Released: Originally in 1972; preferred is the version on Live Bullet recorded in 1975 and released in 1976.
Turn the Page "Live Bullet"
Written by: Bob Seger
There is cheese, then there is cheese for special occasions. Then there is cheese made from goats milk from goats who graze on King Agamemnon's grave every full moon that sells for $750 an ounce. Such is Bob Seger's epic ballad "Turn the Page."
I heard this first, as with many things, on KRNA in Iowa City. I probably then listened to this song roughly 16,000 times on the two copies of Live Bullet I owned. I loved this song, warbling along with it while the Panasonic tape recorder that my Dad stole from the University of Iowa Hospitals wore out each tape. Indeed, I taped this song from the radio several times. Once I misjudged the length of the tape remaining and listened with horror as side 1 dropped out just before the climactic sax notes that end up the song.
As Bob sings "There I GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and the sax comes in with more cheese than a Wisconsin dairy, there is my 9 year old voice saying "DAMNIT!" loudly enough for the Panasonic to hear but not loud enough for the parents. Regardless of the tragedy of failing to capture Bob in his Cobo Hall glory, it would have meant a shot to the mouth. I cussed in solemn quiet, only to be rewarded for about a year by my giggling. I still hear that "DAMNIT" the few times per year that I manage to listen to the entire song.
Before you think that I am mocking Bob Seger, I am not. I credit him for finding one of my favorite duos, Ike and Tina Turner. Live Bullet opens with "Nutbush City Limits", a great song but better when belted out by Tina. I sought out that version in the times before YouTube in the only way I could, by buying a cassette of "Ike and Tina's Greatest". Needless when I listened to "Proud Mary", "Come Together" and "A Fool in Love" I was hooked. In a sense, Seger was a gateway artist, and for that I owe him big.
You see, I hate this song now. One of many things I cannot stand from my childhood, it is a solemn monument to the God of changing taste. I loved the idea of some "long Haired Freak" wandering into some Diner filled with local yokels not unlike my parents and family. I was the Freak, and the family were the people passing judgment. Everyone does this. We identify with those who are not understood when we are teenagers or 12 year olds. When we are abused, we identify with those who have the fortitude to basically tell the world to suck a bag of dicks while taking a fist to the ribs. Such it was with Seger; I knew I was worthwhile even when people treated me like shit.
You turn the page and move on to the next chapter. If people do not like it or "don't understand" they have to meet you in a place of commonality. If they refuse, you Turn the Page on them, family or not. While this may be shortsighted, I would answer life is too short to sweat the small bull shit. Hair too long? People bitching about your beard? Cut both when you want to, then do what as in the old Hebrew tale concerning Joshua. Joshua was invited to a feast, but showed up in rough homespun robes. He was turned away at the door despite his protestations. He returned in new robes and was ushered in with great pomp and circumstance. He responded by saying "Since it is my robes you invited, it is my robes which will stay." He then cast aside his robes and left the feast.
I may dislike this song because it is more full of cheese than a sandwich, but I cannot turn away from its message. Don't like me or what I look like? Tough. Get to know me before you make a judgment. I make stupid mistakes, just like everyone does. How do we forgive ourselves when others do not? Mistakes ascribed to how you look should never enter into the equation, as they are not mistakes. Mistakes are made through our own choices, not the decisions of small minded others. And I mean small minded. Don't like that waiter or waitress because of their tats? Go somewhere that would not hire them to match yourself.
Does this drive us apart? Of course it does but this is the penalty for having a free society. If you cannot accept the bulk of humanity who talk to much on cell phones or have tramp stamps you are not part of the world. I hate both of those things. Loathe them with every fiber of my fat assed being. I do not expect them to change because I want them to do so. They have to come to that point. The question as to whether or not it is a "good" thing to have or not have a tramp stamp is immaterial beside the action. We produce meaning and we can produce change. To think otherwise removes us from agency and power. I would say "Fuck that. I decide." Don't like my hair?
There I go
Playin' star again
There I go
Turn the Page
We are all the stars in our own lives and we decide our co-stars. Don't want to be in the play? You are whether you like it or not. It's your choice to be a villain or a hero. I want to be a hero in everyone's play. We should never want to be less.
No comments:
Post a Comment