Trembling Vine

"Trembling Vine" was written after the 2003 anniversary of the JFK assassination.  I remember improvising a saxophone melody which flowed so well I decided to write the lyrics to it.  It was one of those rare events in which all the parts played came together as a singular sound. It all fell into place without much effort, mostly first takes.  When something like that passes through you, and you're lucky enough to retrieve it, you have to consider it a blessing.  

The tragedy of human social behavior is to place superhuman expectations on leadership, then when inevitable tragedy occurs, to fetishize it, make the man into a mythic figure.  Kennedy was surely a ghost looming invisibly throughout the entire decade, put there by magicians of public relations and the mass cult of celebrity. Because of television, radio, records, movies, and magazines, the worship of charismatic personality was stronger during the '60s than in any other decade before or since.  The heartbreak and cynicism fueled from all the assassinations of the '60s made some almost give up hope. 

Trembling Vine

    It’s been such a long time 
from the day he died.
    Been such a long time 
he was cut down ‘n born away.
    I seen some bad times, 
but I will never forget that day.

    There were suffering souls, 
but they were arrogant and frozen,
seeking lies and deceptions 
so they wouldn’t feel ashamed.
All their stories shimmer’d downward, 
    down to the graveyard, 
and in every gaze 
you felt the curse of devotion.

    With my aching hands
I made myself go blind,
wind in my mind,
a trembling vine.

    I know, I know I’ll never see 
the shadow of a rainbow.
To feel my tongue shape breezy words 
and sing without disdain 
would be a miracle;
    to even hope for a good life,
could open a door into heaven.

Copyright © 2005, 2014 by David Larstein, all rights reserved.  

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