I don't really care how much the latest superhero film took at the box office, although I'd probably know if you asked me. When I watch a film the main thing I am looking for is a good story. I like it when I look up at the big screen and can see a part of me staring back at me. More than anything, I am still looking for Jimmy Stewart and Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder in every film I see.
"There were so many low points, I can't even count them. You just have to perservere. I think work begets work. So even commercials, and small movies and NYU films, all that stuff--- I did all of it. That's how I became more comfortable. I never would have had some really quick overnight success 'cause I was too nervous, and not good enough."
I have a new favourite song, but it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! You might not like it anyway -- I mean, not to the level I like it. Why? Because we're different people. You're you and I'm me and none of us are the same. But isn't that great? Makes you want to finish all those ideas you scrapped just because you realise somehow maybe in someway that it might truly reach ONE person. Because THAT'S ENOUGH! We try reaching everyone. We write a script and worry about whether the studio or the audience or whoever will like it--- but if you take away the notion of the 'industry' and the need to earn a living, if you take it right down to that very thing you LOVE -- you realise, shit, it's just about creating and finding things that land. Like when you write a blog that makes someone say "YES YES YES YES!", that's far more powerful than someone saying "We enjoy your blog and would like to pay you to write an article for us." I mean, yeah; the latter is great, and you boast to your friends and share the news with the parents. But it's not what it's about. It's about doing something that is so personal and truthful that it connects with someone, somehow, somewhere. But enough about creating, because right now I'm talking about being on the receiving end. Of finding something that screams at you. And the scream says: YOU LOVE ME! YOU LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE ME! How often do we find a song like that? It's not as often as you think! Last time for me was when I discovered Pearl Jam's JUST BREATHE. And I remember how much I loved that song. It was intense! The best songs take us over; we have to keep listening, keep figuring them out. How weird that some man or woman can sit in their home and have an idea for something and then months or years later random people scattered around Earth hear it and say "YES YES YES THAT SONG IS ABOUT ME!" That's the magic! Isn't it magic? I think it's magic. I just said magic three ---- oops, four times really quickly. Maybe that's too much. I'm going to start a new paragraph now. Forget the charts. Forget the polls. Music is about what matters to YOU. Those little bits of guitar; the tiny little mistakes and stutters and yells and drum beats and whatever else; they create sounds that just do it for you. It's different for every person, every time. My new favourite song; I can't tell you why it's my new favourite song, because I haven't figured that out yet. And for once I'm not telling you what the song is, because it doesn't matter! You wouldn't like it the same anyway, because you're on your own journey. If I heard this song last year, or next month, for the first time; would I connect in the same way? I'm not sure. Because this song seems to speak to me HERE, NOW, as I am TODAY. The song arrived at the perfect time, I'm sure of it. You ever think you make decisions or take risks or change your point of view because of a piece of art? Well, I think I do. Or at least, they help nudge me along the way. That's exciting right? So don't go recommending me a song or a film, because it might end up changing the direction of my life, these things influence me! Go hunting for a new favourite song. There are so many, they're everywhere! Don't listen to that voice in your head that says they don't make great tunes anymore, because of course they do. And even if they didn't, then go listen to some Marvin Gaye or something; because there's so much still left to be uncovered in the vast landscape of music history. I have a new favourite song, and I'm one step closing to knowing who the hell I am.
Ever seen a great song on YouTube that has only 20,000 views; and there's a fan saying "How can this song only have 20k views, when the Bieber track has 30 million!"
We all buy into that at least a little bit. A sense of confusion and injustice, or worse-- we think maybe it's a sign the world is ending, because people don't recognise when something is amazing. But it's a difficult position to take, because it's quite pretentious. After all, art is subjective. There are no facts. But surely there ARE some facts. 'Shawshank Redemption' IS a near perfect film. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen is astounding, and 'My Girl' always sounds great on the radio. The thing about Bob Dylan is that there are die-hards who see him, literally, as a GOD! And then there are those who respect him because of his amazing writing, and then there are those who just don't care. But I think the thing about Bob Dylan is that eventually, if you're a music fan, you'll find your way to him some way or another. It's unavoidable. I mean, it might be avoidable if you like Trance music or Techo. But if you are interested in songwriting, or subtlety, where better to go than Dylan?
Sometimes his voice sounds truly horrific. Usually on record it's okay, but performing live, it's atrocious. Yet on so many of his records, it's his voice, and a clever turn of phrase, that absolutely cuts to my core. A poor writer or performer overcooks a line, much like a new comedian, or an over the top TV show. The masters go in a different direction. We see it in Aaron Sorkin's dialogue, or Woody Allen's delivery; or, yes, a Bob Dylan lyric.
