Monday, September 15, 2008

And Now We Mourn

I was having a great day and Gnutcase stuck the broom handle into my spokes. Yes, I rode my bike this morning and the old heart was pumping. Now it is broken.

The very first LP that I ever purchased was Dark Side of the Moon. I had no idea what it was, but the man at the record store told me that it was good. I was barely ten years old. On the album was a song that was so moving that it gave me those old music chill bumps for the first time. It fucking moved my soul. And it was written by Richard Wright.

Today, news comes that he died from brain cancer and I nearly cried. Seriously, that song was important to me. I couldn't find a copy of it on You Tube with the original vocalist, Clare Torre (holy shit she was great!) but this is the best one that I could find. No lie, my hair is standing on end still from this wonderful wonderful song and my skin has the snow chains on. Thirty-four years down the road, I bought the album in 1974, it is like I just heard it for the first time. Enjoy, because it is one of my very favorite songs and always will be.

Great Gig in the Sky is the name and it is fitting for this moment.



Godspeed, Richard Wright, thanks.

7 comments:

AmusedMomma said...

Who knew there was such drama associated with Pink Floyd?

My kids and I consider "Another Brick in the Wall" the original homeschooling song of the modern era. All that mind control and stuff apparently was recognized way back in the day. :-)

Paul Mitchell said...

Amused Momma, they have always been in the Barbra Streisand level of the drama olympics. But the song is awesomatic.

Homeschooling folks have my admiration. The only part of teaching at which I excelled was beating my kid. Ask him.

AmusedMomma said...

Ew! Barbra Streisand.... totally yuck! I might have been better off just enjoying their music and not knowing all the personal strife. Can't take it back now, but I could pull a Scarlet O'Hara and think about it another day.

Paul Mitchell said...

I concur on your opinion regarding Barbra, but I used her as a reference for the high drama. My assumption is that everyone knows that she is a nutjob. And she willingly proves it daily like morons are wont to do.

But Floyd was way out in the sticks as far as sanity is concerned as well. Richard and Sid both jumped the sanity fence early on. They all cleaned up pretty nicely in the end though. Well, except for Sid.

Two Dogs said...

Amused Momma, they have always been in the Barbra Streisand level of the drama olympics. But the song is awesomatic.

Homeschooling folks have my admiration. The only part of teaching at which I excelled was beating my kid. Ask him.

Two Dogs said...

I concur on your opinion regarding Barbra, but I used her as a reference for the high drama. My assumption is that everyone knows that she is a nutjob. And she willingly proves it daily like morons are wont to do.

But Floyd was way out in the sticks as far as sanity is concerned as well. Richard and Sid both jumped the sanity fence early on. They all cleaned up pretty nicely in the end though. Well, except for Sid.

AmusedMomma said...

Ew! Barbra Streisand.... totally yuck! I might have been better off just enjoying their music and not knowing all the personal strife. Can't take it back now, but I could pull a Scarlet O'Hara and think about it another day.