“Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.”
En la calle puedes escucharla gritando “eres una vergüenza” mientras le da un portazo en su cara de borracho. Y ahora él se queda fuera y los vecinos empiezan a cotillear y babear. Él grita “Niña, te has vuelto loca ¿que pasó con el amor que teníamos?”, se apoya en la puerta y monta una escena, y derrama sus lágrimas que queman el césped del jardín.
Y así los castillos hechos de arena se derrumban en el mar, finalmente.
Un indio pequeño y valiente, antes de cumplir los 10 jugaba a la guerra en el bosque con sus amigos, y soñaba con ser un intrépido jefe indio cuando fuera mayor. Pasaron muchas lunas, y el sueño creció. Al día siguiente entonaría su primer cántico de guerra y lucharía en su primera batalla, pero algo salió mal, esa noche fue muerto mientras dormía, en un ataque sorpresa.
Y así los castillos hechos de arena se deshacen en el mar, finalmente.
Había una jovencita de corazón pesaroso porque estaba inválida de por vida, y no podía hablar, y deseó y rezó por parar de vivir, así que decidió morir. Llevó su silla de ruedas a la orilla del mar, miró sus piernas y sonrió “Ya no podreis hacerme más daño” pero entonces una visión que jamás había tenido le hizo saltar y decir “¡Un barco de alas doradas está pasando a mi lado!” y realmente no tuvo que detenerse, simplemente siguió avanzando.
Y así los castillos hechos de arena se deslizan en el mar, finalmente.
Rockero de raza, escritor de cuentos, pintor aficionado, poeta urbano, bluesman. La literatura es su religión, el rock and roll su adicción. He’s the last of the rock stars, El poeta del rock.
Toca en pequeñas salas, con un público fiel y reducido, y lo hace con la misma pasión e igual entrega que la gran estrella que llena estadios. Es un tipo cercano y hablador, consolidado en una posición que muchos grandes envidian, y otros achacan a la falta de ambición. En realidad, no deja de ser un gran artista viviendo la vida de un tipo corriente, Elliott Murphy.
Hubo un tiempo en que nada indicaba que esto fuera a ser así. En 1973, tras su album de debut, “Aquashow”, Elliott Murphy fue aclamado como el nuevo Dylan. Y sin embargo se fue de Nueva York, para ir a Europa, alejándose de las grandes discográficas multinacionales, quizá en un intento de hacer eso que dice en su canción “Dusty Roses”:
We could take courses we could brush up on our French
Move to Paris try and live like artists
Hoy, 35 años después, Elliott Murphy es un artista minoritario, un artista de culto. El que tiene la suerte de conocerlo se siente privilegiado al saber que cada año, un artista de este calibre se pasea por los pueblos de España llevando un rock y un blues que bien podría llenar estadios, pero que se limita a mantenerse fiel a sí mismo.
Frank Sinatra, 12 de Diciembre de 1915 – 14 de Mayo de 1998.
Strangers in the night exchanging glances
Wond’ring in the night
What were the chances wed be sharing love
Before the night was through.
Something in your eyes was so inviting,
Something in you smile was so exciting,
Something in my heart,
Told me I must have you.
Strangers in the night, two lonely people
We were strangers in the night
Up to the moment
When we said our first hello.
Little did we know
Love was just a glance away,
A warm embracing dance away and -
Ever since that night we’ve been together.
Lovers at first sight, in love forever.
It turned out so right,
For strangers in the night.
En junio de 1966, “Strangers in the night” fue número 1 de la lista de éxitos británica durante 3 semanas. Lo precedió “Paint it, black” de los Rolling Stones y fue sucedido por “Paperback Writer” de los Beatles. Buena época para la música popular.
Well she was an american girl
Raised on promises
She couldn’t help thinkin’ that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die
Tryin’ she had one little promise
She was gonna keep
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an american girl
It was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
She could the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin’ in the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it’s so painful
Something thats so close
And still so far out of reach
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an american girl
The Jerry Garcia Band perform Bob Dylan’s epic “Tangled Up in Blue” at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mt. View, CA on September 1, 1990.
Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’,
I was layin’ in bed
Wond’rin’ if she’d changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama’s homemade dress
Papa’s bankbook wasn’t big enough.
And I was standin’ on the side of the road
Rain fallin’ on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ through,
Tangled up in blue.
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
“We’ll meet again someday on the avenue,”
Tangled up in blue.
I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.
She was workin’ in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I’s just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, “Don’t I know your name?”
I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
“You look like the silent type.”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.
I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.
So now I’m goin’ back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter’s wives.
Don’t know how it all got started,
I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives.
But me, I’m still on the road
Headin’ for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.