From wikipedia:

Trinity was the first test of technology for a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States on 16 July 1945, at a location 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, on what is now White Sands Missile Range, headquartered near Alamogordo. Trinity was a test of an implosion-design plutonium bomb. The Fat Man bomb, using the same conceptual design, was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, a few weeks later. The detonation was equivalent to the explosion of around 20 kilotons of TNT and is usually considered as the beginning of the Atomic Age…At the time of detonation, the surrounding mountains were illuminated “brighter than daytime” for one to two seconds, and the heat was reported as “being as hot as an oven” at the base camp. The observed colors of the illumination ranged from purple to green and eventually to white. The roar of the shock wave took 40 seconds to reach the observers. The shock wave was felt over 100 miles (160 km) away, and the mushroom cloud reached 7.5 miles (12 km) in height. As Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer watched the demonstration, he later said that a line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita came to mind:

I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

(more…)

Will you start my dreams
Or will you end my schemes
Or will you let me go down so low?

You and me baby
Well we got no friends
Except for you and me baby
This is journey’s end
And I try to hang on to all those precious smiles
But I’m tired of walking and it must be miles

Every time I took your hand
I felt so moved
Did you feel it too?

You and me baby
Well we got no friends
Except for you and me baby
This is journey’s end
And I try to hang on to all those precious words
But they don’t come easy
No I know they hurt

You and me baby
We’ll help each other
And I’ll be your sister if you’ll be my brother
And we won’t be parted
And we will be friends
‘Cause it’s you and me baby
It’s journey’s end
Every time I took your hand
I had a first class ticket
To the promised land

Rosebud, oh Rosebud
He turned to me and wept
A vaguely coded message
I could never intercept

You and me baby
Well we got no friends
Except for you and me baby
This is journey’s end
You and me baby
We’ll help each other
And I’ll be your sister if you’ll be my brother

© Marr/MacColl

From wikipedia:

The Battle of Waterloo, fought near the town of Waterloo in Belgium on Sunday 18 June 1815,^[5] was the decisive battle of the Waterloo Campaign, and Napoleon Bonaparte’s last. Waterloo marked the end of the period known as the Hundred Days, which began in March 1815 after Napoleon’s return from Elba, where he had been exiled after his defeats at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and the campaigns of 1814 in France. The defeat put a final end to Napoleon’s rule as Emperor of the French.

…The battlefield is in present-day Belgium, about eight miles (12 km) SSE of Brussels, and about a mile (2 km) from the town of Waterloo. The site of the battlefield is today dominated by a large mound of earth, the Lion’s Hillock. As this mound used earth from the field itself, the original topography has not been preserved.

Should you find real history dull and uninteresting, I offer you history gussied up with sequins and satin and platform boots:

My my, at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah, and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way
The history book on the shelf
Is always repeating itself

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - couldn’t escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - finally facing my Waterloo

My my, I tried to hold you back but you were stronger
Oh yeah, and now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight
And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - couldn’t escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - knowing my fate is to be with you

And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - couldn’t escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - finally facing my Waterloo
© ABBA, 1974

I fell in love with Rinfy the gypsy.
He said when I grew up he’d marry me,
Carry me away on his steed.

“Don’t worry, my baby!
Don’t die, my funny little darling!
I’m going away for a little while,
And shouldn’t be gone for very long.”

Ooh, then I really fell for Geoffrey, our gardener.
He said he’d marry me, too.
Oh, and I believed him, just like a fool.

“Don’t worry, my honey!
Don’t die, my funny little doll!
I’m going away for a little while.
Shouldn’t be gone for very long.”
(Ooh, long, long, long…)

Playing canasta in c-cold rooms,
Playing canasta in cold rooms,
Playing canasta upstairs, downstairs,
And in my lover’s…ooh…

I met a boy who took me upstairs,
Then took me in his arms and told me
I comforted him, uh-huh.

“Don’t worry, my dear,
Don’t cry, you weird little stranger.
I’m going away.
You probably won’t ever see me again.”

Oh, yes, I know, I’m always falling,
Gazing at hazy goldfish in your swimming eyes.
How could I not lie there with you?

“Don’t worry, my darling!
Don’t die, my silly little baby!
I’m going away for a little while,
And shouldn’t be gone for very long.”
(Ooh, long, long, long!)