They sat together in the park, As the evening sky grew dark, She looked at him and he felt a spark Tingle to his bones It was then he felt alone And wished that he'd gone straight And watched out for a simple twist of fate.
You can be influenced by the masters, you can learn a lot, but can you ever match it? I've heard so many covers of 'Simple Twist Of Fate' but none of them have ever nailed the subtleties. There's a really sweet and poignant moment when he sings 'She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones' -- and seconds later it's wiped away when he announces "It was then he felt alone". So simple, and you'd think anyone could write a line like this -- but Dylan is able to take us to big highs and then immediately to heartbreakingly truthful lows. To feel a connection and then feel alone is what it is to be a human being, and that's what Dylan nailed and that's why he is loved and adored -- because he cuts through the bullshit and gets to who we really are. And he makes it seem so SIMPLE! We all try so hard to be complicated, to be deep and profound. But Bob Dylan just sings about feeling a spark followed by loneliness. The masters get to complexity through mind-boggling simplicity. They turn these dull words and phrases that the rest of us use to navigate through the day, and they make them into poetry. Here's another song where he contrasts the beauty of love with the lows of getting yourself in the way. This is 'Buckets of Rain'. I like your smile and your fingertips I like the way that you move your hips I like the cool way that you look at me Everything about you is bringing me misery.
Don't you just love those lyrics? I like, I like, I like, I'm miserable. Ain't that life! You won't love every Bob Dylan song; but when you find the ones you love, you keep going back to them, just to find those tiny little scattered moments where you hear exactly who you are reflected back at you. And somehow his voice is perfect. If his voice was better, the songs wouldn't mean as much. I'd love to see the 'X Factor' and 'The Voice' people get their heads around that. Imagine this guy trying to get noticed through the reality TV paradigm, he'd have NO CHANCE, yet think of what the world would have lost. Yet somehow, in a world that values instant gratification above all else -- somehow Bob Dylan still got through. How? I blame it all on a simple twist of fate.
This is from his commencement speech at Syracuse University. I have spent three years blogging about the film industry and being 'an artist' and what success is; constantly going on about the journey. About how you can't skip a step. And I've never succeeded in explaining what I mean. Partly because I'm just not a good enough writer, and partly because I don't totally know what I'm talking about. And also, it's because I am on that journey, somewhere in the middle of the road like most of you who read this. Not only is Aaron Sorkin one of the all-time great screenwriters, but he knows about the journey. And a few days ago at Syracuse, he pinpointed and explained it exactly with this anecdote about the casting of 'A FEW GOOD MEN'.
Read it! And read it again!
"When we were casting my first movie, "A Few Good Men," we saw an actor just 10 months removed from the theater training program at UCLA. We liked him very much and we cast him in a small, but featured role as an endearingly dimwitted Marine corporal. The actor had been working as a Domino's Pizza delivery boy for 10 months, so the news that he'd just landed his first professional job and that it was in a new movie that Rob Reiner was directing, starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, was met with happiness. But as is often the case in show business, success begets success before you've even done anything, and a week later the actor's agent called. The actor had been offered the lead role in a new, as-yet-untitled Milos Forman film. He was beside himself. He felt loyalty to the first offer, but Forman after all was offering him the lead. We said we understood, no problem, good luck, we'll go with our second choice. Which, we did. And two weeks later, the Milos Forman film was scrapped. Our second choice, who was also making his professional debut, was an actor named Noah Wyle. Noah would go on to become one of the stars of the television series "ER" and hasn't stopped working since. I don't know what the first actor is doing, and I can't remember his name. Sometimes, just when you think you have the ball safely in the end zone, you're back to delivering pizzas for Domino's. Welcome to the NFL." -Aaron Sorkin
And I also loved this:
"For the class of 2012, I wish you joy. I wish you health and happiness and success, I wish you a roof, four walls, a floor and someone in your life that you care about more than you care about yourself. Someone who makes you start saying "we" where before you used to say "I" and "us" where you used to say "me." I wish you the quality of friends I have and the quality of colleagues I work with. Baseball players say they don't have to look to see if they hit a home run, they can feel it. So I wish for you a moment—a moment soon—when you really put the bat on the ball, when you really get a hold of one and drive it into the upper deck, when you feel it. When you aim high and hit your target, when just for a moment all else disappears, and you soar with wings as eagles. The moment will end as quickly as it came, and so you'll have to have it back, and so you'll get it back no matter what the obstacles. A lofty prediction, to be sure, but I flat out guarantee it." -Aaron Sorkin You can read the whole speech here.
