Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (08)

t was an exhausting week in an exhausting winter. I am but a traveler on a very long journey who reached two significant milestones this week. The first: I survived surgery. My new eyes are still fuzzy in mornings and low light night situations. But in a mid day test, the right which was pre-surgery 20/800, tested as 20/15. The left which was 20/900 tested as 20/25. "Well I met him at the bottom of a well (of a well) Well I told him I was tryin to break a spell (break a spell) " I had wanted to do this for the past three years, but a series of heartbreaking family events intervened. Honor, and sense of duty bid me to drop all concerns for my own life to help others. In both cases, the result was the death of a loved one, and the latter one had so many tragic circumstances tied to it, that it came within an inch of taking me, too. I survived, though ravaged and shot to hell, almost down for the count myself. But here I am, writing today. The second milestone is the rebuilding of myself, from the foundation up. I begin this on November 10th, fasting for weeks on end. Now I have introduced an extended six day a week very low calorie regime. Added to this is three to four day a week cardio workout. I now have lost 31 pounds and weigh what I did before the recent trials and tribulations began. And yet this is but a single mile post, and the road lays out before me a far as the eye can see, and beyond. Moonlight on the water. Sunlight on my face. You and me together. We are in our place. The gods are in the heavens. Angels treat us well. Oracles have spoken. We cast the perfect spell. So I reach the summit of the mountain pass at last, where air is so thin you almost pass out, and the roadway is become graveled ruts and mud. And now I cross over to the downward slope of the pass leading into the slow explosive virulence of an ever bountiful spring. So this week's long and complex soup marks the end of but but one leg of a journey, as another begins with the beginning of the descent from the mountains, and into the undiscovered country. 1. Long Haired Lady (Fragment) This lovely fragment of a much larger song is from Paul McCartney's 1971 Ram. However, this roots of this go back to an unfinished lost Beatles song dating from thier 1969 project known by the duel titles of "Get Back" and "Let it Be". Someday soon, I will begin to tell you all about that project under the name "Get Back to Let It Be...Dissected". 2. Soft Parade The ending of the title song from the Doors 1969 LP . Reflections of William S. Burroughs' novel The Soft Machine (first published 1961, revised "first" edition published 1966). The poetry speaks for itself. The Soft Parade has now begun Listen to the engines hum People out to have some fun, Ccobra on my left, Leopard on my right, yeah. Deer woman in a silk dress. Girls with beads around their necks. Kiss the hunter of the green vest, Who has wrestled before With lions in the night. Out of sight! The lights are getting brighter. The radio is moaning, calling to the dogs. There are still a few animals, left out in the yard. But its getting harder, to describe sailors,to the underfed 3. Oh Woman Oh Why Also from the Ram sessions. Paul is basically stating that Linda saved him from the total nervous breakdown he suffered when he left the Beatles. 4. Art Decade Another fantastic instrumental by David Bowie from his landmark 1977 “Low” LP. 5. One Horse Town Elton John off Blue Moves. Ironic that this LP was considered a dissapointment at the time since it includes some of his most intrieging work. 6. Clean Up Time From John Lennon's Double Fantasy swan song, recorded shortly before he was killed. 7. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues From one of the greatest all time LP's: Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. I started out on burgundy But soon hit the harder stuff Everybody said they'd stand behind me When the game got rough But the joke was on me There was nobody even there to bluff I'm going back to New York City I do believe I've had enough 8. Long Haired Lady Reprise This is how this song ends in a wonderful orchestrated chaos. Seems like a good way to both wrap up this week's Soup, and to wrap up the winter of 2006-07 for the history books. I hearby declare it to be spring! All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 31.2 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup for the Soul by clicking the jukebox.