Teinielämys
A teenage experience
Harvoin sitten teinivuosien on enää tullut vastaan sellaista biisiä, jota tekisi mieli kuunnella uudelleen ja uudelleen, ja sitten viiden minuutin päästä taas kerran.
Kuuntelin eilen DAT-nauhalta Chris Smitherin haastattelua, ja se soitti siinä samalla kitaraansa ja esitti kappaleensa nimeltä No Love Today. Sydän pysähtyi, kuulkaas. Melankoliaa isolla M-kirjaimella, hieno sävel, upeat sanat, karismaattinen esittäjä. Pieni suuri blues-biisi, mies ja kitara eikä muuta. Olen kuunnellut sen eilisen jälkeen noin 15 kertaa.
Löysin sen sitten iTunesistakin, sielläkin on live-versio, jossa on ensin selitetty kappaleen taustaa (neworleansilaisen vihanneskauppiaan huutoja - Smither on sieltä kotoisin). Sanat vaihtelevat vähän versiosta riippuen.
I got banana, watermelon, I got peaches by the pound,
Sweet corn, mirleton, more better than in town,
I got okra, got enough to choke you,
Beans of every kind,
If hungry is what's eatin' you
I'll sell you peace of mind,
But this ain't what you came to hear me say,
And I hate to disappoint you,
But I got no love today.
Etsikäähän käsiinne, ette kadu. Vihannesteeman jatkoksi minä lähden nyt Robertson Show -maatalousnäyttelyyn jossa on kolmelta perunasäkkijuoksu (siis juostaan harteilla 25 kiloa perunoita, ei suinkaan säkin sisällä). Naisten säkissä on vain 12.5 kiloa perunoita. Kuvassa Robertsonin pääkadun varrella sijaitseva 'The Big Potato'.
***
The lyrics above come from a Chris Smither song that I stumbled across yesterday when listening to old Music Show tapes. A performance of No Love Today simply made my heart stop. It is very seldom, since the teenage years, that I find a song I want to listen to over and over again. And after that once or twice more.
This is the kind of melancholy that touches the heart of a Finn.
Pity the version I have is not available for the whole world, but there is a rather nice one in iTunes. And here's his homepage. Listen to the music, you won't regret. The lyrics and the song have been inspired by a New Orleans fruit and vegetable man.
To continue with the vegetable theme, now I need to get my act together and walk up the road, where the Robertson Show is happening. The potato race is at 3 pm. Pictured Robertson's Big Potato.
Comments - Kommentit
Ah, nostalgia...
Isn't it amazing how some things you hear as a teenager are significant enough to shape (or maybe warp) your personality? The new first year musicology students gave a little personal interest presentation yesterday; one of them introduced us to the Cat Empire as an all-but-unknown phenomenon - last year one of them did the same with Symphonie fantastique. I love hearing them talk about 'this Melbourne band' and 'a French composer called Berlioz' without any of the wider social/historical awareness that changes experiences from personal to universal. For me, the strongest influences were Rhapsody in Blue and Firebird, which I first heard at 12 and was still obsessively listening to five years later; Le Sacre did the same thing at 19. (How did I go 19 years without hearing that piece, I ask myself now?)
What a shame that some people lose the gloss on that mind-altering, horizon-expanding, universe-exploding enthusiasm for new experiences!
Posted by: Angharad | March 14, 2007 12:44 AM
PS - I hope you had fun at the Show; did you have fairy floss and bounce around on the Jumping Castle? Is a potato race anything like an egg-and-spoon race... but with less cleaning up afterwards?
Posted by: Angharad | March 14, 2007 12:46 AM
I love the idea of Anni bouncing around on the Jumping Castle! How quaint. The Anni who I know does not really seem a candidate for that kind of "fun" - but perhaps there is another side to her. I did buy Anni a beer - does that count as a typical "country fair" experience?
For your information, Angharad, the Potato Race is a race around the oval (approx 400 metres), carrying a sack of potatoes on one's shoulders. 50Kg bags for the blokes, and (from memory) 20Kg for the ladies.
It is serious stuff, with a prize of $1000 for the winner,and $125 for second. Competitors get a T-shirt emblazened with "World Champion Potato Race". Big strong men (even "footballing heroes"), and women, have been known to collapse, exhausted, within sight of the finishing post.
Stunning weather this year - instead of the usual thunderstorm, followed by a thick fog. Clear blue skies, but the air was thick with the smell of cow-dung.
A fine time was had by all.
Denis
Posted by: Denis Wilson | March 14, 2007 10:48 AM
Robertsonites of the female persuasion should get in training for next year's potato race by taking up the tuba - even my little Eb comes in at 28kg! There's no hope for the men, though...
I suppose that the bouncing thing wouldn't quite go with the 'Finnish gloom' I've heard so much about but have yet to see. Did you go on the jumping castle, Denis?
Posted by: Angharad | March 14, 2007 11:14 AM