"When I Hear Music, I Fear No Danger"

April 20, 2020 / Kurt F. Stone

Without question, these are very strange, trying, and frightening times. We’ve been through them before and shall no doubt go through them again . . . but not quite like this. I wonder if we will ever again say the noun normal without first using the adjective new or putting the term in finger quotes. For some, times like these call for extra shots of Cocchi Vermouth di Verino or 25-year old Dalmore; for others it might involve watching Casablanca for the 900th time or rereading Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here for the 12th time. If it weren’t that I post weekly thousand-word political essays and lecture on both politics and political history online (until we get back into the classroom) I wouldn’t be spending any time watching the news or reading the Times, Post or The New Yorker. It’s just so all-fired nauseating.

To me, one of the healthiest things a fellow sufferer can do (gym is closed) is listen to music . . . and not just any music. Selecting precisely which tunes from what genres can keep one’s psyche safely afloat. And then, the mere act of listening and singing or humming along can act as a wondrous humane cocoon. The right song, the best sonata, that chart-topper from ages long gone, can be a restorative panacea for a torturous pandemic. One is reminded of Thoreau’s marvelous bit of insight: When I hear music, I fear no danger!

Wishing ever so much to allay a bit of fear and loathing while pasting a smile and a remembrance of things past (avec mes excuses, M. Proust) I would like to share with you 3 songs: one which can bring a tear to the eye; one which can put a smile on the face, and the 3rd which will hopefully put a bit of awe and optimism into the soul.

The first is Paul Simon’s 1973 piece American Tune, as sung by Paul and Art Garfunkle (who did not appear on the original recording) at a concert in New York’s Central Park on September 19,, 1981. The ever dexterous Simon “borrowed” the major motif for this song from J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (who in turn bodily stole it from a composer named Hans Leo Hassler) and is, in my mind, the most patriotic, most deeply American song ever written. It is one of the few songs always - and I mean ALWAYS - brought tears to my eyes:

"American Tune"
Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
But I'm all right, I'm all right
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
But it's all right, it's all right
For we've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all, I'm trying to get some rest

Next comes “Fly Me to the Moon,” written by Bart Howard and Kaye Ballad in 1954, and most famously, recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1964 and closely associated with the initial Apollo flight to the moon. Over the years it has also been recorded by the likes of Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and Judy Garland. The version we include is here by the then 5 year old Sophie Fatu, an extraordinarily talented little girl who really has music in her soul. I posted this last week on my Facebook page and received a lot of “likes” and “loves.” I have already watched/listed to it a couple of dozen times. To me, it expresses the delight, the energy and simple pure sweetness of extreme youth . . . an emotional pick-me-up at a time of extreme fatigue:

"Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)"

Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On a-Jupiter and Mars

In other words: hold my hand
In other words: baby, kiss me

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words: please, be true
In other words: I love you

Fill my heart with song
Let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words: please, be true
In other words, in other words: I love you

Lastly, The Weight, a 1968 song written by Robbie Robertson and recorded by his group, “The Band,” one of the greatest rock bands of all time. It is a fairly esoteric piece containing the end-of stanza phrase:

Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and, and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)

The reason I included this song is two-fold:

It always brings me back to my years as an undergraduate at the University of California: a time of growth, of exploration and experimentation, a time of political awakening and spiritual growth; a time - even before Woodstock - when we truly believed our generation could change and heal the world, and
The extraordinary new, online version of this song in which musicians from virtually all over the globe - some world famous, many unknown outside their own neighborhoods, combine in the isolation wrought by Covid-19, to record and video a single song. Like Michael Jackson’s “We Are the World,” it sends a message of healing; that together, people from all over the world, working in harmony towards a single goal, can accomplish great things for humanity. Unlike Jackson’s paean - in which dozens upon dozens of musicians gathered on a single recording stage - this time around, Robertson’s message was recorded and performed all over the planet . . . in perfect musical and human unity.

To me, watching and listening to this wondrously conceived, brilliantly mastered piece of musical technology, shows what people can accomplish by working together. Together, perhaps, we can make the world more a family sharing pretty much the same dangers and dreams, inspired by the same goals and ambitions. This weight is truly The Weight:

"The Weight (Concert Version)"
(from "The Last Waltz" soundtrack)

I pulled into Nazareth, just to feelin' about half past dead
I just need to place where I can lay my head
"Uh, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, but "no" was all he said

Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and, and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)

I picked up my bag, and went a-lookin' for a place to hide
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walkin' side by side
And I said, "Hey, Carmen, come on would you go downtown?"
She said, "Well, I gotta go but my friend can stick around."

Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and, and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)

Go down, Miss Moses, there ain't nothin' you can say
'Cause it's just old Luke and Luke's a-waitin' on the Judgment Day
"Well, now, Luke, my friend, what about young Anna Lee?"
He said, "Do me a favor, son, won't you stay and keep this Anna Lee company?"

And take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and, and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)

Crazy Chester followed me, yes, he caught me in the fog
He said, "I will fix your rack if you take old Jack, my dog."
I said, "Wait a minute, Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man."
He said, "That's OK, boy, won't you feed old Chester when the other eat."

Yeah, take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and, and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)

I catch a cannon ball now to take me over down the line
'Cause my bag is sinkin' low and I do believe it's time
To get back to Miss Fanny, you know that she's the only one
She sent me here with her regards for everyone

Take a load off Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off Fanny
And (and, and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me).

H.D. Thoreau is/was/always shall be true when he begins his verse: “When I hear music, I shall fear no danger . . .”

So too is the end of the verse right on the money: “I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.”

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay kind. Stay humble. Stay home.

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