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Rock N Roll Ruined me And I Love it!So how did it all start? -I was like any other little kid at age 4-playing with toyswatching cartoons,living in a small tiny apartment with my mom,dad and three older sisters who shared a room.Then one day it happened..I was sitting in front of our old black and white TV back when you had to get up and change the channels by hand playing with Matchbox cars. All of a sudden it came on TV. An old clip of The Beatles from Ed Sullivan .Obviously a repeat or clip since I was not born when it happened -But it came on the black and white TV but I swear I saw it in full technicolor! I'm not shitting you!- As years went by I looked for color footage of that clip-but there are none- Yet I saw it in full blown color-She loves you yeah yeah yeah!!-They say music is made of colors or can make you feel them(As any LSD user could tell you)- But I never dropped acid...never at age four & not when I got older either as my generation a decade after the 60s-growing up on the first wave of Punk Rock already could see the damaged ruins of what was left of what people used to call 'Hippies' Even as a little kid I'd see them roaming around and muttering to themselveas talking incoherently-thir brains fried,burnt out ,some asking for money on the street- But not all of them. Some were musicians like one of the guys from 'Country Joe & The Fish' who lived in the apartment above us with his Mom in the Fairfax district-Besides some of those Hippie girls looked damn good to me even though I was a little kid.The first song I wrote at 7 years old was called "Bees Make Honey' (A pretty bluesy title when you think about it.) It had to be Rock n Roll-Them girls in those fringe suede Native American jackets, sexy blouses and tight bell bottom jeans with those big 70s looking sunglasses-( just like the girls in the movie 'Billy Jack' or portrayed in 'Almost Famous') First time I ever felt anything about girls was looking at them hippie chicks standing around 'Nate's Milk Store' (Clockwork Orange anyone?) & hanging around with my older sister a little later down the line when I hit 10 years round our home-mind you- I was a kid - -but remember- I saw it all and felt it in color ......nevertheless..... There had to be something in that acid that tapped into your mind where walls could melt & colors could explode within the senses. I felt that. I hallucinated without dropping drugs-I still can--It was the innocence of an open mind looking at the world through childlike eyes that made me see and feel it all in color. Ever since that day it was OVER! I was fucking ruined -but in a great way-I never looked back,for I knew I was born to play music before I even did it...four years old mind you!.. I knew my calling for better or worse & found out much later that music-The cause and effect can affect people in a profound way. I wasn't the only one .I'm sure you all can remember that first blast where music for you made you feel something,became your friend in sorrow,wild with Saturday night rebellion,sitting in the dark in your room looking at the 'Blue lights' on the stereo as the needle hit the vinyl,playin' guitar or-or how it made love & sex all that much better,- A way of life. You and I we could confide in music cause' Rock n Roll music was a good listener even though we were the ones listining - cause' it seemed to say everything you felt and reflect it right back at you... And if you are younger & what media calls 'millennial" ,whatever kind of music reaches out and makes you have no recourse&just belong to some exclusivethying inside your soul,I say its's good.You gotta let it happen,grab hold of ya'. Its good to be out of control and tattered in ruins. -I am in ruins-Rock n Roll Ruins ... AND I LOVE IT!! |
Written By Michael Ubaldini (from The 2nd revised moon tide press book MICHAEL UBALDINI 'LOST AMERICAN NIGHTS'-lyrics& poems
Levis & Black denim jackets
Stroll the cement
The subway holes
The burnt out tenements
The graffiti decayed buildings
The rumbling trains
The sad avenues
The angry cities
The quiet suburbs
The high plains
The searing valleys
Ride in old Chevy’s
Through Manhattan
South central
Texas& Virginia
Clear across the sea
Levis & black jackets are the way
They will always be the way
And are forever
Three degrees hotter
And 20 below zero cooler then any fashion clothing trend on this earth
And are outta this world Jack& anyone who thinks differently
They may get busted up
Burned by a rebels torch that forever burns
In Greaser solitude
copyright Library of Congress
may not be used whole or part in any form without permission
(from The 2nd revised moon tide press book MICHAEL UBALDINI 'LOST AMERICAN NIGHTS'-lyrics & poems
I climbed down in this hollow room looking for someplace to hide
Still wanting to be seen
Shelter dead as evening romance encrypted and engraved
A neurotic dreamer’s scheme
I can pick up all the broken pieces where you used to stand
Getting whipped is entertainment
I’m no slave driving man
I’ll just let you down easy
Because there is no easy way to let you down
Amongst your acquired cathedral of friends you were many things
Queen of the contrived scene
You called me your lover yes I obliged
You saddled up the horse
I ate from the cuisine
I’ll let you go first my darling I don’t mind being last
I’m walking through life’s Graveyard where you’re buried in the past
I’ll just let you down easy
Because there is no easy way to let you down
Deceptive false illusions love supremacy
Sweet intoxication Drunk with ecstasy
Socialite seduction came up dry
Farwell goodbye
I tried to tell you lovers must be two before they’re one
With you I feel I’m staring down the barrel of a gun
I’ll just let you down easy
It’s Time to bring the final curtain down
Copyright, library of Congress
