Boxes of Tangerines

This past Friday night I had a grand old time in my room creating sounds. As crazy as this may seem, I was hanging out with roughly six friends, when one of them pulled out a kazoo and began to break out into song. Soon an idea sparked, and my roommate opened up a drawer and took out a shaker( one of those plastic eggs filled with sand or something) and began to create a brand new beat in synch with the kazoos melody. It was all down hill from there. Soon there was another kazoo, a mini bongo, a guitar, a train whistle, a garage band piano and a tambourine. We were jamming!! We even switched things up a bit and decided to play a strictly  instrumental song and then add our individual instruments gradually to create an optimum collision of sound. It was a fantastic medley of noise and flow, and soon it all began to degenerate into a cacophony of laughter and hums. But before this point, one of my friends got the ingenuous idea to record the music to his computer to keep forever as a memento from that hilarious night. Once I can figure out how to upload the music, I’ll add it to this post
 

I am getting so excited!!! For my birthday (in January) my boyfriend got me tickets for the Regina Spektor concert at Toad’s Place in Richmond. She has actually had to cancel the last couple of concerts scheduled at this venue because she has  had bad bouts of vertigo, but the rescheduled concert is for this Sunday March 2. I am ecstatic!! The tickets have recently sold out, so it will be packed but enjoyable none-the-less. I absolutely love her voice and she is just so musically talented on top of that. Watch the youtube clip below and see how amazing/beautiful/talented she really is. Yay!! I’ll report back after the concert!!

Here she is in all of her glory :

In the 6^th grade I learned to play my first instrument, which happened to be the ever-popular French horn. I was absolutely terrible; therefore I was placed in the prestigious third chair out of a grand total of three other chairs in the French horn section of the band. Even when a trumpet player, who sat in the row behind me, decided to take up the French horn in the 7^th grade, he still usurped my abilities and pushed me another chair back. After 3 years of agony, I decided to pick up an instrument a tad more practical, so I settled on the piano. My skills at a completely different instrument remained the same—nonexistent. I quite the piano after another two years and decided to learn about music from an auditory stand instead of one of actual practice.

Despite my horrendous playing ability, I believe that everyone should learn to play an instrument. Though I failed miserably in this endeavor, I learned so much more about music, and I gained a better understanding of the technical aspects like beat, tempo, tone, pitch, etc involved in all music. Listening to music now, I can often times distinctly pick out instruments and melodies that I remember from my terrible stint in the band. These terms and bits of knowledge have consequentially helped me to appreciate music better and to talk about it more intelligently.

In addition to this, learning to play an instrument helps cognitively and physically as has been proven by many studies. There are articles all over that spout the benefits of music on a child’s capacity to learn in all aspects of life including socially, emotionally, and creatively. Music has even had therapeutic results on people with disabilities and learning issues which further supports my assertion. Thus, though my experiences with music were troublesome, I took away a lot, and now I believe that all people should learn to play an instrument.

    Until recently I had never thought seriously about why I dislike the Beach Boys so much. I mean it’s pretty bad that every time I hear them on the radio, I immediatly switch the station. So after discussing them in Rock/Soul/Progressive I sat down and made myself actually listen to their music. I forced myself  to decide why I don’t like the Beach Boys or gain an appreciation for the music that I’ve always written off.

After listening, I realized that it’s not really the lyrics that turn me off. Though often times they are a bit corny and flippant, they can be smart and insightful depending upon the song. Neither was it their beat progressions or the instruments used that turned me away. I actually enjoyed the way that the music built up as the song progresed.

Honestly, upon reflection, it comes right down to the sound of their voices. I absolutely detest the high falsetto voice that seems to be their trademark. I think that they sound like prepubescent teens who sing much like a barbershop quartet (minus the bass).To me, their voices are akin to nails upon a chalkboard, and now that I have figured out the root of my dislike I no longer find it necessary to subject myself to listening to the Beach Boys. Thus, though I like some of the musical aspects of the Beach Boys songs the voices are so upsetting to me that I feel no need to listen to them ever again.  

There are some songs that you hear that just pull you in at a particular moment in time. But then if you go back and listen to other songs by that artist or group you realize that they just had a one hit wonder in your book. Then there are those songs that pull you in and never let you go. You fall in love with an artist or group all because that one song stuck its spurs in you. This was the case for me concerning The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel.

