I was out running and listening to Gene Clark’s “Strength of Strings”. Incredible. His song is powerful yet simultaneously fragile. Clark stared out onto the Pacific Ocean from his Mendocino home, pondered philosophy and came up with the song.
He was faced with the dilemma of trying to give language to something that evoked feelings so strong that no words were sufficient for what he felt or heard. Words failed him while music moved him. “In my life the piano sings. Brings me words that are not the strength of strings.”
Listening to his song reminds me of Ray Davies song “Waterloo Sunset”. The words to Waterloo came easily to Davies yet he was too embarrassed to share his creation with his Kinks bandmates. In both cases, a music or a sight evokes feelings so grand, that man tries to impossibly interpret the heavenward power of it by containing their great emotions into mere words.
Davies stated he felt his song was about how innocence would prevail over adversity. Clark shared the similar sentiments but on the other hand seemed to move in the opposite direction. Throughout Clark’s life he was afflicted with serious health problems, including ulcers and alcohol dependence. He created the song using the technology of the day. His song has been covered many times by other artists. Whether you like, hate, or don’t care about their creations, one thing is certain, their words and their creations move men. Destroying things is easy but creating something worthwhile is difficult.
Any reader familiar with English poetry and Francis Thompson will recall his difficult life. His father wanted him to study at Oxford, but Francis lost his way in opium. Before his death he penned the incredible “Hound of Heaven”. Out of a man’s spiritual destruction came creation, redemption and death. Each writer had a different story. Yours is different too. Destruction is easy. I hope you take time to create something this weekend. Or chill out and find something powerful that inspires you.
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Gene Clark-Strength of Strings
In my life the piano sings
Brings me words that are not the strength of strings
Firey rain and rubies cooling in the sun
Now I see that my world has only begun
Notes that roll on winds with swirling wings
Brings me words that are not the strength of strings
When I’m feeling high or I’m feeling low
Or there is no change
Somehow days keep melting into the night
And there’s always light on the cosmic range
I am always high I am always low
There is always change
Hear the strings are bending in harmony
Not so far from the breaking on the cosmic range
SOLO
In my life the piano sings
Brings me words that are not the strength of strings
Firey rain and rubies cooling in the sun
Now I see that my world has only begun
Notes that roll on winds with swirling wings
Brings me words that are not the strength of strings