• Voto:
È un periodo che in casa urlano tutti, urla mia madre, urla mio padre, urla pure l’amante di mio padre, quando per sbaglio la intercetto al telefono. Mi sembra che urli anche la cantante lirica in tivù, inconsapevole innesco di una mia personale e assurda associazione tra opera e lite domestica. Odio abbastanza tutti e avrei bisogno di qualcosa di più potente di un cuscino sulle orecchie. Uscire di casa, certo, fortuna che tra poco prendo il foglio rosa.
Fatto sta che frequento un gruppo dove bazzicano due inconsolabili figlie di genitori in separazione. Le trovo mentre si abbracciano singhiozzanti, lagnandosi della comune sventura. Non mi dispiacerebbe infilarmi in quell’abbraccio, solidarizzare reclinando il capo su mammelle prominenti sotto le felpe, e invece me ne esco con qualcosa tipo: Cazzo vi lamentate, almeno siete fortunate a non avere più rotture di coglioni in casa come il sottoscritto, che tanto mica vi abbandonano, anzi faranno a gara a viziarvi.
Mi guardano tra l’inorridito e il compassionevole e per tutta risposta una delle due mi rifila il walkman con la cassetta del Concerto in Central Park di Simon e Garfunkel.
-Toh, te lo presto, questo concertone mi rilassa sempre.
Poi arriva un diciasettenne bislungo certamente con le stesse mie mire di infilarsi tra i tormenti delle fanciulle, e dichiara con aria saputa che è appena uscito il nuovo album di Paul Simon, Hearts and Bones,
-Un capolavoro, dovete sentirlo.
Mi fiondo al negozio Stereorecord, trovo il disco in libero ascolto. Afferro le cuffie e appena sento la voce di Paul Simon, dal timbro così quieto e scorrevole, inizio a rilassarmi.
In questo autunno urlato del 1983 è proprio quello che mi serve. Un grande cantautore americano vagamente morfeico, con un’infilata di pezzi dal potente potere sedativo. C’è quest’atmosfera ovattata da brani musicalmente perfetti, lavorati e rilavorati fino a smussarne qualunque spigolo e imperfezione, e non potrebbe essere diversamente grazie anche all’intervento di alcuni mostri sacri come Jeff Porcaro, Al Di Meola, Eric Gale, Marcus Miller, Bernard Edwards.
Così questo lavoro entra in loop sul mio piatto, scalzando soavemente qualunque altra sonorità ferrosa o pop, nonché urla e casalinghi oggetti volanti. La casa e tutto il resto del mondo possono anche crollare: nulla può più scalfire l’imperturbabilità donatami dall’ascolto seriale di Hearts and Bones. Vero che ogni tanto paiono arrivare ventate di apparente brio, come con le canzoni “Allergies” o “Cars are Cars”, ma il vero pezzo che rappresenta il disco per me è la xanaxofila “Rene and Georgette Magritte with their dog after the war”. Apprezzabile peraltro che il nostro americano si rifaccia alla cultura europea, forse anche con i rimandi pirandelliani di “Train in the distance”. Il treno ha fischiato, anche per una coppia in disfacimento.
Infine sedato, scendo in garage, passo accanto alla paterna giulietta beige, mi infilo dentro ad impugnare il volante, cabalizzando come sia la guida di una trazione posteriore. Sul tappetino del lato destro qualcosa attira la mia attenzione. Saluto una milionata di mancati fratelli, imprigionata dentro un serpentello di lattice. Saluto anche Paul Simon, che è ora di tornare al metallo.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Allergies (04:39)
Maladies
Melodies
Allergies to dust and grain
Maladies
Remedies
Still these allergies remain
My hands can't touch a guitar string
My fingers just burn and ache
My head intercedes with my bodily needs
And my body won't give it a break
My heart can stand a disaster
My heart can take a disgrace
But my heart is allergic to the women I love
And it's changing the shape of my face
Allergies ... Allergies
Something's living on my skin
Doctor please ... Doctor please
Open up it's me again
I go to a famous physician
I sleep in the local hotel
From what I can see of the people like me
We get better but we never get well
So I ask myself this question
It's a question I often repeat
Where do allergies go when it's after a show
and they want to get something to eat?
CHORUS
Maladies ... Melodies
Allergies to dust and grain
Maladies ... Remedies
Still these allergies remain
I can't breathe!