Playing canasta in c-cold rooms,
Playing canasta in cold rooms,
Playing canasta upstairs, downstairs,
And in my lover’s…ooh…

© KaTe Bush

Field of Mars

It’s a long way home from the Field of Mars
Distant, alone, beneath the platinum stars
And I turn to look, but I’m never any closer
Only just the rain makes the skin feel colder
All my life seems so far away
The air is soft in the Field of Mars
Tears and loss feed the overgrown grass
And I have to leave, but I never seem to go
Only more sad clouds where autumn winds will blow
All my dreams seem so long ago
Oh, Field of Mars
Time is past in the Field of Mars
Grief won’t last in the departing cars
And I call her name, but she never, ever hears
And I call again to the cruelty of the years
Oh my love she’s so far away
Oh, Field of Mars

I’ve spent eighteen years of my life disliking this album to the point of insanity. There’s no good reason I can offer for this, no excuses, nothing tangible. I just didn’t like Never for Ever (circa 1980) and could have lived without it for the rest of my life. In fact, I have lived without it for quite a few years; oh, it’s been in my collection and there are a couple of songs I do like quite a lot, but NfE was never the first, second, or last KaTe album I ever chose to play. I thought of it as an aberration, an odd little detour taken before she got back on track and released Hounds of Love (1985)…yes, I know The Dreaming (1982) came between these two, but I didn’t like that one for a long time, either, save just a couple of songs (does this sound familiar?)

I’m not sure what got stuck in my craw a week ago, but I absolutely had to listen to Never for Ever. I haven’t stopped since, at least in my car and I recognize the obsession I now have for it. Obsession is definitely not too strong a word, either. For the time being, this is the only KaTe music I want to hear. Over and over and over, to the exclusion of even Rinfy the Gypsy (you weird little stranger), but not including Rocket Man (on a mixed CD with which I am also currently obsessed, but that’s another story).

I’ve got all sorts of jumbled thoughts regarding NfE being the only album KaTe could have done before The Dreaming, which many consider to be her finest work. NfE, I believe, gives the listener a good idea of where she’s going musically, but simply can’t because of limitations created by not having her own studio where she would later create incredible sounds and effects for the songs that would act as our very own passport to carry us over and even more deeply into her world, vis a vis Hounds of Love and Aerial (2005). The Sensual World and The Red Shoes are, in my opinion, pedestrian albums lacking the raw power of the three albums preceding them and the one following. There’s no one song in particular on NfE to which I can point and say, “That’s the launching pad for KaTe’s trajectory, without question,” however; each of the ten tracks on NfE play a bit in that trajectory leading to The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, and finally, Aerial, even Night Scented Stock (where there are no words, just that magnificent voice ooh-ooh-oohing and la-la-lahing without the aid of any instrument that I can discern). I’m not even sure explaining the parts each plays would be possible, at least not today. This is definitely something I’d like to explore a bit further, so consider this to be continued.

Aside from all that, the album cover itself is definitely the most interesting of all eight studio albums KaTe’s released. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

All We Ever Look For

Just look at your father

And you’ll see how you took after him.

Me, I’m just another

Like my brothers

Of my mother’s genes.

All they ever want for you

Are the things they didn’t do.

All they ever wanted–a little clue.

All they ever wanted–the truth.

All they ever wanted–a little bit of you.

All they ever wanted,

But they never did get.

The whims that we’re weeping for

Our parents would be beaten for

Leave the breast

And then the rest

And then regret you ever left.

All we’re ever looking for

Is another open door.

All we ever look for–another womb.

All we ever look for–our own tomb.

All we ever look for–ooh, la lune.

All we ever look for–a little bit of you, too.

All we ever look for,

But we never do score.

All we ever look for–a god.

All we ever look for–ooh, a drug.

All we ever look for–a great big hug.

All we ever look for–a little bit of you.

All we ever look for–a little bit of you, too.

All we ever look for,

But we never do score.

…you know who you are.

Once upon a time
Once when you were mine
I remember skies
Reflected in your eyes
I wonder where you are
I wonder if you
Think about me
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

Once the world was new
Our bodies felt the morning dew
That greets the brand new day
We couldn’t tear ourselves away
I wonder if you care
I wonder if you still remember
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

And when the music plays
And when the words are
Touched with sorrow
When the music plays
I hear the sound
I had to follow
Once upon a time
Once beneath the stars
The universe was ours
Love was all we knew
And all I knew was you
I wonder if you know
I wonder if you think about it
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams

And when the music plays
And when the words are
Touched with sorrow
When the music plays
And when the music plays
I hear the sound
I had to follow
Once upon a time

Once upon a time
Once when you were mine
I remember skies
Mirrored in your eyes
I wonder where you are
I wonder if you
Think about me
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams
In your wildest dreams
In your wildest dreams

–The Moody Blues, “In Your Wildest Dreams”

Do you?

