[lit-ideas] Re: Going Home
- From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:59:29 -0800 (PST)
Ursula I think you're missing my meaning. Remember I said that this song is
about where LC was. The Great Pretender is the Hero's Journey not undertaken
(Joseph Campbell). The poem is in fact about death, but it's the death of the
false self and the birth of the true self. That is the Hero's Journey, Ulysses
slaying his (internal) dragons and returning home. The Hero's Journey is the
journey into the interior of one's soul, the slaying of the demons that keep us
pretending we're something that we don't feel. It's the snake shedding its
skin, the moth becoming the butterfly (trite but true). It's about Going
Home. Home in dream symbolism is the self. He's standing outside of himself
having a conversation with himself, about all the roles he's played and plays.
He's a sportsman, a shepherd, a sage, he's wisdom, he's a suit, but ultimately
he's the brief elaboration of a tube, an image on a screen. (John Berryman
splits himself
into two people outside of himself who carry on a conversation.) LC knows
he's on the Hero's Journey, the most difficult, most heroic journey any person
can undertake. And there's probably a realization that he will never arrive.
But the point is always the journey, never the destination. I think in that
sense John Wager's tube captures the mythology of the Hero's Journey that
Joseph Campbell says all cultures have. And it is quite the Greek chorus, not
schmaltzy at all, just echoing. The Hero's Journey, far from diminishing the
poem, raises it. Plus it works on other levels, as you mentioned, there's no
right or wrong in this case.
Andy
________________________________
From: Ursula Stange <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 8:30 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Going Home
Like "Show me the place," this song is about what dying is about. The
speaker could be God but, more likely, Leonard, himself, speaking for a God who
doesn't exist. (For someone as thoughtful and full of words as Cohen, it
probably comes to the same thing.) The phrase "Going home'" is obvious. The
curtain is obvious. Going without the costume that he wore is obvious. Not
having the freedom to refuse what needs saying is about the artist's
enslavement to his muse. We like to think we have wisdom as we (s)age. But
we can't help recognizing our puny stature in the mighty universe, hence the
'brief elaboration.' Verses 4 and 5 are about human nature and the artist's
call to both notice and respond to the pain we cause each other. Verses 6 and
7 seem more difficult. Perhaps they point to the desire for simplicity and
completeness before sticking our thumbs out for the last ride. Something is
trying to tell him that he's readier
than he thinks, but there's something about being human that makes us value
our skin too much (a Buddhist lesson?). And then a reference to the lack of
free will, perhaps a little band-aid to soothe our failures and
disappointments. The chorus (especially the schmaltzy Greek chorus) is
somewhat upbeat...a criticism of our fear of death?
It's a beautiful song and, right or wrong, I shouldn't have done this to it.
I'm going to go and wash my hands.
On 12-01-19 7:19 PM, Andy wrote:
I had a little time and I thought it might be fun to try something a little
different. Rather than me tell you what I think is going on with this poem,
I'm going to give you a great big huge hint, as in really really big. Below is
a song that to me is what I think LC is leaving behind on his way home. He's
not home yet. The home of course is metaphorical; think dream imagery. Think
too a little of John Berryman. I have a feeling you all out there will
instantly get it. If not and I need to make my case better, I'd be happy to
hear where I went wrong.
>
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwfmbXJEBtY&ob=av2n
>
>I love to speak with Leonard
>He’s a sportsman and a shepherd
>He’s a lazy bastard
>Living in a suit
>
>But he does say what I tell him
>Even though it isn’t welcome
>He will never have the freedom
>To refuse
>
>He will speak these words of wisdom
>Like a sage, a man of vision
>Though he knows he’s really nothing
>But the brief elaboration of a tube
>
>Going home
>Without my sorrow
>Going home
>Sometime tomorrow
>To where it’s better
>Than before
>
>Going home
>Without my burden
>Going home
>Behind the curtain
>Going home
>Without the costume
>That I wore
>
>He wants to write a love song
>An anthem of forgiving
>A manual for living with defeat
>
>A cry above the suffering
>A sacrifice recovering
>But that isn’t what I want him to complete
>
>I want to make him certain
>That he doesn’t have a burden
>That he doesn’t need a vision
>
>That he only has permission
>To do my instant bidding
>That is to SAYwhat I have told him
>To repeat
>
>Going home
>Without my sorrow
>Going home
>Sometime tomorrow
>Going home
>To where it’s better
>Than before
>
>Going home
>Without my burden
>Going home
>Behind the curtain
>Going home
>Without the costume
>That I wore
>
>I love to speak with Leonard
>He’s a sportsman and a shepherd
>He’s a lazy bastard
>Living in a suit
>
>
>
>
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