truth: around 25 years ago, I bought a small floor fan in a thrift store in Sacramento that had a strip of adhesive tape on it with this name printed across the bottom: "PARRISH". And, I had to wonder- could this implement be labeled this way because at one time it served as a cooling fan for a stage amp, for, the, uh... I realize that alternate theories are possible, to explain that mystery. And I know that lead quippie Steve Parish only spells his last name with one "r." But that doesn't mean that anyone else would necessarily know how to spell his name, even his fellow roadies. Needless to say, I still have the fan, packed away in storage. Waiting for The Rest Of The Story, if there is one.
You should turn that thing on and see if you really have to move. In all seriousness, intriguing story.
There's no question that specific events sometimes inspired rh's song lyrics. But it's a different matter to infer that the meaning of the song is to be reduced to being "about" that event. As the liner note on the back cover of Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die LP points out, a good song lyric makes itself available to many other interpretations. Not so much on account of imprecise language as due to the lapidary levels of meaning to be drawn from the symbolism. Both Dylan and Hunter often use very clearly outlined imagery, but multiple different pictures- and scenarios- can be drawn from the connotations. The latent potential of the words can activate quite unexpectedly many years after the writing of them, to make connections with events and even personal experiences, on an ongoing basis...whaat? < whaat?
Right. Cher's heart has always been in the right place. True confession: Fact: I’ve occasionally wondered what Cher would sound like singing some of Donna Jean’s parts on Dead songs ........back in the 70’s....., .”Me and My Uncle > Bang, Bang (He Shot Me Down) ...........
WoW , awesome. Didn’t consciously know, but the collective unconscious is always on duty and gave that to me. lol.
I always already have to move, anyway. It is a "vintage mid-century" fan. A Toastmaster. As found, the brushes are a little cooked- the prop often requires a bit of priming, wanting a few spins to engage properly. And then there's an intermittent squeal... All of those indications arguably amount to more clues that my extravagant conjecture may be correct. One day, I may navigate the labyrinth of modern photo hosting- figure out the entire 3-step process of how to register, and then load some photos on to it. As yet, something else always seems to come up to distract me. I admit, I've basically been pouting ever since Photobucket locked me out of my own photo archive. Really. The sheer perfidy of it. It's soured me on the entire activity.
No, actually, it's an intriguing take on the song that I'd never quite put together. Maybe stupid that I missed the obvious wordplay, but it's an interesting new angle on the song for me to consider. Also, The Fan by Little Feat is a freaking fantastic song.
That's interesting. I mean, I've never read anything about it being about anyone in particular, but it seems pretty obvious to me that it's about a rabid female fan who they (or Jerry or someone) didn't want to know. I knew about the office fan association back in the day (I had a box fan in my frat room in '83-'85 that I labeled "Bertha"), and I'd always assumed that the fanatic thing came first and then the office fan thing happened around the same time, and someone referred to the office fan as Bertha, they all got a laugh and then Hunter wrote the tune. Maybe that's too tidy...
I'm glad to see all of the deep exploration into Cher and of course the standard Elvis - Donna - Dead connection. Props to the mention of Silkwood above - I haven't seen that in 30 years but it was a fantastic movie and an important story which continues to remain relevant. Not the nuclear regulatory part but the general abuse of power in search of more money whenever possible. As for my interpretation of Touch of Grey, the idea that Hunter didn't write many songs with a singular clear message is an important one. However, once any art is created, it no longer "belongs" to the creator, it belongs to the audience. This year, or more specifically last night, Touch of Grey was about me in the audience, getting to do something I have sorely missed. Finally, Jerry's cover of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is absolutely worth hearing, and the video has Ashley Judd in it, which never hurts. This was one of the last "new" things Jerry did, I think the video came out soon after he died. One of the commenters on youtube says that they were considering it for their wedding song. I don't think they listened to the lyrics that closely. So, I chaffed them As I gaily laughed To think they would doubt our love Yet today, my love has gone away I am without my love (without my love) Now, laughing friends deride Tears, I cannot hide Oh-oh-oh-oh So, I smile and say "When a lovely flame dies Smoke gets in your eyes"
Shows most enjoyed last week: 4/22/79 Spartan, 4/8/85 Spectrum. Both of these have pristine SBD sources that I don't remember being so clear, and excellent performances. Shows upcoming to review this week: 7/19/90 Deer Creek, 10/3/81 Rainbow Theatre & 6/22/86 Greek Theatre.
Are we talking about rap again then? I'd forgotten about these. This one's OK but 'Party and ********' is better. There was a set of them that was someone actually rapping over GD beats, but I can't find the same ones now
Speaking of wedding music, I went to my cousin's wedding ~4 years or so ago, and one of his friends was in charge of the music, after about 1030 PM it was nothing but techno. Too bad I didn't have this kind of thing:
