[lit-ideas] Re: "Epitaph" - for Greg Lake
- From: "Donal McEvoy" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "donalmcevoyuk" for DMARC)
- To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2016 13:28:59 +0000 (UTC)
though it belongs on any compilation of the best 20 Christmas songs of the
last 40 years along with "Merry Christmas Everybody" "Happy Xmas (War Is
Over)" and "Fairytale of New York".>
Santa's elf whispers at least two of these are over 40 years old.
DL
From: Donal McEvoy <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, 10 December 2016, 9:22
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: "Epitaph" - for Greg Lake
"In The Court Of The Crimson King" is the best prog rock album I know, aside
Pink Floyd DSOTM, and I'd forgotten Greg Lake sang on it. Unlike Chris, I don't
think the prophecies of the album have come true though and haven't yet seen a
fire witch but musically it's a treat.
His Christmas song is unusual in trying to say something about the deeper
meaning of Christmas being lost ["They sold me a dream of Christmas" etc.] in
the wrappings of a great rousing Christmas song, and very unusual in that it
seems to imply that Santa doesn't really exist. I'd been listening several
times to it in the weeks before Greg Lake died and am still unsure I've quite
grasped its intended meaning.
There's a dark undertow to it that is absent even from the optimistic Ono Band
song, and which is counterbalanced with humour in the Shane MacGowan song,
though it belongs on any compilation of the best 20 Christmas songs of the last
40 years along with "Merry Christmas Everybody" "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and
"Fairytale of New York".
On a side note, a side project is working on one-line review of rock albums.
The entry for each of Rick Wakeman's albums is identical. e.g. "The Six Wives
of Henry VIII" - 'Perhaps the least pretentious of his solo works'.
"Journey To The Centre Of Earth" - 'Perhaps the least pretentious of
his solo works'. "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights
Of The Round Table" - 'Perhaps the least pretentious of his solo works'.
"No Earthly Connection" - 'Perhaps the least pretentious of his solo works'.
"White Rock" - 'Perhaps the least pretentious of his solo works'.
It's not a (Flaubertian) joke that works with King Crimson albums or Greg's
Christmas song. That's something.
DL
From: "epostboxx@xxxxxxxx" <epostboxx@xxxxxxxx>
To: Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, 9 December 2016, 11:16
Subject: [lit-ideas] "Epitaph" - for Greg Lake
Greg Lake, British vocalist, guitarist and bass player, has died at the age of
69.
Lake’s songwriting abilities can be sampled by listening to “Lucky Man” (which
he apparently wrote at the age of twelve):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn_1d_DUE08
His vocal abilities are featured prominently in KING CRIMSON’s (unfortunately)
prohetic “Epitaph” — a shortened version of which can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjjYTSwA5mQ
"Between the iron gates of fate,
The seeds of time were sown,
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known;
Knowledge is a deadly friend
When no one sets the rules,
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools.”
Lake’s temporally appropriate “I Believe in Father Christmas” can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8facHjO_mU
Chris Bruce,
looking backward at the obviously unrepentant
progressive rock enthusiast in his soul, in
Kiel, Germany
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