[Instrumental break]
CHORUS
Allergies
Allergies
Allergies
Allergies
02 Hearts and Bones (05:38)
One and one-half wandering dunes
Free to wander wherever they choose
Are traveling together
In the Sangre de Christo
The Blood of Christ Mountains
Of New Mexico
On the last leg of a journey
They started a long time ago
The arc of a love affair
Rainbows in the high desert air
Mountain passes
Slipping into stone
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Thinking back to the season before
Looking back through the cracks in the door
Two people were married
The act was outrageous
The bride was contagious
She burned like a bride
These events may have had some effect
On the man with the girl by his side
The arc of a love affair
His hands rolling down her hair
Love like lightning shaking till it moans
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
And whoa whoa
She said why?
Why don't we drive through the night
And we'll wake up down in
Mexico
Oh I
Oh, I, I don't know nothin' about nothin'
About Mexico
And tell me why
Why won't you love me
For who I am
Where I am
He said: 'cause that's not the way the world is baby
This is how I love you baby
This is how I love you baby
One and one-half wandering dunes
Returned to their natural coasts
To resume old acquaintances
Step out occasionally
And speculate who had been damaged the most
Easy time will determine if these consolations
Will be their reward
The arc of a love affair
Waiting to be restored
You take two bodies and you twirl them into one
Their hearts and their bones
And they won't come undone
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
Hearts and bones
03 When Numbers Get Serious (03:26)
I have a number in my head
Though I don't know why it's there
When numbers get serious
You see their shape everywhere
Dividing and multiplying
Exchanging with ease
When times are mysterious
Serious numbers are easy to please
Take my address
Take my phone
Call me if you can
Here's my address
Here's my phone
Please don't give it to some madman
Hey hey, whoa whoa
Complicated life
Numbers swirling thick and curious
You can cut them with a knife
You can cut them with a knife
Two times two is twenty-two
Four times four is forty-four
When numbers get serious
They leave a mark on your door
Urgent. Urgent.
A telephone is ringing in the hallways
When times are mysterious
Serious numbers will speak to us always
That is why a man with numbers
Can put your mind at ease
We've got numbers by the trillions
Here and overseas
Hey hey, whoa whoa
Look at the stink about Japan
All those numbers waiting patiently
Don't you understand?
Don't you understand?
So wrap me
Wrap me
Wrap me do
In the shelter of your arms
I am ever your volunteer
I won't do you any harm
I will love innumerably
You can count on my word
When times are mysterious
Serious numbers
Will always be heard
When times are mysterious
Serious numbers will always be heard
And after all is said and done
And the numbers all come home
The four rolls into three
The three turns into two
And the two becomes a
One
07 Train in the Distance (05:12)
She was beautiful as southern skies
the night he met her
she was married to someone
he was doggedly determined
that he would get her
he was old he was young
from time to time he would tip his heart
but each time she withdrew
everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
everybody thinks it's true
well eventually the boy the girl get married
sure enough they have a son
and although both were occupied with the child she carried
disagreements had begun
and in a while it just fell apart
it wasn't hard to do
everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
everybody thinks it's true
two disappointed believers
two people playing the game
negotiations and love songs
are often mistaken for one and the same
well the man and the woman
they remain in contact
let us say it's for the child
with disagreements about the meaning of a marriage contract
conversations hard and wild
from time to time he would make her laugh
she'd cook him a meal or two
everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
everybody thinks it's true
what is the point of this story?
what information pertains?
the thought that life could be better
is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains
like a train in the distance
08 Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War (03:45)
Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
Returned to their hotel suite
And they unlocked the door
Easily losing their evening clothes
They danced by the light of the moon
To the Penguins, the Moonglows
The Orioles, and The Five Satins
The deep forbidden music
They'd been longing for
Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
Were strolling down Christopher Street
When they stopped in a men's store
With all of the mannequins dressed in the style
That brought tears to their immigrant eyes
Just like The Penguins, the Moonglows
The Orioles, and The Five Satins
The easy stream of laughter
Flowing through the air
Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog apres la guerre
Side by side
They fell asleep
Decades gliding by like Indians
Time is cheap
When they wake up they will find
All their personal belongings
Have intertwined
Oh Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
Were dining with the power elite
And they looked in their bedroom drawer
And what do you think
They have hidden away
In the cabinet cold of their hearts?
The Penguins, the Moonglows
The Orioles, and The Five SatinsFor now and ever after
As it was before
Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
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Altre recensioni
Di London
Nessuno può non emozionarsi ascoltando "America", "Kathy's Song" e "Bridge Over Troubled Water".
Un album da avere per riscaldare un po’ queste fredde e pazze giornate autunnali.
