What About Now?

Well, that’s all there is, right?

As Robbie Robertson sings: forget about tomorrow, don’t talk of yesterday; it’s too far away.

And does anything snap us into the moment as quickly, as forcefully, as completely, as music?  Not for me.

Ya, the big goal, the killer homerun, the nail-biting election; they’re pretty intense.  And all successful art makes you stop and think – and feel.  But music reigns supreme.  It takes you out of time and puts you in the moment.

You can feel energy you didn’t know you had in you, experience a dormant emotion, or get deep into an idea you didn’t care about.

You dance; you sing along, you listen.  Music is immediate, overpowering, total.  There’s nothing like it.

Music is right now.

On a Night Like This

Best Concert Movies of All Time list takes on a whole new dimension.  Here’s the list:

 1. The Last Waltz – The Band et al

 2. The Song Remains the Same – Led Zeppelin

 3. Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads

 4. Woodstock – everyone who was big at the time, and then some

 5. Rattle and Hum – U2

 6. Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones

 7. Live at Pompeii – Pink Floyd

 8. Shine a Light – The Rolling Stones

 9. Sign O’ the Times – that guys whose name keeps changing

10. Bullet in a Bible – Green Day

It’s fitting that the Stones get on the list twice, as it is that Scorcese directed two of these gems.

I wish that Led Zeppelin had made another film, though.  Or maybe I just wish there were none of those lame fantasy sequences.  Zep was fantastic in concert, and so they need to be on the list.  I just wish …

Speaking of wishing, a few shows I wish I’d been at and would therefore nominate for this list:

The Concert for George

AC/DC Live at Donnington

Queen Live at Wembley

Bonnie Raitt’s Road Tested

Anyway, no quarrel with The Last Waltz topping the list.  A superb performance from a great band – a smart band who went out on top - aided by an all-star guest line up.  R.I.P. Levon

Put The Load Right On Me

Do you know what The Weight by The Band is about?

Me neither.

I mean, I know it's about a visit to Nazareth, PA where they make Martin guitars, and I know Robbie Robertson liked this Mexican filmmaker, and all that.  But what's the song really about?

Who is Carmen?  Male?  Female?  Hanging with The Devil?  Really?  How about Chester?  What's that about?  Luke?  Judgement Day?

Is this a religious song?  Apocalypse now (or soon)?  Is it just a trip?  I mean, a trip?  Is it, like so many nonsense songs of the time, about nothing at all?  Is it happy?  Sad?  Defiant?  Uplifting?  Humorous?  All the above?

No idea.

I do know this, though.  When I hear it, when I play it, I'm often (which is to say usually - OK almost always) inexplicably overcome by emotion.  Which emotion?  All of the above.

How can that be?  How can you have a strong reaction to a song when you don't even know what's going on?  When you can't really describe what the reaction is?

The song is 41 years old now, so lord knows how many times I've heard it.  And, since the reaction seems to intensify with age, maybe I've gradually projected thoughts, experiences and feelings onto the song.  A mixed up bundle of them, obviously.

Or maybe it's just magic.  After all, we're talking about music here.