Hurtin', Leavin' and Longin' (5)—How Far?

Click here to read the introduction to the Round and Square series Hurtin', Leavin', and Longin'.

[a] How far?   RF

Spatial-temporal thinking meets love and longing this week on Round and Square, as Aaron Tippen and Buddy Brock introduce us to the intersection of memory and momentum.

 How far...is it over you? 

This is a question that everyone with a broken heart and car keys has considered at some point in his or her life. Hell, it's something everyone with a bike or boots or a bus ticket has considered. Why does hurtin' follow us, no matter how fast we try to run from it?  I call it the physics of longing, and (perhaps a few weeks from now) we will consider a few equations.  Before that, though, we need to hear a few songs about walkin' or drivin' (someone) out of our memories.

Let's take a listen. As always, YouTube is most convenient for our purposes, but look away from the picture (or just move down the page). All that matters is the lyrics.  Pay close attention to these lines:

                     This road that's goin' nowhere

                     Just leads me on and on

                     As I ask myself with every step

                     Will I ever be alone?

The neurobiological issues behind this meeting of the frontal cortex and the limbic system (a major theme on Round and Square, as you may have noticed) are formidable. No matter how much we might will them away, the emotions seem to follow. I will have much more to say about these matters in our Sunday Hurtin' posts in the coming weeks.

I Wonder How Far it is Over You  3:31

For advice on how best to "engage" the lyrics, click here.

Now read through the lyrics, and notice the rhetorical blending of distance and memory.

I Wonder How Far It Is Over You

—Aaron Tippin

(Aaron Tippin, Buddy Brock)

I parked my car beside the highway

And I didn't lock the doors

Left a note there with the keys

If it cranks, well friend she's yours

Then I struck out across Texas

Gonna walk it line to line

Now I'm halfway 'cross New Mexico

But you're still on my mind

This road that's goin' nowhere

Just leads me on and on

As I ask myself with every step

Will I ever be alone?

Chorus:

I wonder just how far

It is over you

Is there no place I go

That you don't come to?

'Cause when I left Tennessee

I thought we were through

Now I wonder how far

It is over you

[b] End of the road   RF

I was deep in California

When I finally made a friend

It was me and that old hobo

Till you showed up again

But he ran out of liquor

And I've run out of time

I'm standing by the ocean

But you're still on my mind

I'm staring at the water

So blue and deep and wide

Bet a man could lose a memory

Over on the other side

Chorus
I parked my car beside the highway

And I didn't lock the doors

Left a note there with the keys

If it cranks, well friend she's yours

 ***  ***

As we transition to Chinese poetry, let us give Aaron Tippen and Buddy Brock (the songwriters) enormous credit for helping us along the path. Note the lines above, and remember that our narrator has journeyed from Tennessee down to Texas, through New Mexico, and on to California. I hope I don't have to tell you which ocean he is contemplating from that vantage point.

[c] A specific ocean   RF

Well, what is on the "other side" of the Pacific Ocean (when viewed from California)?

My point exactly.

China, Japan, and Korea are over there, on the other side. "Bet a man could lose a memory over on the other side" (in China, for example).

Now do you see where these blog entries are going? The only problem is that over in China (and Japan and Korea) people were not losing their painful memories, either, as we have seen in several Hurtin' posts this month.

Let's finish this week's post with a somewhat lighter poem from the oeuvre of the Tang dynasty master Bo Juyi (Bai Juyi). Let me remind you once more that the poems are meant to be juxtaposed—actually read against each other. They are not meant to strike exactly the same notes as the song lyrics (wouldn't that be dull indeed?)...

On a Winter's Evening—
A Late Return On "Level Spring" Road

Bo [Bai] Juyi (Tang Dynasty, 772-846)

The mountain road is formidable; the sun's rays slant down upon it
In a cold, smoky village, a raven perches on a frosty tree
My return will be long after nightfall, but such is not my concern
After drinking three warm cups of wine, I'll already be "home."

冬日平泉路晚歸
白居易  (唐 772-846)


山路難行日易斜
煙村霜樹欲栖鴉
夜歸不到應閑事
熱飲三杯即是家 [1]

[1] 白居易（唐）《冬日平泉路晚归》选自全唐诗: 卷455.43.  Bo Juyi (Tang) "On a Winter's Evening—Returning Late on "Level Spring" Road"  Selected from The Complete Tang Poems, 455.43.  Translated (freely) by Robert André LaFleur



NEXT
Sunday, June 5th 
The Heart That You Own
"There's lots of space...in my heart...the heart that you own." Yes, there is more misery next Sunday, when Adam Smith and Karl Marx meet Dwight Yoakam to discuss the ownership of organs (so to speak).