On The Road To Find Out

That earlier post about Sad Lisa got me wondering why I hadn't dealt with Cat Stevens before. Ultra strange, 'cause I love his music.

He was popular at a time when Folk music was enjoying a resurgence, and the acoustic guitar dominates his work, but his range was just too broad for that little cubby hole.

You've got your folky singer-songwriter stuff like If I Laugh, and your folky protest songs like But I Might Die Tonight, but you also have pop singer-songwriter tunes like Can't Keep It In. You've got your Mediterranean-influenced "folk" like Ruby Love, but you've got your Pop-Rock songs like Ready and Bitter Blue, which could have been played by The Who or Led Zeppelin.

Which brings me to the rhythm and percussion. Most of his songs are filled with rhythmic hooks, layers of percussion, and drummers going nuts. Even songs that begin as seemingly simple folk tunes end up building relentlessly into something more like Rock. Check out Longer Boats and Where Do The Children Play?

It's maybe telling that the only song I could find on my iPod that was just Cat and his guitar, The Wind, is also the shortest.

For a folky, the Cat sure could dance.

Silent Thunder

I was listening to National Steel by Colin James the other night and a remarkable think happened: I got totally caught up in the driving beat. Foot tapping, knee bouncing, head bobbing ...

Not so unusual for a good song with a driving beat? Here's the thing: it happened without drums! It's an acoustic number. The drums enter late and build slowly - way after I'd been swept into the song. The guitar is mostly off the beat, in a Hooker boogie sort of way.

So what's going on? My brain, my something, decided the beat was there even though it wasn't. I supplied it in my head. And it was powerful.

How does that work? Cultural conditioning? Memory? Association? Emotion?

Did Colin James intend me to react that way or did I do it myself?

I don't have the scientific knowledge to understand what part(s) of my brain or what triggers in my electro-chemical system were in play. All I know is that I was hearing - no, feeling - something that wasn't there.

But it was, and that's magic.