This time of year is understandably difficult for me and will only continue through May, until the anniversary of my dad’s death passes for the second time. And as I did then, I’ve put myself on a pretty much exclusive aural diet of KaTe Bush, because…well, because. That’s for another post, methinks.

Although I’ve been giving some serious thought to trawling through the Strange Cousin Susan archives from spring 2006 and reposting them, I don’t think I will. It’s more than a little maudlin and would prove of no great value to me, nor to anyone else, although I’m of the mind some of my best writing was done then.

Here. Instead of that, let me reminisce very briefly on an exchange I had with my father the week before he died. He was lying in his bed, pretty much dead and gone but for the shouting, when he called me in. “Mickey Glitter, I need to write a sales order. Can you get me the form?”

This short scene plays over and over in my head and has for almost two years now. This, and a handful of other such times were the last I saw of my dad as I’d known him for thirty-five years. And as such, they are precious to me like almost nothing else in my life is. They are more precious to me than the Rolex watch, the Antarctic certificates, the Navy ribbons…certainly, memories are not tangible; they cannot be held or worn or looked at. They are, as KaTe’s song says, moments time has given as a gift to those who will survive.

But they are much more than that…no one can ever take them away and so I’ll have them for a lifetime. The watch may break. It may get lost or stolen. The pictures may be damaged somehow. The memories, although their clarity may fade over time, will always be in my head. The good memories of that last week continue to comfort me. The bad memories of that last week continue to haunt me. But regardless of comforting or haunting, I never want to lose them.

Some moments that I’ve had

Some moments of pleasure

I think about us lying

Lying on a beach somewhere

I think about us diving

Diving off a rock, into another moment

The case of George the Wipe

Oh God I can’t stop laughing

This sense of humour of mine

It isn’t funny at all

Oh but we sit up all night

Talking about it

Just being alive

It can really hurt

And these moments given

Are a gift from time

On a balcony in New York

It’s just started to snow

He meets us at the lift

Like Douglas Fairbanks

Waving his walking stick

But he isn’t well at all

The buildings of New York

Look just like mountains through the snow

Just being alive

It can really hurt

And these moments given

Are a gift from time

Just let us try

To give these moments back

To those we love

To those who will survive

And I can hear my mother saying

“Every old sock meets an old shoe”

Isn’t that a great saying?

“Every old sock meets an old shoe”

Here come the Hills of Time

Hey there Maureen,

Hey there Bubba,

Dancing down the aisle of a plane,

‘S Murph, playing his guitar refrain,

Hey there Teddy,

Spinning in the chair at Abbey Road,

Hey there Michael,

Do you really love me?

Hey there Bill,

Could you turn the lights up?

©1993 Kate Bush Music Ltd.

There’s something incredibly sexy hearing KaTe sing, “I miss the earth so much, I miss my wife.” It’s my favorite line in the song and only in this version. I could actually live without Elton John’s original, as long as I still had this.

Rocket Man
John/Taupin

She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much, I miss my wife
It’s lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it’s cold as hell
And there’s no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I don’t understand
It’s just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time…

Winter is approaching
There’s snow upon the ground
It’s good of you to visit me
I’m glad you came around
I don’t know how you found me
I didn’t let you know
I only moved to this address
About a week ago
I guess you think I ran out
But that’s not true
Other people settle down
I never do
I always have to move on
Just have to go
I’ve often wondered why that is
I’d like to say but I just don’t know

I guess you always wanted
Life on your own
I guess you always wanted
Life on your own

Up here the summer’s shorter
And winter’s very cold
I’m looking forward to the peace
My lonely life will hold
I’m really glad you came here
Thank you for the talk
It’s funny how my problem stopped
When we went for a walk
Standing here together
Means so much
I won’t forget your confidence
I won’t forget your touch
You know I’ll come to see you
Passing through
We’ll always be a world apart
I’ll travel on but I will be true

I guess you always wanted
Life on your own
I guess you always wanted
Life on your own
I guess you always wanted
Life on your own
I guess you always wanted
Life on your own