Re: Surrounded By A Song....
- From: Fred Pierce <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 03 May 2008 19:36:55 -0400
On Sat, 3 May 2008 15:09:11 -0700 (PDT), Norman Draper
<normandraper@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I had a remarkable evening last night.....
George Wirth had a... show? concert? performance? gig? I'm still not
sure what to call these things.
Anyway, for those of you not familiar with his work (and who could be
unfamiliar, after all the blathering I've done about it!), George has
a song (and an album) titled "The Lights Of Brigantine". Brigantine
is an island/town immediately north of Atlantic City and south of the
Tuckerton area, where George grew up. To make what I want to say a
bit easier, here's an edited version of the song:
I see you sittin? in the kitchen in your mothers house
It?s a hot summer night on Holly Lake
The cards are on the table, your little sister's on my knee
She holds her breath and waits to see
Who?s gonna make that first mistake
And everybody?s laughin? when the cards come tumblin? down
You little sister's rollin? on the floor
Your mother leans against he counter with that secret smile
Your sister's pickin? up the cards
Says can we play one more?
Just one more...
Your mother sits and taps her toe, we got Motown on the radio
Levi Stubbs got the Detroit Blues
He says he just can?t help himself
He says it?s you and nobody else
And I believe every word he says is true
He says...
Sugar pie honey bunch, you know that I love you
I can?t help myself, it?s you and nobody else
Nobody else...
And I know what he?s talkin? about...
One more round it?s time to go, I?m out the door and down the road
Behind the wheel of that old Chevrolet
I got a brand new set of retreads
Half a tank of gas
Point that Chevy south and head out toward Great Bay
Down the boulevard
Great Bay Boulevard...
It?s a two lane stretch of blacktop, starts at Highway 9
And ends out where the asphalt turns to sand
Ten miles through open meadow
Reed grass growin high
You can see the lights of Brigantine if you walk out on the strand
Cross the seven bridges, past the old boat yard
There's a burned out Coast Guard station on the right
Everybody says it haunted
And I believe it?s true
But I don?t care about no ghosts tonight
I feel alright
And the Seven Island factory is lit up like a Christmas tree
Seagulls chase the fishin? boats as they come round the bend
You can hear those diesels scream for oil
Get 'em in before they spoil
And the voices of the deck hands they carry on the wind
They say haul away
Haul away boys
Haul away...
In the sound the waves are crashin?, Holgate buoy lights are flashin?
You can smell the salt and seaweed on the breeze
Look out across Great Thorofare
Past Little Bay, way out there
And you?re lookin? at the lights of Brigantine
The lights of Brigantine...
They shine like diamonds
Look like stars on the horizon...
Get that Chevy turned around, don?t get stuck head back to town
The tires on the asphalt are slappin? out a tune
Radio waves are bouncin? tonight
I got a Boston station clear and bright
And a Dylan song comes on, sounds like he?s howlin? at the moon
He says I want you
Honey I want you
I want you
So bad...
I?m thinkin tonight about all those miles,
Your sister?s laugh and your mothers smile
Thinkin? bout the music and the house of cards
Thinkin? bout the things that make us what we are
Thinkin? bout the future, thinkin? bout the past
Thinkin? bout the water and the tall reed grass
Thinkin? bout the father, son and holy ghost
Thinkin? bout the things that we fear the most
Thinkin? bout the old, thinkin? bout the new
And I'm thinkin? about time...
Thinkin? bout you...
And I just can?t help myself
I just can?t help myself
After all this time
It's still you and nobody else
Nobody else...nobody else...nobody else....
OK.... I didn't edit the song at all. It was just too wonderful to
read all those images again And here's why I'm writing this....
In order to get to the concert site, I had to drive down Highway 9,
past Holly Lake, across Radio Road (the title of another of George's
songs).... and drove over the (miscounted, but who's counting?!)
seven bridges on Great Bay Boulevard, past the old boatyard, until I
arrived at the old burned out Coast Guard station on the right....
George's concert was at the Rutgers University Coastal Observation
Lab, which literally is housed in that "burned out Coast Guard station
on the right". It has been rebuilt to pre-fire condition and looks
eactly like the old station..... I didn't see any ghosts, but they
may have been lurking there somewhere.... The Seven Island factory is
in full view, directly across the bay, the waves, the seagulls,
Holgate buoy lights flashing....
There I was, I was in the middle of George's song..... All the
sights, smells, sounds.... OK, there were no the voices of the deck
hands saying haul away boys, but... I looked out and saw everything
mentioned in the song. The moment was.... would transcendent be too
serious a word to use? George's music never fails to move me, but to
be there, surrounded by it all....
George was just teriffic last night. Yeah, he blew the lines to the
first song.... he may have been a beat off a chord change once or
twice... he rushed "Powerlines".... and, as usual, he started beating
himself up after the performance. I finally told him that it's not
always about accuracy; sometimes emotion and getting the essense of a
song across are what counts. Many people on this group have heard
George, but last night was so very special. And I don't care that
he'll be pissed off at me when he reads this.... Brenda will like it,
and she's the one who counts.... :-)
As I drove away from the place, way out on the end of Great Bay
Boulevard, with those seven bridges to drive back over, I turned on
the radio hoping against all hope that I would hear Levi Stubbs or His
Bobness.... It didn't have to be the exact songs, but the evening
would have been amazingly symetrical..... However, it was not to be.
What I did manage to find was an old doo-wop song, with its deh-deh
doo bass line and soaring falsetto cranking away. It wasn't the Tops
or Dylan, but as Shakespeare once said, " 'tis not so deep as a well,
nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve..." In
that moment an old doo-wop song was just fine.
As was once said in a completely different context, live music is much
about set and setting. For me, last night was about as close as an
evening will ever come to perfection on this mortal coil.
And at least with my clothes on.... :-)
Thanks, Georgie.
Norman (One Weekend, The Gathering; The Next, George... Life Is Good)
Draper
Interesting timing. Today was the first day I've been able to wallow
in last weekend's aura. I had to put it off and deal with reality
except for an hour or so in the evening to edit photos (soon...soon).
Played "Lights" today for the first time in a while, remembered the
first time I heard it at the open mike and the sudden awareness that
I'd been there but never at night. Someday I must do that. Now I have
memories of our mini-gathering at Brigantine too.
Your post is a keeper, and I second every word and thought of it.
But wait - there's more!
Put "Dublin Blues" on for dinner later. I've liked it since you
introduced me to it, but never really *heard* it 'til today. Of course
I always hear you doing STW, RK, and Superman's Cape. I had to pause
and sing along with the latter and could hear the rest of the gang
singing along.
Sure would like to hear you and Jim do "Hank Williams Said it Best."
fdp
P.S. George is an Artist.
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Fred Pierce (DNRC)- Avialantic.com
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