Cardigan (Week Twenty)

08/01/2020

Cardigan (Week Twenty)

I've been thinking about something the governor said last week in response to a question about taxing billionaires. I wasn't paying close attention, so some of these figures might be off, but the idea was that a relatively small number of billionaires could be taxed quite heavily in order to close a $20 billion deficit that New York State now faces. Cuomo thought it was hilarious: 'If we taxed billionaires like that,' he said, 'there wouldn't be any billionaires left!' Sometimes people are so used to looking at the world through their own lens -- while assuming that the world they have always known represents the right way to do things, usually by way of their having acquired power in it -- that it doesn't occur to them that an idea they find ridiculous would, if implemented, actually be an improvement.

This week the park was an oasis on my morning runs, which because of the hot, humid weather continued to fall on the (self-inflicted) torture side of the spectrum. But even when I'm dying, I always feel better running through the park; something about being with the trees and the flowers makes the rest of the world and its billionaires seem far away.

One of the nice things about living uptown is that (I'm pretty sure), unlike the rest of Manhattan, it's free of billionaires. It makes me wonder what Cuomo would say if he visited. 'What's wrong with this place? Where are all my billionaires?'

This week Taylor Swift release a new album called 'Folklore,' which made me think of one of my favorite Husker Du songs of the same name. My knowledge of Taylor Swift comes mostly from watching Terrace House, which featured at least two of her songs as themes for different seasons of the show. A few years ago, I surprised one of my nieces (a big TS fan) by singing along with her to 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.' So far I've only listened to one song from her new record -- 'Cardigan' -- which more than anything made me wish I could crawl through our piano bench and end up in a cool river in the middle of a forest. Maybe one day I'll hear it on Terrace House.

Somehow I've reached a stage of my life where I'm incapable of appreciating mass American culture except when filtered through mass Japanese culture (or maybe just through Terrace House). Terrace House is the invisible audience I think about when I work on one of my own songs: I ask myself if it (or, more likely, five-fifteen seconds of it) could ever be used on Terrace House, and while I'm sure the practical answer is 'not in a million years' it feels good to imagine. Life goes on and our dreams evolve. Anyway, I was inspired by Taylor Swift to also write a song called 'Cardigan,' but from the vantage point of saying goodbye to the cardigan instead of *being* the cardigan (as in her song). I think a lot (especially in lockdown) about saying goodbye to things I've grown attached to; something like an old sweater, or maybe the metaphorical version of an old sweater. The spirit of these reflections is not just melancholy: to be aware of a looming goodbye can also help to make the present, while we still possess this thing, seem more valuable. I think a big part of life as an adult is learning how to balance the dread of death (in its many forms) with the pleasures of life. (If that makes sense.) Here's the song:

And here's a link.

Production notes (***New Feature***): Recorded and mixed on Cubasis (for iOS). I was happy to use my acoustic guitar, which is a very old (circa 1930) Martin. It's not always easy to record in this context but I think the tone came through nicely (I doubled the finger picking part). The electric guitar is a Fender Telecaster Custom from 1972, which IMO always sounds great. So far I haven't found a guitar distortion setting/plug-in I like in any electronic context. (Send recommendations!) Will it ever not be too soon to use a synthesized flute on the long outro of a song? Probably, but I couldn't resist. I would love to be able a record a real tambourine but all my attempts sounded like garbage, so for now the electronic version will have to suffice :)

Be wide awake.

Posted at 11:31 AM in Expression, Science Projects | Permalink

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Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine

Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.

Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past

Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.

Video: The Chaos Detective

The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.

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Expression//Reaction//ScienceProjects

08/01/2020