Imaginos remakes and outtakes

[Carl E. Anderson]

> >really, who cares that the boat left New Orleans in 1829 ? I think that
> >the "morale" behind this is just that you can give so much power to
> >an apparently meaningless phrase just by using the "proper rock
> >intonation"...
>
> I begin to understand.. The phrase, meaningless when taken out of context,
> still has power because of the tone, inflection.. "proper rock intonation",
> whatever.. You know, you've got something there.. I guess I've always
> *known* it but never really thought about it.
> That must be part of the 'gut reaction' that we speak of.. I know that
> certain songs (by any band), though the lyrics really have no connection
> with anything in my own life, can cause a mood or remembrance.. even sadness
> or longing.. Maybe this is the same as imparting a feeling of excitement in
> rock music with tone and inflection alone..

        Exactly.  The tone, the vocal phrasing here turns a wholly
mundane phrase ("My boat left new Orleans in 1829") into a match for
the instrumental intensity behind it.
        And it works great until you get a group of cynical (and easily
amused ;) rock fans picking apart.  Then you'll find us sitting around
and parodying it with other equally mundane attempts and lines:
        "My boat left New Orleans ... IN EIGHTEEN-TWENTY NINE!"
        "My overstuffed chair ... IS VERY COMFORTABLE!"
        "At breakfast this morning ... I HAD TOAST AND JAM!"
        "People there were killed ... BY THEIR VICHY-SOISSE!"

        (Sorry about that last one ... couldn't resist ;)

> Then again.. Maybe I just have way too much free time on my hands.. :>

        Then maybe if none of us did, we wouldn't be here ;)

> Understood.. If you've ever listened to a band called Phish - most of their
> lyrics make no sense what-so-ever, but still can have a powerful effect..
> perhaps because of 'proper rock intonation'?

        "What ever you do ... TAKE CARE OF YOUR SHOES!"

Cheers,
Carl

ObPhish/BOCLink: somewhere amongst my belongings in the States is a
        tape of Phish doing the vocal jam out of YEM based on the
        middle section of Godzilla ...