Useless Observation Whilst Walking Along the River Avon #209

Comparative Lyrics: The Illusion of Escaping Your Problems Through Infatuation and Vehicle Travel.

Springsteen's "Born to Run" ca. 1975

Together Wendy we'll live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when
we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go
and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
baby we were born to run

versus Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car"

you got a fast car
and I got a plan to get us outta here
I been working at the convenience store
managed to save a little bit of money
we wont have to drive too far
just 'cross the border and into the city
you and I can both get jobs
and finally see what it means to be living

Now, let's try the other ear:

Springsteen:

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
and strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
girl I want to know if love is real

Chapman:

I remember we were driving driving in your car
the speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
city lights lay out before us
and your arm felt nice wrapped round my shoulder
and I had a feeling that I belonged
and I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

of course, Henry Miller didn't have the limitations of music to write to so he's allowed a little more liberal expansion of language when he writes:

"Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such."

*****

Because we've not reached the full compliment of the 21st century here at Desultory Turgescence and still DEVELOP film instead of pumping them out instantly from a digital device, we're still waiting for photos of Stratford Upon Avon during Christmas. Actually, they're still in the camera. But they will be snapped someday soon. In the interim, I was able to find at least one or two shots more industrious people have taken:

christmas shopper traffic, stratford-upon-avon

and yes, it looks like a terrorist fire in the city centre but is actually supposed to be a tree

Pretty lame depictions all around but even should the photos be snapped and developed, o, where to put them without paying to upload images on this glorious site?

Of course, if the evil electricity-doers have their way, there won't be any bloody light or power for Xmas anyway. Perhaps we'll have to call on Pippin the Christmas Pig to save us all.

*****

American Girl in Italy claims she is going to follow up on this writing thing. Shall we reserve judgement until after the New Year?

*****

Let The Mad Scape Goats Loose

"put my baby on the flat car
got to burn down the caboose
get 'em all jacked up on whiskey
then we'll turn the mad dog loose"

Tom Waits Hang on St Christopher


Everyone's favorite pseudo terrorist of the year, the man confined to a South Carolina brig without access to an attorney for 19 months, has been released from his dark hole in the abyss of the American justice system.

"A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that President Bush does not have the power to declare an American citizen seized on U.S. soil an "enemy combatant" and hold him indefinitely in military custody.

Now, I know this must be a typo because everyone KNOWS that President Jesus Bush is omnipotent and can do whatever he wants, wherever and whenever he wants to do it. Think he's going to listen to a little pissant like a federal appeals court judge?

""The President's inherent constitutional powers do not extend to the detention as an enemy combatant of American citizens without express congressional authorization," the court concluded in a decision signed by Judges Barrington D. Parker and Rosemary S. Pooler. "Padilla will be entitled to the constitutional protections extended to other citizens."

Sounds like these two judges might be some of them-thar terrorist agitator-types. If you're not sure, you can always consult Mrs Betty Bowers' Terrorist Watch to spot them anywhere, anytime.

*****

Baghdad Burning has jumped on board with some observations on the Saddam capture:

"The electricity only returned a couple of hours ago. We've been without electricity for almost 72 hours- other areas have it worse. Today we heard the electricity won't be back to pre-war levels until the middle of next year.

We heard about Saddam's capture the day before yesterday, around noon. There was no electricity, so we couldn't watch tv. The first sign we got that something abnormal was occurring was the sound of a Klashnikov in the distance. I remembering pausing in my negotiations with E. over who should fill the kerosene heaters and listening hard to the sounds of shooting. I grabbed the battery-powered radio and started searching the stations, skipping from one to the other. I finally located a station that was broadcasting in Arabic and heard that Saddam may have been caught."