Le weekend
Monday July 21, 2008
Sorry to have been incommunicado over the weekend. We left on Friday after work for a quick trip down to St. Francisville. We were supposed to pull out at five for the long drive, but of course things in our...
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Advertisement
Advertisement
Search This Blog
Recent Posts
About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
Subscribe
Archives
Blogs Worth Reading
- Front Porch Republic
- The American Conservative
- Patrick Deneen
- Conventional Folly
- The American Scene
- First Things
- Andrew Sullivan
- The Plank
- Eunomia
- Get Religion
- Postmodern Conservative
- Alex Massie
- The Corner
- Contentions
- Sharon Astyk
- Barry Ritholtz
- The Oil Drum
- Mere Comments
- First Principles (ISI)
- Brian Kaller
I started pressing the wheel at random, and finally heard a sound coming out of the earbuds.
Umm, Rod, you were driving with headphones on?
Rod: I've been thinking that one of the few important hurdles between you and moving back to LA for a more crunchy/agrarian/small town/long emergency life is the lack of an Orthodox church. But, now that obstacle may be overcome, eh?
Nightswimming is my favorite REM song and one of my overall favorites from my college years. This post and video reminds me of when I saw REM at the Rosemont Horizon (near Chicago's O'Hare Airport) in 1995 (I think). It was the worst concert I've been to. Michael Stipe could not be bothered enough to learn the lyrics to his own songs, so had lyric sheets on a music stand that he would throw into the first row after each song. A flock of screaming teenage girls was just behind me squealing throughout the show and yelling the words to "What's the Frequency, Kenneth" louder than Stipe (though the girls actually knew the words).
I can listen to that song over and over again, I love it that much. Although, I'm not so sure that Michael's meaning is what you and your wife have taken from the song.
Although, I'm not so sure that Michael's meaning is what you and your wife have taken from the song.
Well, I don't know what Stipe's meaning is, but I've always read the song as an elegy for the passage of time, and how many of the things we value most cannot be preserved, except in memory. It's a rather melancholy song, to be sure, but one of great beauty. I take it also as a caution not to let everydayness blind you to the beauty of moments.
I think Stipe is known for being deliberately obtuse in his lyric writing, allowing for multiple meanings to be interpreted in his songs. I've done the same thing for many of the lyrics on that album (Automatic for the People) in particular, a record I associate with the end of my first go-round in college. An impeccable record, one I still can't listen to without getting goosebumps.
What a lovely piece of travel/journey writing. Thank you, Rod.
Someone else who's considered Nightswimming for a first dance. See, honey, I'm not crazy!
Good to see you back. I was missing having my blood pressure raised every morning.
I'm glad to hear your brother-in-law is doing well. It's true what he says, that the mission goes on, regardless. And a brush or two with mortality will focus the mind on what kind of a life is worth the living after all is said done.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.