When I was young my mother used to play her Bridge Over Troubled Waters tape in the car none stop. I remember eventually getting fed up with the same music being played all of the time, and one day it just stopped. No more Simon or Garfunkel. As I grew older I went through my phases of music, and in high school I ended up being the one girl who especially loved oldies music. Oldies 107.3 ( Motown Soul and Great Rock n’ Roll) in Richmond was my radio station of choice, and one day I heard The Boxer come on the radio. I hadn’t heard this song for over about 8 years, but once the melody began to play, it took me back to my days of driving in the car with my mom. I fell in love!!

As soon as I got home I scrounged up that long lost tape, and I played it from start to finish (or from front to back). I was completely hooked. Surprisingly enough I still knew the majority of the words of the songs despite the span of time when I didn’t listen to them at all. I guess that is one of the reasons why music is so timeless and consuming: it can always come back. Though one might not remember the exact words of a song, tunes and beats always stick somewhere in your heart.

Now I listen to Simon and Garfunkel every chance I get, though I generally don’t listen to either of their singles career. My favorite cd is Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme, but my favorite song would have to still be The Boxer. My favorite gift ever was a box set of all of the Simon and Garfunkel cds given to me by my favorite teacher in high school upon my graduation. Though I had already had all of the music, the cds still meant more to me than my money spent at itunes.

Here are the lyrics to The Boxer (it might make you cry…but maybe that is just me?…so beware):

I am just a poor boy though my storys seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises
All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest, hmmmm

When I left my home and my family, I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station, runnin scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters, where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

Li la li…

Asking only workmans wages, I come lookin for a job, but I get no offers
Just a comeon from the whores on 7th avenue
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there, hmmm

Li la li…

And Im laying out my winter clothes, wishing I was gone, goin home
Where the new york city winters arent bleedin me, leadin me to go home

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him
til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains
Yes he still remains

Li la li…

I was just reading through the lyrics to make sure the ones I copied and pasted were right and there was a whole other verse in there that I’ve never seen before. I just listened to the song to make sure I didn’t mentally block the verse, and it was definitly not a part of the song. Maybe this is the uncut version of the song or something? Like everything written by Paul Simon, it is poetic as usual. Here is the verse…bizarre/really sweet!:

(This comes after the whores on 7th avenue stanza)

Now the years are rolling by me, they are rockin even me
I am older than I once was, and younger than Ill be, thats not unusual
No it isnt strange, after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same
After changes we are more or less the same

What an excellent verse! Oh this makes me like them even more!! Oh Simon and Garfunkel!!

        Today I walked outside my dorm absolutely dreading class. It was a beautiful 65 degrees and I would have much preferred to go and have a picnic, but I dutifully went to Rock/Soul/Progressive. I am so glad I did. This was perhaps the first absolutely absorbing class that I’ve experienced in my career at Mary Washington. Instead of another lecture or a discussion on blogs we had an enlightening and absorbing philosophical conversation on the illusionment, or rather the disillusionment, of the 1960’s and its music.

    A comparison was made concerning dreams and nightmares to the beginning and the ending of the 1960’s. To take this discussion a step furthur I would postulate whether or not the dream was worth the nightmare in the end. Was the idealism, unity, and love in the early 60’s worth the ultimate downslide? I would argue yes. To have had a pure period of time with no cares in the world would be worth the consequential turmoil. Happiness is worth the trouble even if it is fleeting. Another comparison that was made involved the 60’s and a relationship. Being involved with one person or obsession for an extended amout of time and then to have it all crumble and fall apart sucks. To have a relationship with a person or dream end abruptly feels terrible, but would it have been better to have never gotten involved. NO. The beautiful that came out of the 60’s may have ended, but it still effects today much like the end of a relationaship, no matter how sorrowful, will forever effect a person. 

All of these comparisons likewise applies to the music that came out of this period, and in my opinion it was most definitly worth the loss of expectations. People today still listen to the greats like The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Simon and Garfunkel, Aretha Franklin, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, and many many others. They are everlasting, and despite the bitterness that James Miller expresses in his book, he can not deny the good that occured. He may be distraught at the outcome of the music industry today, but would he have preferred to have never devoted his life to the dream? Hopefully that answer is also no. As the quote goes: It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.