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| [a] Stormy RF |
No, he is thinkin'....about her.
He done screwed up, or at least something went wrong. Now he can't stop thinking about it. Take a listen.
Thinkin' Problem
Artist: David Ball, Allen Shamblin, Stuart Ziff
Songwriter: David Ball
Artist: David Ball, Allen Shamblin, Stuart Ziff
Songwriter: David Ball
(Chorus)
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| [b] Almost RF |
I've got a thinking problem
She's always on my mind
Her memory goes round and round
I've tried to quit a thousand times
Yes, I admit I've got a thinking problem
Fill the glass up to the top
I'll start with loving her
But I don't know when to stop
I wake up, and right away
Her name is on my lips
Once a memory starts to fold
Well, I can't stop with just one sip
Chorus
I keep on remembering
How good it used to be
Getting stoned all along
On my favorite memory
Chorus
I'll start with loving her
But I don't know when to stop.
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| [c] Dissonant RF |
The notion of memory going 'round and 'round is especially apt in this context. Anyone who has ever fallen captive to painful memories ("I should have acted differently" or "Why did I say that?") knows the swirling of remembered details and "what if" questions. It doesn't matter whether it is something from high school many years ago (why won't these thoughts go away?) or a misstatement yesterday. Our thoughts—they swirl 'round and 'round. With that in mind, it is not at all difficult to find an East Asian lyric. In fact, it is just a little too easy this week. Memory, alcohol, and a little aging to go along with it are staples of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean poetry. I have chosen Yan Yu, a poet who flourished at the end of twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries in China. He has a boat mooring problem.
My Boat Moored on a River
Yan Yu (fl. 1200)
At the edge of the world, a traveler long used to grief;
By the riverbank, the familiar post station.
The wind lowers the wild geese by the riverbank,
Snow dims the cabin lamp at night.
Poor and old, I sigh at life's stupidities;
Madly singing, I dread sobering after wine.
When can this body find a resting place?
A drifting duckweed on the river.[1]
—Translated by Irving Lo
Notes[1] Wu-chi Liu and Irving Yucheng Lo, Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press, 1974), 405.
NEXT
Sunday, December 18th
Hello Darlin'
Awkward. Conway Twitty runs into his ol' darlin'. The lyrical monologue that follows is as iconic as any in the history of country music.
At the edge of the world, a traveler long used to grief;
By the riverbank, the familiar post station.
The wind lowers the wild geese by the riverbank,
Snow dims the cabin lamp at night.
Poor and old, I sigh at life's stupidities;
Madly singing, I dread sobering after wine.
When can this body find a resting place?
A drifting duckweed on the river.[1]
—Translated by Irving Lo
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| [d] Contemplation RF |
Bibliography
Liu Wu-chi and Irving Yucheng Lo. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press, 1974.NEXT
Sunday, December 18th
Hello Darlin'
Awkward. Conway Twitty runs into his ol' darlin'. The lyrical monologue that follows is as iconic as any in the history of country music.
A friend of mine wrote a poem on a "thinkin' problem." I quite like it.
ReplyDelete"Thoughts" by William Hurst
Who knew thoughts stood bow-legged?
Who knew they hopped so,
dove through the grass so, flitting their heads
one way and then the other
in a type of wide-angle tunnel vision
that comes from seeing from only one side
of the head?
Who knew they had beaks, now tapping,
now prying, now ripping flesh away
from bone? Thoughts strong enough
to crack seeds, tight enough to grip
and not release: the crane clutching
the fish which lets go for dear life.
The last line, which I had to have explained, makes the poem for me.
-William Locke
Very nice. I love it.
ReplyDelete