Sunday, March 7, 2010

Conquistador: Issa's Sunday Service, #45






Those of you who have been following these posts for awhile know I have many little vices (and many more that I'm not telling). Some of those include pop bands of perhaps questionable value. One band, making there second appearance on the Sunday Service, is Procol Harum and, I'm happy to say, I'm not hanging my head here. I've blogged about them more than a few times; once an entire post was picked up and reprinted on the biggest PH site on the net, Beyond the Pale. As far back as the previous Lilliput blog, Beneath Cherry Blossoms, I printed the lyrics to their song "Conquistador," in tandem with Shelley's Ozymandis, which I always felt was the song's inspiration.

All of which brings us to today's feature: that's right, it's "Conquistador," today being the birthday of the band's outstanding organ player, Matthew Fisher, who no doubt will be best remembered for his beautiful contribution to their signature song, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (and the nasty lawsuit that was recently settled in his favor over said organ part).
So as not to end on a sour note, here's E-Verse Radio's discussion of Shelley's "Ozymandis," turning lemonade back into lemons.
Um, wait, on second thought, ending with lemons would make it a sour note. Let me, therefore, simply say, hey, E-Verse guys, I liked the pictures.












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This week's poem comes from issue #69, eight poems from which were featured in a previous post. This poem, which opened the issue, was not. Here it is. I've often pondered, and practiced, using it in past readings, and may in fact work up the courage for next month's New Yinzer reading. It is a challenge to read on the page, never mind out loud; however, if done correctly, it is worth the effort.



What Was Is
All that was is now is
all that is was was
----and is again
what was is what is was --
was is is, is is was;
so what was is what is is
and is is what was was,
----is what was
will become.

Cy Keith Jones








And Issa, on the same subject:






at my hut
what will come of it?
spring's first dawn

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue






best,
Don
PS A complete list of all 45 songs is available on the stand alone LitRock website, along with a jukebox to listen to songs separately or altogether. Of course, the Jukebox is also available on the sidebar of this page.
Suggestions for future feature songs will be rewarded with riches beyond your wildest dreams, if your dreams are modest and your idea of a good time, well, wistful.

9 comments:

  1. just spent about 4 hours LOOKING EVERYWHERE for
    my Salty Dog..

    now I remember it was about 1972 I "turned on " my Original Muse to Proco Harum

    left her my copy of... and have yet to retrieve it or get it returned.

    She, that next year, married a rock-n-roll drummer - last name Bosh and I guess they ran off with (my) A Salty Door..

    great stuff out of them as I recall no trickery no gimmickery

    just like todays "music" eh? (I wish).


    just finished reading Patti Smith's 'just kids'

    AND
    I have an ubopened c-d re-done copy of HOSES..

    will open as soon as my daughter returns my SONY boom-box and give it a whirl... this will be my very first listen to
    Patti Smith and her band... which surprises me because I was all over Manhattan in late 60's and 70's... I guess that I (an Fay and some others) were even outside the Outsiders..

    go figure?

    ReplyDelete
  2. oppps

    "A Salty Door" should be "A Salty Dog"

    (I guess I was thinkwing
    of The Doors!

    and

    "HOSES" should be "HORSES"

    gawd..

    whoever said "poets are smart" ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ed, 2 of my fav records .. kind of like your alternate titles Hoses and Salty Door.

    You can't stick that cd in your computer and listen? Just asking?

    More on Salty Dog here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. yeah I can do that Micah put in a thingy that allows me to play cd s AND
    watch movies!
    and I got one of them little PYLEPRO PCA1 stereo power amplifiers 2x15 watts and neat little SONY speakers that are "boss"..

    so,
    use I can...


    pee est..

    the cd player is from an old 'puter.. it is a

    pleXwriter 24/10/40A

    heck, I could fucking just spend the rest of my life in this little room... same one as in the photo...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like you're armed for bear ....

    Thank god I have to make money otherwise I'd never never the attic ...

    ReplyDelete
  6. costs more to go to work every day
    than the money made from the job

    figure it all out:

    clothes
    lunches
    transportation
    taxes/ss//group health insurance/medications for depression, anxiety, insomnia,
    annual contributions to charuhtees
    cost of required computers and computer services
    PLUS you get paid for 40 hours (if lucky) and (including what you do at home for free) you work 63 hours A WEEK!

    etc, etc etc

    must cost about seventy-five cents out of every dollar just to have a "real" job!

    might as well Eat Worms!

    or
    better still..

    drop out
    write rock n roll songs...and become famous

    you only need a used Gibson and a 3-chord vocabulary!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dare I put in a plug for Rush's "Xanadu"?

    I do believe I dare! Hee.

    ReplyDelete
  8. one of my all time favorite movies:
    Ronald Coleman in
    Lost Horizons..

    takes place in them Tibetan Mountains
    Xanadu/ Shang Ri La

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Horizon_(1937_film)#Plot

    Ronald Coleman had the greatest screen voice of ALL TIMES

    is this what you refer to?

    if so... bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  9. LAV: Rush's Xanadu already on the forthcoming list but, for the effort, two new issues to you ... more soon ...

    Ed, it is Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" she refers to - song lyrics here, poem here.

    And Lost Horizon one of my all-time favs also ... Sam Jaffe as the head guru mucky-muck ... here's a little post I did at work about how "Lost Horizon," the novel, turned me on to the whole reading thing ...

    ReplyDelete