Sunday, January 6, 2013

Quite Rightly So: Issa's Sunday Service, #151

Wheatfield by Vincent Van Gogh

Quite Rightly So by Procol Harum on Grooveshark 
 
Click here if widget is wonky 
 
Those of you who have been around these parts for a while know my weakness for the lyrical work of Keith Reid and its execution via Procol Harum.  They've appeared a number of times on the Sunday Service (one, two, three, four, five, & this, number six), in a general tribute post to the band (and Cid Corman), in an earlier incarnation of this blog (Beneath Cherry Blossoms) in a post where I put Shelley's Ozymandis side by side with Reid's Conquistator for quiet contemplation.

Whew, who's a fanboy, what?

This week's tune, Quite Rightly So, comes from the Shine on Brightly album and, as "an ode by any other name," finds itself classified acceptable for your litrock listening pleasure. 
"Be kind and humour me" - they just don't write 'em like this anymore (and, yes, I realize, there are many who are thanking the powers that be for making that so.)
 

Quite Rightly So
For you (whose eyes were opened wide 
whilst mine refused to see)
I'm sore in need of saving grace. 
Be kind and humour me
I'm lost amidst a sea of wheat
where people speak but seldom meet
And grief and laughter, strange but true
Although they die, they seldom cry

An ode by any other name 
I know might read more sweet
Perhaps the sun will never shine 
upon my field of wheat
But still in closing, let me say
for those too sick, too sick to see
though nothing shows, 
yes, someone knows
I wish that one was me 



I'm not sure if this would qualify for the Sunday Service, lit allusion-wise, but since it's one of my all time fav songs by Procol Harum, here you go: Juicy John Pink

 



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Artwork by Hieronymus Bosch




begging actors--
even the wheat field
gets a song

 Issa
 translated by David G. Lanoue 




best,
Don
   

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Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 151 songs

6 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Although I haven't always been enamoured of their music, they definitely had a way with lyrics.

HarryC13@aol.com said...

Followup to their hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale," lovely song called "Homburg," always struck me as one of those perfect lower-key rainy-day songs. Procul did some wonderful stuff, Reid and Brooker knew what they were doing, Lennon-McCartney and Calhoun-Wentworth of their day, I would say. :-)

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

You got it, Charles.

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Harry:

It is a perfect rainy day song and one of the songs which is so very close to a poem:

Homburg

Your multilingual business friend
Has packed her bags and fled
Leaving only ash-filled ashtrays
And the lipsticked unmade bed
The mirror on reflection
Has climbed back upon the wall
For the floor she found descended
And the ceiling was too tall

Your trouser cuffs are dirty
And your shoes are laced up wrong
You'd better take off your homburg
'cos your overcoat is too long
The town clock in the market square
Stands waiting for the hour
When it's hands they both turn backwards
And on meeting will devour
Both themselves and also any fool
Who dares to tell the time
And the sun and moon will shatter
And the signposts cease to sign

And here's a little something for all those great songwriting teams.

Don

Peter Newton said...

very cool
I now love Procol Harum
or at least that song
what can I say
I'm sucker for being sung to
thanks again

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Peter,

The first 4 Procol Harum albums are the ones. A Salty Dog is in my top 5 albums of all time. A 5th album, Broken Barricades, is also quite good. There live album, live with the London Symphony, engendered the hit single Conquistador (though the studio version had been on an earlier album), and is amazing.

Like I said ... fanboy!

Glad you liked.

Don