And the River Flows– At the West End Gallery
Our American character is marked by a more than average delight in accurate perception, which is shown by the currency of the byword, “No mistake.” But the discomfort of unpunctuality, of confusion of thought about facts, of inattention to the wants of to-morrow, is of no nation. The beautiful laws of time and space, once dislocated by our inaptitude, are holes and dens. If the hive be disturbed by rash and stupid hands, instead of honey, it will yield us bees.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prudence (1841)
Just going to share the words of Emerson, the image of a recent painting, and a song that will serve as this week’s Sunday Morning Music. It’s a song that I was surprised to learn was last shared here over ten years ago. I always think that I just recently shared it. Maybe because it so often feels appropriate to the time.
The song is What’s Going On from Marvin Gaye. It is from his 1971 album of the same title that is considered by many as one of the greatest albums of all time. This is a poignant and elegant song of protest that was written by a member of The Four Tops, Renaldo “Obie” Benson, who witnessed a violent confrontation between police and anti-war protesters in Berkeley in April of 1969, while on the band’s tour bus. He couldn’t understand what he was seeing, why the police were brutally beating on those kids, kids much like those being sent every day to fight in Viet Nam. It made no sense to him, and he ended up writing this song based on what he witnessed with Motown songwriter Al Cleveland.
His bandmates vetoed recording the song, saying that they didn’t want to record a protest song. Benson later spoke of his response, saying, “My partners told me it was a protest song. I said ‘No, man, it’s a love song, about love and understanding. I’m not protesting. I want to know what’s going on.’“
It’s a great song, mixing great emotional impact with a cool, rational detachment that seeks a calm response to the question, “Why?”
Redtree Times 