The Prelude: Book Two

On to Book Two then- Wordsworth and his boyhood pursuits and how important nature was to him growing up. He describes an adventure with some friends, after which they dropped off 'the minstrel of our troop' on a small island (let's hope he lived there)...

And rowed off gently while he blew his flute
Alone upon the rock, oh then the calm
And dead still water lay upon my mind
Even with a weight of pleasure, and the sky,
Never before so beautiful, sank down
Into my heart and held me like a dream.

Gorgeous. And I absolutely have to stop and talk about a song here because of that phrase, weight of pleasure. I'd heard it before:

If I care enough I will break your heart
Under the weight of pleasure

Different kinds of pleasure, I guess. Any Chris Whitley song is going to have an erotic element that I just don't see so far in Wordsworth. Wordsworth found inspiration and transcendence in nature. Whitley found it... elsewhere. But the need to transcend- I see it everywhere. That's what it's all about.

mp3: Chris Whitley - Vertical Desert

On the album Rocket House, buy here or on iTunes.

Comments

[jc]

I'm asking myself what sort of drugs old Willie was on...

'...the sky,
Never before so beautiful, sank down
Into my heart and held me like a dream'

Maybe its the fact so many of the Scottish skies are grey and brooding that makes me think a sky sinking down into my heart would in fact be a nightmare.....

Listened to the song a couple of times - and had a bit of trouble picking up the lyrics which I guess are very important. I can, however, imagine liking this sort of thing late at night in the background as you make pleasant conversation with friends over an excellent bottle of wine.

You'll have to excuse my prior ignorance of Chris Whitley - this was the first song of his I've been aware of. I just checked him up on wikipedia.

I guess if you were a big fan, his untimely death was a real shock....

Q : Is there really a need to transcend?? Shouldnt we be happy with the hand dealt to us????

[Greer]

I like your practical perspective on things, my friend :). Of course you're right.

I did know that Chris Whitley was very sick but yes, it was still a shock. He was a great live performer. His phrasing makes the lyrics hard to understand- I totally agree with you there. This song and the album it's from are not completely representative of his sound- he loved to experiment but he was a bluesman at heart. I will definitely try to shoehorn more of him onto the CP!