number 26. five percent of the way there…
on an odd association, his son’s war experience shifts into his experience in the armed services in the early fifties, which reads more like a vacation. a singular shapshot of freedom and ease and shameless hedonism. how much is real and how much has been rung through the simplifying cauterizer of time is unknown. though it sounds like he had fun.
i’ve had this song in my virtual drawer for a few months. suddenly seemed like it would fit, though it is an obvious digression. as we move further our hero swings from pain to pleasure, almost as a defense mechanism. soon he won’t have the option. denial melts away the closer he gets to the light…
the songs borrows the chords from “una furtiva lagrima,” an otherworldly tenor aria from donizetti. (if you want your mind blown, seek out a version with Jussi Bjorling singing. now that is singing.) the music fit the italian setting, and the “furtive kiss” seemed like a fun pun considering the lack of furtiveness in the story.
as the piece unfolded, i found that some overwrought fake classical romantic piano would underscore the naked pleasures of youth. i love shmalzing it up with the diminished runs.
as has happened before (and probably not much more to avoid overuse) the self-consciousness of dreaming intrudes in the bridge, framing the experience as a drug-induced fantasy of our leading man.
i think we are about half way there. i predict a bouncy something or other next week. then we start sliding down the slope. but no guarantees.
Glad you’re back, Andy! Been missing the tunes… glad to hear the move went well!
Drop me a line… I wanna hear all about it. 🙂