I’ve listened to the side-long title track of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays’ As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, oh, maybe just a couple of times in the last twenty years. It doesn’t matter, this 20:44 song is firmly branded in my recollection; the longest song I’ve got memorized note-for-note.
Unlike most Metheny songs, it isn’t the artistry or the knotty chord progressions they he and Mays have so often made sound easy. The compelling thing about “Wichita” is instead similar to the thing that makes Brian Eno’s records mesmerizing: the song unfolds discreetly and gradually, moving from one phase to another like a play moving from one act to the next. With all the soft shifting and occasional abrupt ones over such a long span, this isn’t a song so much as it’s an organism, experiencing life like many of us do: beginning with little more than a pulse, then the tentative, first hopeful steps forward, picking up pace and developing a personality as it works up toward a climax, then gliding down gradually toward a soft, glorious landing, as echoes of children playing circles the focus back to the beginning of a life as it nears the end.
I’d like to think I’m at the ten-minute mark of the song in my own life, but it’s probably closer to twelve or thirteen. Wise folks are apt to tell us it isn’t where you are on the tune, but whether you’re striking the right chords.
There’s a guy I know who is just a little bit older than me who I believe is. He’s had his share of sobering moments lately, like losing his mother, father and sister all within the span of about a year. But he always finds solace and small joys in music, friends, and celebrations; little climaxes that add up nicely to counter the pains and worries of middle-aged life. I think his secret is his ability to quietly reflect on life and draw the right lessons from it. He can reach back in the crevices of his mind and hear those children playing and put things in a simple perspective like a child does. He might not always have the answers to life, but that doesn’t stop him from seeking enjoyment from it, however big or small that might be.
How can I make that assessment about a guy who lives about 2,000 miles from me? Because he puts his musings, dreams, hopes and and worries out there in elegant prose for everybody to see. Oftentimes on this very site.
(Happy 50th Birthday, Mark.)
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B000W1SJN2″ /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B000026255″ /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B0000261O4″ /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B000V6MTFM” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B005CWHZP4″ /]
- Cannonball Adderley – ‘Poppin’ in Paris: Live at L’Olympia 1972′ (2024) - April 20, 2024
- Christian Marien Quartett – ‘How Long Is Now’ (2024) - April 18, 2024
- Dave Douglas, feat. James Brandon Lewis – ‘Gifts’ (2024) - April 11, 2024
