Song of the Week, Volume 2, 2003 May 27

Artist: Queen
Song: Love of My Life
Album: A Night At The Opera
Year: 1975

Last week's writing will probably act as a lifelong emetic for me, but time will tell. Yuck.

I'm reasonably tapped -- mostly caused by a week filled with cat-sitting and lots of mulling over what song I was going to pull for SOTW volume 2 (SOTW: the new big game inside my head). I finally found one, but it took a lot of self-convincing and it took a huge sidestep of an intellectual hurdle. (In oblique fashion) there are many reasons why this week's song should have failed at the cut, but out of the ashes of burnout, I cleared the hurdle -- but song explication soon, cat sitting ramblings now.

Last week I stumbled upon the metaphor of cat (or house, or dog, or plant, etc.) sitting. It's a lonely metaphor, a truly isolating experience. Normally, a home proffers warm and amiable feelings, but when it's not your home and when the home's owner is in Costa Rica drinking Cuba Libres (from a can!), then it's a different story. No one will ever call on you when you are cat sitting. The phone will never ring for you when you are cat sitting. Destiny stops and your life becomes masked by someone else's temporary absence. It gnawed on me so much; I had to call a friend to discuss. That discussion illuminated the positive sides to the isolation of cat sitting. And, although I am a champion of having that place you can go where nobody knows your name, when it's a friend's living room and a daily experience, that's a bit much.

So from volume 1 to volume 2, home surfaces again. Hmmm, maybe it'd be like returning from a holiday home, taking psychotropics, having your friend ask "how was home?" and then realizing five minutes into your (probably unwanted) reply/monologue that you've thoroughly switched home the concept and home the location. It's how holes get punched into things.

This week's song is only subconsciously related to home (and that's only a guess). My sister turned me on to Queen's "A Night at the Opera" when I was five (or maybe six) years old. Of course, back then, it was Bohemian Rhapsody. I can't feel guilty for liking it -- there's no way I could have had the ability to discern coolness at that age. But I won't forget -- being totally mesmerized by the raw emotion wrapped into it -- especially the "thunderbolt and lighting" lyric. I always wanted to hear the song as loud as possible, and when Freddie belted out "thunderbolt" it would scare me.

Eventually, I inherited the album and absorbed the rest of the tracks. In 1986 (or 87?) I was reading Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and listening to side two of "A Night at the Opera." It was then, and it's difficult to forget, when the song "Love of My Life" completely reinforced the austerity of the Wharton novel. I kept replaying it and with each subsequent play, the novel and the song fused tighter together. I don't remember much of literal text of Ethan Frome, but I know its emotion is nearly identical to the emotion contained in Queen's song, "Love of My Life."

So there it is -- and yes, I can dog Queen just as much as the next guy. Opinions are easy truth is hard. On the original album there was a statement that said something like, "no synthesizers." For whatever reason, the band had some sort of negated hard on about synths being evil. If the album was recorded in 1985 instead of 1975, I would agree. Regardless, the byproduct of their beliefs was some severe timbre tinkering. The album is rife with examples, but on "Love of My Life," it's Brian May's "cello" guitar sound that holds the brilliance. Timbre aside, the arrangement is OCD perfect; and, as always, Freddie shines.

I chose this song for SOTW volume 2 largely because I was sampling a cool glissando (for my own music project) on the song that precedes "Love of My Life." For fun, I've included the glissando at the end of the mp3 file. But, since this week was inspired by cats and home (again), I dedicate the song to my two cats, Pascal and Madison. They comprise much of my home and family here in Seattle -- and through all of my absences they've never complained. They like to stand in front of my monitor when I type (like now); and, although I don't understand it, I wholeheartedly appreciate their existence.

Slight apologies for the Celine-Dion-tinged nature of this week's song, although, it's never going to stop. It won't be a weekly thing, but I've never been able to step away from my affection for my blue-collar roots (even if they are imagined). Either way, when you re-arrange all of the letters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you get "drink Miller Highlife daily." *

Peace and more peace,

tqb

* Idea copped from David Letterman's writers, circa 1990

While waiting for life that sucks to die, why not listen to my favorite unsigned bands: TQ's Garage Band Playlist.