While I really should be finding out what finally happened post COP24 (the 24th Conference of the Parties who are supposed to be agreeing a way forward to the Paris Agreement on climate change), the last I saw this morning was that even though the conference had finished, it was not yet conclusive and the negotiations were ongoing.

So let me switch gears, since a couple of hours ago @tim-beck and I said farewell to @johannvdwalt and @xiaoxiao after a most delightful lunch, which put me in the mode of appreciating artistry - since they are arguably among the finest amateur photographers in the world, as you'll have seen if you follow their blogs here.

@johannvdwalt "panning" @xiaoxiaoPhoto credit: I'm scared to ask

Yes, that did put me in the mood to listen to great music

As they left and we were cleaning up, the playlist @tim-beck made for my birthday a couple of years ago really hit its stride, coming to the Rolling Stones' "Time Waits for No One", followed by Bruce Springsteen's soul-ripping "Ghost of Tom Joad". So I got well into both songs and decided to share my love for them with you.

Time Waits for No One

This song works as poetry before you even begin to set it to music.

Yes, star crossed in pleasure the stream flows on by
Yes, as we're sated in leisure, we watch it fly
And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman's face
Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste
Time waits for no one, no favours has he
Time waits for no one, and he won't wait for me
Men, they build towers to their passing yes, to their fame everlasting
Here he comes chopping and reaping, hear him laugh at their cheating
And time waits for no man, and it won't wait for me
Yes, time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
Drink in your summer, gather your corn
The dreams of the night time will vanish by dawn
And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
No no no, not for me....

Lyrics source

But then set it to music and be transported. The guitar (Mick Taylor) and piano (Nicky Hopkins) work in that song are extraordinary. Here are a couple of quotes from the YouTube site:

The guitar solo at the end of this song is so beautiful it's practically a religious experience. Mick Taylor really nails it. This is perhaps my favorite guitar of all time. I never get tired of listening to it. Simply amazing. (juscurious)

Mick Taylor's guitar just about makes me cry every time. Exquisitely beautiful. Nicky Hopkin's piano makes this soar. The lyrics seem right out of Chaucer. Great work guys, RIP Nicky, thanks nomad. (Buddy Puddy)

Whatever music you listen to usually, if you've never listened to the Stones, if all you listen to is trance (then you probably need help anyway ;-)), if you think Sympathy for the Devil and Paint it Black are the bee's knees (as I do), if you think the Stones are noisy, boisterous and rambunctious and just not your thing - drop everything and spend 6-1/2 minutes listening to this song. It's simply extraordinary, one of the best pieces of music of modern times, both lyrically and musically. I have to agree with juscurious' assessment. Anyway, enjoy.

Ghost of Tom Joad

This song leaves me breathless every time I listen to it. And it makes me cry at the same time with the sheer wall of emotion it hits me with. Let's start with the lyrics:

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge

Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' 'round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the Southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight
Where it's headed everybody knows
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

Well the highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad

Lyrics source

Powerful, powerful lyrics, raging against the machine of injustice and inequality.

If I close my eyes, I'm transported immediately back to the Springsteen concert in Joburg held on 1 February 2014, where it started to pour with rain, the sound system failed, Springsteen played guitar out in the rain and showed me what it means for a performer to really love an audience by giving, and giving and then giving some more...but then he, the E-Street Band and Tommy Morello played THIS, which we already knew so well from having listened to it on the High Hopes album. What we didn't realise was what Tommy Morello was going to use to make those sounds on guitar - his teeth!

Here's a really good video of them playing in concert, but sorry, you won't see Tom Morello playing his guitar (with "Arm the Homeless" painted on it) with his teeth. He doesn't disappoint , though - he does all kinds of other weird stuff with his guitar, which makes it look like an extension of himself. Oh, if you thought Time Waits for No One is long at 6-1/2 minutes, set aside nearly 9 minutes of your life for this video. You won't notice them passing.

A thought on band play

On the right hand side, Stevie van Zandt playing his guitar heart out - Steve van Zandt who was one of the major musical forces, along with Peter Gabriel, who besides our South African treasure Johnny Clegg made the world aware of the wrongness of apartheid. And Max Weinberg, drummer extraordinaire, behind Springsteen. Those two have been with Springsteen for decades, and in comes Tommy Morello from Rage Against the Machine, and he just fits in.

Who's Tom Joad?

Bruce Springsteen draws his characters from American folklore and songlore, if you'll forgive the invented word.

"The Ghost of Tom Joad" is a folk rock song written by Bruce Springsteen. It is the title track to his eleventh studio album, released in 1995. The character Tom Joad, from John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, is mentioned in the title and narrative. Source

Springsteen is not just a singer/songwriter/performer, but also one of the United States' true chroniclers of how ordinary people live in the that country (and it turns out his music also resonates with millions around the world), as well as a fan of some of the greatest folk artists of the 20th century. He has kept their legacy alive through his songs.

Originally a quiet folk song, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" has also been recorded by Rage Against the Machine and Junip. Springsteen himself has performed the song in a variety of arrangements, including with the E Street Band, and a live recording featuring Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello as guest. In 2013, Springsteen subsequently re-recorded the track with Morello for his eighteenth studio album, High Hopes (2014).

Besides The Grapes of Wrath, the song also takes inspiration from "The Ballad of Tom Joad" by Woody Guthrie, which in turn was inspired by John Ford's film adaptation of Steinbeck's novel. Springsteen had in fact read the book, watched the film, and listened to the song, before writing "The Ghost of Tom Joad", and the result was viewed as being true to Guthrie's tradition. Springsteen identified with 1930s-style social activism, and sought to give voice to the invisible and unheard, the destitute and the disenfranchised. His use of characterization was similarly influenced by Steinbeck and Ford.

However, like the rest of the album, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is set in the early-to-mid-1990s, with contemporary times being likened to Dust Bowl images.

Source

Why do I love this song?

The raw emotional power of the combination of heart-wrenching lyrics, the visceral vocal duet between Springsteen and Tom Morello, the band turning the universe upside down and Tom Morello's weird and wonderful guitar play, all combine with the basic reality that this song sums up much of how I feel about social injustice, to make this one of the songs which transports me into myself.

Every time I watch a video of that song played in concert or remember the Joburg concert, I remember how surprised I was that it felt like watching a raw Pink Floyd play in concert. Think Comfortably Numb without the emotional control and the perfectly immersive light show. Then think of your favourite Pink Floyd live guitar solo (it's David Gilmour in Comfortably Numb, am I right?). Now imagine Tom Morello as some kind of anti-matter version of David Gilmour. I guess you have to be a fan of Star Trek (The Original Series) to really appreciate that!

A big thank you to the photographic artists-in-residence on Steemit for coming by to inspire!

A visit too short. But inspiring nevertheless.

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