[In ancient China, “song was how the government found out what the people were thinking.” – Eliot Weinberger] What the peasants are singing – listen ... is it happy? Do they praise the husbandman and the harvest? Do they rejoice in their wives and children? Do they express profound gratitude to the Emperor and bless the order of things? Or – or are the songs just too happy – sung all too often? Is there a hint of irony here, a subtle discontent with our rule? Should we take … [Read more...]
“‘We sing what happened'” / A Memorable Fancy #314
17 April, 2013 by Leave a Comment
We sing what happened; music makes it real for us. Once there were great battles and only our ballads recall them. We sing to each other of brave warriors and ships covering the sea, shouting men, glints of spears, the men’s first glimpse of the walls, those high walls that reached to the sky and could never be thrown down, never scaled, never breached by intrigue. Our warriors came home in despair, but we do not sing of things as real as this. <END> … See … [Read more...]
“We’ll meet again…” / A Memorable Fancy #192
16 December, 2012 by Leave a Comment
“Some day years from now,” she romantically said, “when you’re married to someone else and so am I, we’ll meet again” (don’t know where etc.), “and sneak away and love each other all over again.” And I nodded “yes” and found ways not to be where she might be (don’t know when) again. [– After Ross Parker, Hugh Charles, and Vera Lynn, 1939] … [Read more...]
Memorable Fancies 