Daryl Hall: Sacred Songs

Daryl Hall was best known for being in Hall and Oates, a classic eighties pop'n'soul duo that contained one man who looked like Freddie Mercury and another man who looked Princess Diana.

Relatively few people know about his collaborations with Robert Fripp. the guitarist best known as the leader of King Crimson, and whose particularly English weirdness is almost impossible to describe, but summed up very well by the phrase "happily married to Toyah Wilcox", which indeed he is.

I used to have this album on cassette; I wore the tape out, but then I found it on CD when I went to San Francisco. It stands the test of time, as they say.

I'm a bit disappointed to have found out that the idea for 'Without Tears' was actually taken from a book called 'Magick Without Tears' by Aleister Crowley. I'm not a fan of the occult. I liked the song because it was all about emotions, and being articulate about emotions. Even today, when I cry about all kinds of things, I care very much about being able to talk.

Without Tears

Too much time is wasted on the world
Too much time is wasted on you, girl
Indifferent or cold
A dragged-up scene from an old dream
Does it surprise you where those feelings can go?

Too much power is wasted on the wrong words
Too much power is wasted on the words
And if there's one thing I've learned through the years
It's how to pour my heart out without tears
Without tears.

Earth magic

Looking for the lines
But never knowing that stream
Ley line the spring that's always flowing
Spirals up and down then reverse direction
Don't you wonder where the energy goes?

Too many secrets have been told this way
Too many secrets have been given away
But if there's one thing I've learned through the years
It's how to pour my heart out without tears
Without tears

Earth magic

DARYL HALL

Grace

Hugh McLeod, the cartoonist who drew "Love Begets Love" just sent me a wonderful quote about Jeff Buckley.

I remember the late, great Jeff Buckley describing "Grace" as "the idea of your own mortality not being that bad, once you've found True Love."

I thought that was worth passing on.

Hugh sells prints of his cartoons from his website at http://www.gapingvoid.com Pay him a visit and spend a little money.

Mood Swings

80%

20%

Twenty Ten

I took a long holiday over Christmas and New Year, and went to stay with friends. It was the right thing to do, because I was physically and emotionally tired, and as soon as I got on the train to London I began to feel myself unfolding.

2009 was a moderately good year for me, but I feel very glad the first decade of the century is over. (Apologies to anyone who counts from one and not zero.) It was a hard decade for me, including the death of a child, the end of a marriage and, very nearly, the loss of my whole self.

We live and learn. And we love one another, the best we can.

Happy New Current Year, everybody.

Writ by his own hand this day,
St. Dwynwen's Day,
in the Year of Our Lord Ten Past Eight

Happy Holidays

Gordie is spending Christmas with friends.

Twenty-Third of December

Twenty-third of december
Covered in snow
You in the kitchen
With the lights way down low
I'm in the parlor
Playing my old guitar
Speaking to you, darling,
To find out how you are
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight

Come to me softly
Come to me quiet
Know what i'm after
I'm gonna try it

Snowstorm's on the way
We'll be stranded for a week
Come over to the window,
Look outside take a peek
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight

You know I am lonely
And in need of your company
Oh, let your love light
Shine on down on me

And we can just sit here
Look at the fire
Watch the flames leaping higher and higher
Tea on the stove food in the pan
Ain't going nowhere and we don't have many plans
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight

And you know i am lonely
I been in need of your company
Let your love shine on down on me
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight
I wanna roo you,
Wanna get through to you
I wanna woo you,
Woo you tonight

Woo you tonight, pretty baby
Woo you tonight, little darling
Woo you tonight, alright
Woo you tonight
VAN MORRISON

Hiding Your Sexual Orientation From Your Parents

This recently de-classified material is made available to readers of HotVimto on a need-to-know basis.

(Yes, I'm still working on my thesis.)

I'm Still Here

Hello, world of blog. I'm still here. I'm busy. I'm writing my dissertation and I don't have a lot of time for anything else. I'm happy, but feeling a lot of other emotions besides. (I have a wounded child to take care of. It's me.)

