Changing Opinion
February 28th, 2007 at 1:04 am (Uncategorized)
Changing Opinion - Music: Philip Glass / Lyrics: Paul Simon / Vocals: Bernard Fowler Songs From Liquid Days [1986] By Adam Collier
Back when I was in high school when it got warm out, I would stay up all night writing things in chalk on my street. Sometimes I drew pictures, like from Calvin and Hobbes but mostly it was words. When cars drove too fast over the chalk, it would smear or rise like steam, but if they were going slow, the chalk would crush into the blacktop. One of the first things I copied down were the lyrics to this song. I only found out later its words were by Paul Simon; it was originally the minimalist music by Philip Glass that drew me to this song. Minimalism stresses small changes over big ones, and Simon’s lyrics, well, they build to a fairly profound thought…
Maybe it’s the hum Of changing opinion Or a foreign language In prayer Maybe it’s the mantra Of the walls and wiring Deep breathing In soft air
…but gets there gradually. (I like that). The marriage of polyrhythms–the sequence of changes of note emphasis in the chords we hear on the piano and flute–and Simon’s subtle lyrics, is a good one. I’m in no position to critique the singing. What I can tell you though, is that playing the piano that quickly, making slow variations is technically challenging. When I wrote this out on the street I had also hoped that this girl I had a crush on, who lived just a few houses down the street, would see it and we would have something to talk about. But when I asked her about the lyrics on the street, she said she hadn’t noticed them.
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Ribin said,
February 28, 2007 at 1:44 am
see http://doted.info
Tony said,
March 6, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I like this song. I like the effect the slow vocals over the fast piano has. It’s like slow-motion music. The post is beautifully written. Adam has always had the inside track on Glass and the various soundtracks he’s done. I think the first time I heard any of his music was at the Farm-though I don’t remember the name of the album, I do remember what the CD cover looked like: it was a trapezoid of some kind with light passing through it, turning into all the colours of the spectrum.
Ana said,
March 11, 2007 at 3:21 pm
beautiful words beautiful song
the song reminds me of my cousin playing the piano. he always tried to impress us by playing really pasionately and flaring his nostrils…but this is better.
Ana said,
March 11, 2007 at 3:27 pm
…pasSionately
kyra said,
March 24, 2007 at 10:18 am
heat wave…brooklyn?….woodpaneling…white walls…like Annie’s apartment…but they haven’t quite moved in yet (woody wouldn’t be there, he would ruin the mood)…there literally is an electric hum in the room, it comes right before th first flute sequence…
its funny how some songs can feel so transcendental, yet they’re about imprisonment…but maybe what is so liberating about this, is that its talking about the caged perceptions of a larger phenomena…
but what is it?
maybe its like an electric storm…converging energy circuits, the walls that surround us…incromprehensible, …faith, love, distorted by modernity?
i’m curious what your take is on it.
adderall discount sales said,
March 26, 2007 at 8:10 pm
adderall discount sales…
SONGSTORY » Blog Archive » Changing…
Tony said,
March 30, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Discount sales! Really? Where?