ve wondered what goes on in the writer’s head which makes the creation of writing different from the creation of other arts, like music, painting, dance. (Note that I’m not asking how do the products differ; I’m asking how the process<\/em> differs.) Is the (conventional) linear nature of language the simple heart of the difference — the old left brain\/right brain<\/a> balance thing? How on earth can some people slip — evidently so effortlessly — among multiple forms of creative expression?<\/p>\n

What got me thinking about this was the idea of music mashups and cover versions. There’s no direct counterpart to either of these musical forms in writing, is there? For the former, you’d have to somehow interleave passages from one work within passages from one or more others; as for cover versions… well, I’m at a loss there. Maybe anthologizing a story is akin to covering it? Or is a “cover” version of a story simply a retelling of the plot, in different words, with different characters, and so on? Or a translation into another language?<\/p>\n

Or am I just thinking too hard, to too little effect? :)<\/p>\n

The soundtrack to the video which opens this post is a cover of “Where Is My Mind?<\/a>,” from the 1988 album Surfer Rosa<\/em>, by the influential alt-rock band the Pixies<\/a>. It’s about as different as possible from the original, while revealing what were (to me!) hidden depths in the melody.<\/p>\n

Here’s the original, for your own comparison.<\/p>\n

[Below, click Play button to begin. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 3:57 long.]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

[audio:whereismymind_pixies.mp3|titles=’Where Is My Mind?’|artists=Pixies]<\/div>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

Where Is My Mind?<\/strong>
\n(music and lyrics by “Black Francis” (Charles Thompson);
\nperformance by Pixies)<\/em><\/p>\n

(Ooooh)<\/p>\n

Stop!<\/p>\n

With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
\nTry this trick and spin it, (yeah!) yeah!
\nYour head will collapse but there’s nothing in it
\nAnd you’ll ask yourself:<\/p>\n

Where is my mind?
\nWhere is my mind?
\nWhere is my mind?
\nWay out in the water
\nSee it swimming?<\/p>\n

I was swimming in the Caribbean
\nAnimals were hiding behind the rocks
\nExcept the little fish
\nBut they told me he swears, trying to talk to me to me to me<\/p>\n

Where is my mind?
\nWhere is my mind?
\nWhere is my mind?
\nWay out in the water
\nSee it swimming?<\/p>\n

With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
\nTry this trick and spin it, yeah!
\nYour head will collapse but there’s nothing in it
\nAnd you’ll ask yourself:<\/p>\n

Where is my mind?
\nWhere is my mind?
\nWhere is my mind?
\nWay out in the water
\nSee it swimming?<\/p>\n

(With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
\nTry this trick and spin it, yeah!)<\/p>\n

(Ooooh)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

___________________<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> More about the video…<\/p>\n

The pianist, one Maxence Cyrin — he also “created” the video itself — apparently<\/a> has run the gamut of musical styles, from classical, electronica, and rave to the Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach, and show music. I’m not sure under what genre you’d file his newest album, Nov\u00f6 Piano<\/em><\/a>, exactly — this track appears on it — but there and elsewhere he’s experimenting with piano-only cover versions of many popular vocal songs and artists. He melds these into videos whose visual content consists of scenes from classic movies. This cover of “Where Is My Mind?,” for instance, is set to scenes from 1928’s The Mysterious Lady<\/em>, with Greta Garbo.<\/p>\n

(Here<\/a>‘s his YouTube channel, where you can view these and others — as well as recordings of some live performances.)<\/p>\n

Whatever you call what he’s doing, I find the results not only apt but strangely… moving<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Update, 2010-06-16<\/strong>: Per my comment of a couple minutes ago, below, here’s George Winston, and his Variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel:<\/p>\n

[Below, click Play button to begin. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 5:22 long.]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

[audio:13_variationsonthekanonbypachelbel_georgewinston.mp3|titles=’Variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel’|artists=George Winston]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[See the note about this video at the bottom of the post.] From whiskey river: Any Morning Just lying on the couch and being happy. Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head. Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has so much to do in the world. People who might judge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,53,74,250,5,36,251],"tags":[178,1345,1421,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840],"class_list":{"0":"post-7641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-movies-media","9":"category-music","10":"category-art","11":"category-06_writing","12":"category-reading","13":"category-poetry-writing_cat","14":"tag-whiskey-river","15":"tag-william-stafford","16":"tag-milan-kundera","17":"tag-maxence-cyrin","18":"tag-greta-garbo","19":"tag-pixies","20":"tag-pattiann-rogers","21":"tag-the-odyssey","22":"tag-proteus","23":"tag-homer","24":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-1Zf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7641"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7703,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641\/revisions\/7703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}