The Explanation
(for those who require one)
And, of course, that is what all of this is -- all of this: the one song, ever changing, ever reincarnated, that speaks somehow from and to and for that which is ineffable within us and without us, that is both prayer and deliverance, folly and wisdom, that inspires us to dance or smile or simply to go on, senselessly, incomprehensibly, beatifically, in the face of mortality and the truth that our lives are more ill-writ, ill-rhymed and fleeting than any song, except perhaps those songs -- that song, endlesly reincarnated -- born of that truth, be it the moon and June of that truth, or the wordless blue moan, or the rotgut or the elegant poetry of it. That nameless black-hulled ship of Ulysses, that long black train, that Terraplane, that mystery train, that Rocket '88', that Buick 6 -- same journey, same miracle, same end and endlessness."
-- Nick Tosches, Where Dead Voices Gather
6 comments:
excellent..must be Vegas..the coffee pot :o)
Probably at the Sands.
Excellent. Basie's mumbling that Frank has a sheet of toilet paper stuck on the back of his coat.
Basie must have been talking with himself: "what am I doing with him on the same stage..."
;)
The "Live at the Sands" album they did together is what made me realize just how great Sinatra is. (I already knew how great Basie was.)
The Chairman of the Board and the Count of Basie.
Post a Comment