I Love Distortion (a rock & roll novel in 12 chapters) - September

(I Love Distortion (a rock & roll novel in 12 chapters) appears monthly in

Growing Old With Rock & Roll; January to December, 2013)

I Love Distortion - chapter nine

 "Keith Moon died that year
And something fine had finished
I took over center stage
And everything diminished"
 "My Last Lead Singer" - Sean Richter, 1990

Keith Moon, the pounding genius drummer and - as subsequent rock history has painfully borne out - the heart & soul of The Who, died September 7th, 1978.  I must have heard about it on September 8th, most likely on the noon news during my lunch hour at K-Mart.  I can't say Moon's death was entirely unexpected, and I hadn't bought a Who record since Who's Next in 1972, but a little part of my heart still broke that day.  The Twilight Kids played a gig that night.  Nicole sometimes wore vanilla extract on her throat as perfume.  That night was one of those nights.  I have no idea why I have retained that specific memory, or why those two facts are inextricably linked in my brain, but they are. 

The most immediate effect Keith's death had on the repertoire of The Twilight Kids was the dropping of a song entitled "Old Heroes Might Be Heroes (But They're Old Anyway)."  It was a tune I wrote that simultaneously name-checked and bad-mouthed a number of my old 1960's idols - The Rolling Stones, The Who, Lou Reed - for what I perceived as their descent into a rather quaint irrelevancy in my late 1970's punk-rock reality.

It also solidified our most Who-like creation - "Rise From The Suburbs" - a multi-section mini-opera modeled on Townshend's "A Quick One While He's Away."  It was a song we had been toying and tinkering with since the beginning of the band, but now took on a new urgency with the addition of Nicole's keening middle section, partially inspired by Moon's passing.

Rise From The Suburbs

(Sean wrote this part)

 On a rainy Saturday afternoon in July, somebody's teenage daughter is sitting in the living room of a

 deluxe ranch duplex in a well-to-do Midwestern suburb.  And she's thinking about joints, guitars,

 freeways, Willie Alexander, the kid who sits next to her in algebra class whose eyes are his best

 feature, romance, kitchens and kisses at night like fire.  This girl's thinking, this girl's thinking;

My dad's got a Porsche

My mom's got a new haircut

I'm just out here 

Trying to be a little different

We're out in the suburbs

And we know all of the words

To the top hit tunes on the radio

I want a rise from the suburbs

I want to rise from the suburbs

My uncle's an executive

He works for GM

He's on a big expense account

That he collects per diem

We're out in the suburbs

And we know all of the words

To the top hit tunes on the radio

I want to rise from the suburbs

I want a rise from the suburbs

My sister's got a mirror

The maid's got a Bissell

My brother's in the seminary

Praying to his missal

We're out in the suburbs

And we know all of the words

To the top hit tunes on the radio

I want a rise from the suburbs

I want to rise from the suburbs 

(Nicole wrote this part)

I'm so alone / I'm so alone / I've got so many friends / And I'm so alone

I'm so alone / I'm so alone / I've got so many things / And I'm so alone

I'm so alone / I'm so alone / Everybody's so close / And I'm so alone

I counted the ships on my wallpaper / I'm so alone, I'm sinking

And I can't stop thinking, I can't stop thinking;

It's one-way east

And I'm headed west

I've always been careful

To give you my best

rise from the suburbs / rise from the suburbs

I have this vision

I wanna have a voice

I look in your eyes

And I believe I have a choice

to rise from the suburbs / rise from the suburbs

Can you pull me out?

Can you show me love?

Can you save my sanity

When push comes to shove?

I JUST WANT TO RISE FROM THE SUBURBS!

We're out in the suburbs

And we know all of the words

To the top hit tunes on the radio

(Sean & Nicole wrote this part together, and sang it AT, more than TO, each other)

I wanna rise from the suburbs - That ain't no crime

I wanna rise from the suburbs - 'Cause I've done my time

I wanna rise from the suburbs - Get free and clear

I wanna rise from the suburbs - I want out of here!

please?

- Sean Richter & Nicole Page, 1978

It was a pretty great song.  Jeffrey Jay, Jake and I would build to a truly inspiring "Pictures Of Lily"-style crescendo, then drop out for Nicole to deliver a poignantly heartrending "please?" at the song's conclusion.  A little guitar solo I wrote for Nicole to play and we were out of the song.  You should've heard it.  I think Keith would've liked it.

     

© 2013 Ricki C.