"Lily on the Beach" is on Tangerine Dream's CD of the same name. Yah, that's eponymous but it sounds so neojourno to say it. This recording is live from East Berlin in 1991. Tangerine Dream may be one of the earliest krautrock bands as being a strong alternative to guitar-dominated rock. That name came out of derision from the Englishers but the Germans thought it was funny and adopted it. Stick that in yer stiff upper lip, chappie (larfs).
After the biggest smash-'em-up bike crash in '91, the only part of me which would move much was my right arm. That meant I could operate the remote control for a CD player with five discs and I played them so many times. "Lily on the Beach" is one which stays the deepest with me and it's for the entire disc since I never listened to only one song.
During that time I was alone most of that time and that was out of specific agreement with the Mystery Lady that she must not drop out of school. What she could not know and I did not want her to know was what it was like.
There isn't anything lower than that as my left guitar arm was smashed so much there was no part of it which would move, even the elbow would not bend. The doc had me drugged way down on some type of narcotic but it didn't stone me, they never do when they fight real pain. There was definitely reefer as my dear friends, J & D, came by soon after it happened and they made sure of it.
Rolling a joint was a trick but I could move my right hand over to where my left hand was and use it a little bit. For rolling a joint, it is worth it (larfs).
When you're alone with something like that and seriously drugged, you will go into worlds you never knew. In this one I would never play again as it was obviously logically impossible since my arm was hugely destroyed and there was no future in anything. It couldn't have been any darker if something put a silver spike in my heart. There's the never-ending pain and it goes on and on and on with you sinking deeper each time you awaken.
Note: this is not a sob story. As I frequently remind, you can remember pain but there's no way you can remember what it felt like. Our minds are gentle like that.
What I remember of it isn't what the pain felt like but the deep dark pit and how this band was some kind of light inside it. Even today it can bring tears and this was almost twenty-five years ago. The tears are gratitude and all kinds of things together because there wasn't anything else but the music. Today, there still isn't and I wouldn't have it any other way without the music.
The other blazing light was my parents coming out almost every day at lunch time so they were sure I ate. They understood it with the Mystery Lady but it didn't seem like anyone else did and no need to continue as nothing good comes from that. Good which came with my parents was unpredictable as they always had an entourage, usually of a random set of grandkids. That was a whole different kind of light and life and just as much appreciated.
For long, long after, my parents and I would go out to Burbank's Barbecue in Sharonville for their open mike night for blues. My ol' Dad even painted a group which appeared there sometimes with Cincinnati Slim. In Holland, they call times like those gezellig, times so good they do not need words because everyone already gets it.
There was some playing yesterday so don't ever be thinking the fight has stopped. If it were easy, I would have solved it a long time ago. If you're thinking this is all from guzzling Pepsi, lose that; I can easily go through a gallon of milk in three days even if Yevette doesn't touch it.
This is not a world awash in darkness since coming out of that time took most of two years but waiting on the other end were a whole lot of days around the swimming pool in the backyard with people all over the place. I still couldn't swim but I could dog paddle like a master by then (larfs).
Sometimes the Mystery Lady would be furious and quite rightly because she would come home from work in the afternoon and wonder who the hell are all these people. I didn't quite rightly know who all of them were, maybe most or some but not all ... it's a party, man. Note: this is a really, really bad answer (larfs).
Note: we never ever had one of those signs which said anything about don't piss in our pool. Kids will pee in your pool. You can try to shame them if you like but it won't have any effect. It also won't do anything to the pool which has a volume of forty to fifty thousand gallons. If your kid can change the pH of that, you have one major warrior on your hands!
Never again was the Australian crawl possible ... but that's ok as Americans don't even know how to do it (larfs). It's kind of incredible to see America turn out killer swim teams but so many have no idea how to do the crawl, most basic of all. One thing about Australia, you WILL learn how to swim properly. It still won't make you faster than a shark but at least you will have a small chance and make it more sporting for the shark (larfs).
After the biggest smash-'em-up bike crash in '91, the only part of me which would move much was my right arm. That meant I could operate the remote control for a CD player with five discs and I played them so many times. "Lily on the Beach" is one which stays the deepest with me and it's for the entire disc since I never listened to only one song.
During that time I was alone most of that time and that was out of specific agreement with the Mystery Lady that she must not drop out of school. What she could not know and I did not want her to know was what it was like.
There isn't anything lower than that as my left guitar arm was smashed so much there was no part of it which would move, even the elbow would not bend. The doc had me drugged way down on some type of narcotic but it didn't stone me, they never do when they fight real pain. There was definitely reefer as my dear friends, J & D, came by soon after it happened and they made sure of it.
Rolling a joint was a trick but I could move my right hand over to where my left hand was and use it a little bit. For rolling a joint, it is worth it (larfs).
When you're alone with something like that and seriously drugged, you will go into worlds you never knew. In this one I would never play again as it was obviously logically impossible since my arm was hugely destroyed and there was no future in anything. It couldn't have been any darker if something put a silver spike in my heart. There's the never-ending pain and it goes on and on and on with you sinking deeper each time you awaken.
Note: this is not a sob story. As I frequently remind, you can remember pain but there's no way you can remember what it felt like. Our minds are gentle like that.
What I remember of it isn't what the pain felt like but the deep dark pit and how this band was some kind of light inside it. Even today it can bring tears and this was almost twenty-five years ago. The tears are gratitude and all kinds of things together because there wasn't anything else but the music. Today, there still isn't and I wouldn't have it any other way without the music.
The other blazing light was my parents coming out almost every day at lunch time so they were sure I ate. They understood it with the Mystery Lady but it didn't seem like anyone else did and no need to continue as nothing good comes from that. Good which came with my parents was unpredictable as they always had an entourage, usually of a random set of grandkids. That was a whole different kind of light and life and just as much appreciated.
For long, long after, my parents and I would go out to Burbank's Barbecue in Sharonville for their open mike night for blues. My ol' Dad even painted a group which appeared there sometimes with Cincinnati Slim. In Holland, they call times like those gezellig, times so good they do not need words because everyone already gets it.
There was some playing yesterday so don't ever be thinking the fight has stopped. If it were easy, I would have solved it a long time ago. If you're thinking this is all from guzzling Pepsi, lose that; I can easily go through a gallon of milk in three days even if Yevette doesn't touch it.
This is not a world awash in darkness since coming out of that time took most of two years but waiting on the other end were a whole lot of days around the swimming pool in the backyard with people all over the place. I still couldn't swim but I could dog paddle like a master by then (larfs).
Sometimes the Mystery Lady would be furious and quite rightly because she would come home from work in the afternoon and wonder who the hell are all these people. I didn't quite rightly know who all of them were, maybe most or some but not all ... it's a party, man. Note: this is a really, really bad answer (larfs).
Note: we never ever had one of those signs which said anything about don't piss in our pool. Kids will pee in your pool. You can try to shame them if you like but it won't have any effect. It also won't do anything to the pool which has a volume of forty to fifty thousand gallons. If your kid can change the pH of that, you have one major warrior on your hands!
Never again was the Australian crawl possible ... but that's ok as Americans don't even know how to do it (larfs). It's kind of incredible to see America turn out killer swim teams but so many have no idea how to do the crawl, most basic of all. One thing about Australia, you WILL learn how to swim properly. It still won't make you faster than a shark but at least you will have a small chance and make it more sporting for the shark (larfs).
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