Do we pick songs, or do they pick us? And how many songs out there are made for us but we never find them? Such an earth-shatteringly important question that I'm surprised anyone focuses on anything else. I'm exaggerating, slightly; but the fact remains that music is hugely important to nearly all of us. This is a blog about Rod Stewart. More specifically, it's about his album 'Every Picture Tells A Story'.
More precisely, it's about a few particular tracks on the album. I've written about 'Maggie May' before. Here's a snippet:
"I've been listening to this song since I was eight years old. Maybe it was before that. My parents had it on CD, and on Vinyl. On cassette too. It's the only song I never get tired of. Not even a little bit. I know every inch of the MTV unplugged version. I know all the moments when the crowd cheer or scream or breath.
The song means everything to me, but I don't even know what it means. Sometimes I think he loves Maggie. Sometimes I think he's bitter. What I know for sure is the guitar solo towards the end is magic."
But the magic doesn't end there. The album is full of it. If anyone can ever prove God exists, I think they'll prove it by a scientific experiment on one of the all time great albums. Because these things have a power over us like virtually nothing else. As I mentioned in my 'Maggie May' article, this song has had a hold on me since I was 8. EIGHT! That's insane. You listen to a song and think for a moment that it's just a song but then you realise over time that it plays a huge part in the narrative that is: you.
What was it about Rod Stewart in 1971? Why did he decide to record an album separate from his band, The Faces? And why is this his greatest work? Why did it not improve afterwards? How is it that someone can, so precisely and for no particular reason at all -- provide their defining moment suddenly in 1971?
And what's even more amazing is how some random film blogger over forty years later is still completely captivated by it. Is that because of the music, or because of me? What is it about certain albums that makes them sink into the deepest part of us and become part of our DNA?
I never cite it as my favourite album. I normally go for 'Born To Run' by The Boss, or 'August and Everything After' by Counting Crows, or 'Blue' by Joni Mitchell.
But there's something about 'Every Picture Tells a Story'.
I don't listen to it all the time, but when I do -- wow! It's like I rediscover who I am.
I think 'Mandolin Wind' is one of the most romantic songs ever made. But I just read the lyrics, and to be honest I don't really know what it's about and it's probably not romantic at all, but it is to me. He really loves who he's singing about. And I love how he says 'ya' instead of 'you' --- every time I listen to it, it doesn't sound like it's coming from 1971, it feels like it's coming from this present moment that I'm in.
The title track, 'Every Picture Tells a Story' - incredible. A few years ago I was in rehearsals with some actors -- and the energy sucked! My directing wasn't working at all, they just couldn't GET IT and I couldn't explain it. So I said "Just listen," and then played this song. (It's not on YouTube, so I've provided a Spotify link but it'll only work for members).
And then they tried again, and they NAILED IT! That was amazing to me -- I couldn't express how I wanted something I had written to be acted, I couldn't communicate it, but one of my favourite songs could.
I love the different levels to 'Every Picture...', how he brings it right down for the more vulnerable moments. Underneath the guitars and the drums is a hugely personal song -- I related to it somehow when I was 8, and I still do now. How I related to it when I was 8, with lyrics like 'Shanghai Lil never used the pill' I don't know, but I did somehow.
I firmly believed that I
Didn't need anyone but me
I sincerely thought
I was so complete
Look how wrong you can be.
"Every Picture Tells A Story"
Those lyrics don't really do it justice unless you listen to the song. And you let it build to that point. Masterful.
I use these phrases like 'masterful' and 'great album' but to be honest I don't really know what I'm talking about. It's just about feeling, how these records sound to me. I'd love if everyone discovered or reconnected to the album the way I do, but it's not possible, because different things make us tick. But then again that's an amazing thing all in itself.
Let's talk about 'Reason To Believe'. I remember being extremely moved by this song even when I was a child. It's a song about being cheated on, about finding a way to believe all the lies purely because of how much you love someone. WHY DID I RELATE TO THIS? I was 8! But the song resonated.
If I listened long enough to you,
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true,
Knowing,
That you lied,
Straight faced,
While I cried,
Still I look to find a reason to believe.
-"Reason To Believe"
Rod didn't write 'Reason to Believe', but you wouldn't think it after hearing his performance. So raw, real and immediate. The whole album is that way. There's nothing like it. Give it a listen and sink into 1971, sink into the present moment; and find out who you really are.
