Every English village has a war memorial to its men who fell in two world wars, along with the church, manor, rectory, farmhouse and cottages. How to calculate the suffering & loss in all these small places, particularly from the Great War. How deeply offensive to their memory to have this song, with its life extracted, to now be blown carelessly on trumpet & then feebled by piano. And, surprisingly, I found my feelings continuing to be engaged in an England of several decades ago.
Beatles' song are now staples of muzak around the world. It makes me angry that music of this power & authenticity should be trivialised. Monday morning, in the Hilton Nagoya, a feeble guitar rendition of "Let It Be" demonstrates how this might be achieved.
21.22
Today's show began at 18.05 and felt like a matinee performance.
Richard & Laurie enjoyed the show. Onstage, it felt to me more like the onus of keeping the performance moving forwards stayed with the band. This is not as it should be in an unfolding process. I wondered whether this was partly because the form of the show has changed, with Ade having to write a setlist which allows for leaving out songs which strain his bronchial voice. And partly this is cultural, related to Japanese performance conventions. And partly because the group was not able to move things forward when nothing else did. So, not a sharp evening. I felt there wasn't much volitional attention available. A limp evening for me.
Back & called the Little Horse. Hooray!
"When we recognise a fault in others, we recognise a fault in ourselves."
