Sunday, September 21, 2008

paper chain



I come awake in the middle of the night - this morning - on a memory so tangible I can smell it. It is Christmas 1966 or 7, and I am with my mother in a shop in Glasgow. The bell rings over the door and the heat hits us. An odor of tissue paper or sawdust. There is a sentence of words strung together like parcels tied with string that is somehow important, but even if I could remember it I don't suppose I would write it down.

It is not for sharing, perhaps, or it would mean nothing to you if I could. My father is not there with us. But he is close by. The man behind the shop counter is bored but feigns interest.

My father died long before my son was ever conceived. Like his own father before I came into this world. Bloody but mute.

PLASTIC ONO BAND: REMEMBER from "Plastic Ono Band" LP (Apple) 1970 (UK)

PURCHASE PLASTIC ONO BAND REMASTERED

4 comments:

WZJN said...

Bravo for the Yoko track! Wonderful choice!

Your driver said...

Now that's why I"m willing to call a couple of paragraphs writing. If I had written those three paragraphs I could rest from my labors, satisfied.

ib said...

Well. Thanks, WZJN. Although this is strictly speaking a Lennon track from his Phil Spector produced LP.

The cover though is identical to its Yoko Ono companion piece, where Lennon plays guitar and Yoko sings.

ib said...

Hey, thanks, Jon. The first thing I did when I came to was spark a cigarette and wake my PC to bang this in before it slipped away.