Didn’t The Beach Boys sing something called “Hang On To Your Ego”? I guess it was a kind of “Not!”.
Well, this talk concerns death and the “art” of dying. What dies when you die physically? What lives on? What, if anything?
Consider the following observation from The Genius and the Goddess (1955):
“In the process of living as one ought to live, Helen had been dying by daily installments. When the final reckoning came, there was practically nothing to pay.” (p. 14)
Who was dying there? What was left? I’d like to know. That’s the the task I set in trying to work this material up.
Is it the Last Podcast? The Last Wave (1977)? No. Think George Harrison: “What Is Life?”.
EPISODE 101: I Feel Like I Win When I Lose
This cast had to be: it was a foregone conclusion.
Between “Lay all your love on me” and “Waterloo”, you couldn’t get any closer to a pure pop moment. The lyrics, somewhat labyrinthine as they are, given their “Euro” version of contemporary English, cover two mighty truths of life. “Waterloo”, in particular, is right there at the heart, the heart of the ego’s demolition in favor of the New Being.
If only preachers could preach the way these people wrote, and sang. We’d have no communication problem whatsoever, and we’d be in perpetual revival. “Perp. Revival i’ the North” (John Betjeman)
Don’t you love this group? May They live forever!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FsVeMz1F5c&w=600]
As a special bonus, here’s the charming (and elucidating) address PZ gave at the Podcast Reception at this past weekend’s conference in NYC:
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