I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again, no, no
— Pete Townsend, Won’t Get Fooled Again
Things are finally beginning to click a little in the studio. Even though I have been through this process for twenty-plus years, it’s always surprising how quickly one or two good days of work completely washes away that feeling of mental stagnation that comes with being creatively blocked.
It’s like the blockage is a dam and once you make a crack, a trickle comes through that soon turns into a torrent And in what seems to be the blink of an eye, the dam, the blockage, is gone.
I want to say it’s forgotten but like I said, I have been doing this fo awhile now and know there’s another blockage waiting in the wings, somewhere downstream. The trick is in putting that out of mind and enjoying the ride until it comes. And maybe when it does come, the memory of this most recent blockage will help me get past this new one a little more quickly.
We all hope we absorb these little lessons in our lives so that we don’t have to constantly ( and needlessly) go through the same traumas over and over, right? I would like to think that, like the song says, we won’t get fooled again. Unfortunately, our memories are flawed or we just ignore our own recollections and history. We often seem destined to continuously renew our relationship with the same sufferings that have haunted us for eons.
But on a personal level, maybe this time, I will finally learn this lesson and avoid the next blockage that rises up before me.
Probably not. My memory and ability to learn is no better than that of anybody else. Maybe worse than most, in fact.
But I can try to remember. It’s the best I can do.
That brings us to the aforementioned song that I featuring as this week’s Sunday Morning Music. It’s Won’t Get Fooled Again from Pete Townsend. It was originally released by The Who in 1971 on their Who’s Next album and became a true rock anthem. This is the first acoustic version that Townsend performed of this song, with accompaniment from the great acoustic guitarist John Williams. It came at The Secret Policeman’s Ball in 1979.
The Secret Policeman’s Ball was a series of benefit shows featuring comedy and music performances that were given many times over the years to benefit Amnesty International. The last show was in 2012 at Radio City Music Hall to commemorate Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary. Many of the performances, like this one, were memorable.
I hope the message of this song is memorable, as well.
Redtree Times 
Imagery has much more power than we realize. The idea of a blockage, the flow dammed and cut off. Not good imagery. I like to think of my creativity as a wellspring. Yes, it’s a well, and, yes, wells can be emptied, but mine is a well*spring*, and springs have a constant flow. A little time and patience, and the well will begin to fill again. In the meantime, I turn outward toward the world and absorb images and sensations, and ideas — grist for the mill once enough creativity has collected in the well to set the mill of making to turning again. The idea of dammed flow, cut off flow, implies that there could be no more flow, and that brings fear with it, which can start a vicious cycle. The idea of an ever-flowing spring that continually fills the well is a well that will refill given time and patience. When you draw very heavily from the well in a short period of time, and the water gets low, it will refill. How we image things tells a lot about how we think about them.
I would like to think of it as a wellspring. It’s a great analogy. But maybe because I have had a couple of springs on my property cease to flow ( no doubt from hydraulic changes deep underground) the image, for me, of a dam feels more apt. Maybe because sometimes the blockage feels self-made, built with personal obstructions that have to be addressed and overcome rather than waiting for a well to refill. The river is there, waiting and wanting to flow, but first, whatever is holding it back must be torn down. Both are similar analogies but to my way of thinking, taking down the dam requires action rather than passively waiting. When I wait I sometimes fall into a pattern of becoming even more and more removed from taking action. I find that this can only be overcome by just starting something and forcing the issue a bit. Kicking a hole in the dam. But whatever works for each of us to get something flowing is good.