As Long as I Listen...

[Jimmy O'Connell]

As Long as I Listen...

As long as I listen to this cassette, recorded
from an old LP, Don McLean will forever
be singing sweetly up to: “But for all his great

powers, he’s wishful like me…” The rest is destroyed
by the mindless vindictiveness of a needle
slashing and scratching through vinyl grooves.

His voice has been sucked into a black hole
of permanent oblivion; until it returns
again “to the sea…” Though the intervening

words have disappeared, I still remember
what has so wantonly been destroyed
by enervated engineering. Memory

and rote have preserved it; now, still I can
speak and sing along with him, aching
“To be back where the dark Mournes sweep down…”

[lizzytysh]

Hi Jimmy ~

There's some new technology that I heard about recently on NPR that will restore this very thing. No idea how costly, but at least a ray of hope for LPs. I have some like that, too , but doubt I'll ever do anything about it other than swab it with alcohol and hope for the best... or keep my eyes focused on finding another copy in a used-record store. I'm afraid your cassette is a different story, though .


~ Lizzy

[Alan Alda]

Jimmy~

Why is the needle "vindictive"?

Laurie

[Jimmy O'Connell]

Well, as long as it has no feelings about the destruction it visited on my LP of Don McLean, then, to my mind that bl***y needle was one vindictive SOB!!!!!
JImmy

[jimbo]

Nice poem Jimmy............
Maybe
The
needle
Was Blurred?

Are you from the county Down?
I was born in Newry.
in daisy hill hospital.

Regards jimbo

[lizzytysh]

I guess "mindless destruction" might work there? Maybe?

Or... perhaps, if you were kinder to your needles and quit letting them drop onto the record, when they beg to be placed softly upon, they'd have no reason to get back at you. Or, your careless walking by and knocking your player 'by accident' [yeaahhh, right... ]; well, who knows, perhaps your needles might be kinder to you. Or, when dust has built up on them, removing it gently, as a loving mother might remove gravel from her child's scraped knees... who knows, there too, your needles might actually care about how you feel. . It has been said that our electronics have spirits, too.


~ Lizzy

[Alan Alda]

But aren't those mutually exclusive concepts?

"no feelings" and "vindictiveness"

[Red Poppy]

Speaking of vindictive, there's the old joke about two guys who meet.
One says: "Any news?"
"Yes," the second guy says, "my wife is expecting a baby."
"Congratulations!"
"Not a matter for congratulations. It's a vindictive pregnancy."
"What do you mean?" the first guy asks.
"Someone had it in for me!"

[Alan Alda]

RP~

Hehehe.

I'll never think of the phrase: "someone had it in for me" the same again.

Laurie

[Jimmy O'Connell]

Okay Laurie... needles don't have feelings... but at that particular moment I projected human qualities onto it.... How else can I explain to Lizzie how careless I was... it can't be my fault... so it must be the bleddy needle!!!!!!!

Great joke Red Poppy.... I think you get my drift about my bleddy vindictive needle... destroying such a lovely rendition by Don McLean of Mountains of Mourne. It's still my favourite version of that Percy French classic.

No, Jimbo, I'm not from the Wee North... but I do have relatives who live in Newry... my aunt worked in Daisy Hospital... she has now retired.

I recommend McLeans version of Mountains of Mourne. It was on an old Greatest Hits Album.... which I taped... but that bleddy vindictive needle had it in for me... and now I'm stuck with a taped version of of the album.... but now we have bleddy CDs and ipods an' tingys.... so I'm delighted I have that tape still... even if it's not perfect....

Oh the human condition!!!!!

Jimmy

[Alan Alda]

Jimmy~

I understand anthropomorphizing. By summoning "vindictiveness" you have to own that action otherwise it is just whining and deflecting. Since when doesn't every word count in a poem?

Why do you think Red Poppy "gets your drift" from what he has said?
Just curious.

Laurie

[Red Poppy]

Alan,
Having spent some time in the snowy Antarctic I get everyone's drift,
Yours,
Ernest Shackleton the turd.

[Red Poppy]

Question Alan -

Can I ascribe anthropomorphic properties to a turd,
Yours,
Ernest Shackleton

[Alan Alda]

Red Poppy~

I took out my sentence saying I thought you sounded "neutral," since it was also presumptious on my part.

Living in Alaska, I know a thing or two about drifts myself

Respectfully,
Laurie

[Alan Alda]

RP/Ernie~ To your question, YES. There are many who qualify and strive to qualify with vigor. Some with great ease and while others after pushing over time come out that way.

L