Tuesday, August 2

August 2, 2016 - Soft Machine - Hope for Happiness (1968)


Let There Be Drums! Uhhhhh...was that my alarm going off? Usually, it's like 'A chime that is clear and true, a chime a chime...' but right now it sounds cracked. Dull, lackluster. I actually don't feel like getting up right now...life is a drag...I will just lay here with a couple fingers on the organ and hope for happiness. Uh-oh...should I edit that out? No, you edit it out. ... ... ping pong drums ... ... I am talking with myself now, devil and angel on my shoulder . Two voices conversing inside me...I'm starting to panic...what does it all mean?! Suddenly, at 1:42......!!!

Everything explodes! Wow, these lyrics are crazy...
 'stars will trade hope for happiness.' I hope the sun reappears and when it does I am happy? The same thing as flowers appearing? A fairly certain hope, more like an expectation. 
'hope colours up the things that cause us gloom.' Like Rush's Tom Sawyer, aren't we always 'hopeful yet discontent'? 'Changes aren't permanent, but change is...'  Maybe that's why we should trade hope for happiness...it's better to accept that we are happy than to wonder if we're happy? Wow...I just don't know what to think.

Hey, I know what you're thinking... Mark, don't think at all...let's just enjoy the experience of the song without being too analytical, ok? OK. Soft Machine have had lots of different people over the years. I once owned Third on vinyl but I didn't like it much. In this first incarnation we have a trio of organ bass and drums. Robert Wyatt on the drums there. So jazzy and expressive. Quite an interesting life he's had. So, I love this one part: at 2:35, the drums do this sweet little drop step moment. You hear it? Very cool. Mike Ratledge on the swirling organ and Kevin Ayers on bass.

On the album, this song flows into Joy of a Toy and then back into a Hope For Happiness (reprise). Hmmm, what sort of happiness is this guy into?

Wow, in this image they kind of remind me of Nirvana. Wyatt looks like he could be doing a Kurt C.






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