Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Monday, July 18. 2011Thanks, readerIt's been a long time since I have heard this one. It takes me back...so innocent. ""Kathy, I'm lost,' I said, though I know she was sleeping. I'm empty and aching and I don't know why..." Trackbacks
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Great song. I just had the experience of actually listening to the words of "Lola" by the Kinks for the first time. I had been humming that for decades without having a clue what it was about. Not so innocent..
Yep, great song - not innocent at all!
While on the subject of the Kinks, have you heard Muswell Hillbillies? It came out in the '70s but is very prescient today. Mudbug-Youtubed it just now. Was that Sardonic? Thanks for the suggestion.I am inclined to listen to the whole album.
Hi Brian,
I thought you'd like that. The whole album is a biting social/political commentary that I think most Maggie's Farmers would appreciate. Twentieth Century Man
Ray Davies This is the age of machinery, A mechanical nightmare, The wonderful world of technology, Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare, This is the twentieth century, But too much aggravation It's the age of insanity, What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem. Ain't got no ambition, I'm just disillusioned I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here. My mama said she can't understand me She can't see my motivation Just give me some security, I'm a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century. You keep all your smart modern writers Give me William Shakespeare You keep all your smart modern painters I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough, Girl we gotta get out of here We gotta find a solution I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here. I was born in a welfare state Ruled by bureaucracy Controlled by civil servants And people dressed in grey Got no privacy, got no liberty Cos the twentieth century people Took it all away from me. Don't wanna get myself shot down By some trigger happy policeman, Gotta keep a hold on my sanity I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna die here. My mama says she can't understand me She can't see my motivation Ain't got no security, I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here. This is the twentieth century But too much aggravation This is the edge of insanity I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrmQB38aT5U&feature=related Think there's angst in the country now?
Try two months after Tet 1968, when this came out. Remember? This came out 2 months after Tet?
The American victory turned into a defeat by babyboomers? I got a little angry listening to this thinking these same people are looking for America and messing it up wherever they go. Rather funny thinking they couldn't smoke those cigarettes anymore on the bus thanks to their "progress". Sorry for the rant, I'll climb down off my soapbox. Great song, I like this along with "American Tune", "My Little Town" and "Still Crazy After All These Years". Simon's a lib but good lyricist who can almost make boomer angst appealing.
I think I prefer the cynicism of old Steely Dan. Great song. MF holds tribute to Dylan every Thursday. I am biig BD fan, truly a top poet/lyrictist PS a great lyrictist, not quiet to BD level, though a much better muscian. Example: slip sliding away, one of the saddest songs ever written.
Such sad memories of a lost girlfriend named Kathy . . . . I always think of her when I hear this song.
It's still a beautiful song. Jim,
Most men have had a "Kathy" in our young lives. Me as well. A beautiful tune it is. My take from America is how the effort made by the two characters to find themselves by shirking adult responsibilites results in having no self to find.
Sad lyrics - so descriptive of our youth - nothing to live for, just empty lives filled with useless "education", sex, and no true family to love them! This was just the beginning - we see the expression of that depression today in the rage of the "ghetto" generation.
NancyLee,
I disagree. The song was recorded & released in April 1968 on "Bookends". Those were different times. I can only think that you may not have been alive when it first played the airwaves and the turntables. Not so Garry - I was in my late teens when S&G came to prominence - I see that time as the beginning of the descent into hell we have found ourselves in. We were the privileged generation- the baby boomers - the beginning of the spoiling of American youth. Today we see the result of that - so it looks more innocent looking back but it really wasn't.
Good morning NancyLee,
I was 18 when the song came out so we are the same time frame (still young folks !!) but from different environments. As I recall, there were radical changes occuring, in your country, during this period. Not so radical 'nor' o' the 49th'. It is just a song. As you know, a song can mean different things to different people. To me, it's a song about discovery. Today, it could mean a search for a lost innocence. Or any number of other emotions. I, however, can see the other side of the fence as well. It's still a beautiful tune. Best regards, The Canuck I tend to agree with NancyLee. It may have seemed innocent, but we were just naive. And a lot of us got badly burned by the "freedom" of those days. We didn't know how to value what was truly important until it was too late and it was gone.
thanks, bd, nice post - took me back too........(did you sing along?)
BD,
If I might...I'll submit this for MF's listening enjoyment and comment. Another favourite with "meat on its bones". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JdfLGM7G9Q The Canuck |