Gordie

Hello World,

Nothing really bad is happening in my life. Nothing really good, either. I'm just writing my PhD and that is the most important thing in the world, and it cannot be postponed any longer.

I love you all, each in your own way.

Comfort Eating

Note to self: too much 'comfort eating'. I need to lose some weight.

Anti Bullying Week

In the UK, this week has been Anti - Bullying Week.

Yep. There's still a lot of it about. So, we're spreading positive messages, encouraging the youth to be confident and support one another .

There'll be another wacky, zany, dark and gloomy blog post along soon.

Killing Floor

蜜柑

Do not leave satsumas where you can tread on them.

They don't complain like kittens do, but, as they die, their juices soak into your stocking, and you feel as though your foot needs its nappy changing.

(Just sayin'...)

Best Venn Diagram Ever

There's a Fire still Burnin'

Things I found while looking for my father:

1. The blues
2. Bars
3. Smoke-filled rooms
4. Dirty women.

I had actually discovered all of these things before the old man passed away, but I never got to share them with him. He was weak and scarred and scared, and no longer the stud he had been in his navy days. He complained about the noise at a couple of my parties, and helped me once when I got pulled in by the police, and that was about it.

After he was gone, I went looking for lessons in how to be a man. And I went looking in the company of women. Not the normal way of doing it, I think, but it just seemed to me that the old John Wayne and Clint Eastwood type of masculinity was all washed up and nowhere to go.

I was sorry that John Lennon wanted to be with Yoko rather than Paul, and Marc Bolan ended up wrapped around a tree rather than Gloria Jones [G.L.O.R.I.A], but you know, I was right. It was the late twentieth century, and the way to be a man was to listen to the ladies, and find out what they wanted.


Mary Coughlan knew what she wanted.

I got a heart that's broken hearted,
How do I mend it?
I got a crying jag that's started,
How do I end it?
Well, honey, if you're gloomy
Come around and do me
Meet me where they play the blues

A day or two ago, I started singing this song to myself. (Yes, dear reader, I had a 'crying jag'. ) It's an old jazz standard from the twenties written by Jack Teagarden, but Ms Coughlan, being a fine, forthright, hard-drinking Irishwoman from County Galway, upgraded the lyrics a bit so that you knew exactly what was on her mind.

And you know, there's crying yourself to sleep, and there's crying yourself to sleep. Sometimes , the experience can be improved, without in any way changing the underlying mood or denying it, by matching it to the right music and the right company.

People have said they've seen you dance
In hideaway places
People have said you find romance
In others' embraces
Well, honey, if you're dreamy
Come along and see me
Meet me where they play the blues

Eyes that flirt with a tear
Are common round here
And misery loves company, they say
So I'll linger 'til dawn
While the trumpet wails on
And I'm hopin' you'll happen this way

I'm sick and tired of sippin' wine
And watchin' the bubbles
How did our dreams get out of line
And land us in trouble?
Well, honey, if you're learnin'
There's a fire still burnin'
Meet me where they play
I want you wehre they play
Meet me where they play the blues
MARY COUGHLAN

Manchester, so Much to Answer For

Welcome to the North.

Motto

You can knock me down
But I won't get up again.

York

York. So good they named it once.

Eventually

Eventually you realise
the creature in the woods
doesn't want to kill you.

When Two is Not Enough

This morning I feel afraid.

I feel afraid of someone I haven't seen for a long, long time, who is no threat to me any more.
Maybe I'm not afraid of the person so much as the fact that I tried and failed to get that person to respect my wishes and not hurt me.

I have two strategies with difficult people: a simple strategy and a subtle strategy.

The simple strategy is that I say "please don't do that, I don't like it", as kindly and as clearly as I can, and if that doesn't get a result, I withdraw. I mean I leave the room, and only come back when I'm ready.

The subtle strategy doesn't work.

Today I'm just not happy with having the two options of the simple strategy. I don't know why. There are problem of you out there who recognise the dilemma. I have no name for it, I'm unable to let go of it, and though I feel completely safe, I am afraid.