The Feelies — Only Life “$8.00 VG”
Many years ago I walked in to Recycled Sounds (my friends and I still called it “Dirt Cheap.”) I bought a record, something like Chronic Town, the lady behind the counter, a really sweet woman, saw the REM and said, “Hey you might be in to this.” She walked down a row of records (which at the time was bigger than the row of used CDs) and picked up The Feelies “Only Life.”
A so began a 20-year musical mentorship of myself by Anne Winter. Over those years I bought stacks and stacks of vinyl from Anne. Every time I bought one record, she recommended one I’d probably like.
Today I learned that Anne passed, unexpectedly. There’s not much I can say about what Anne did for me that the many others whose lives she touched don’t already know.
People turn to music to make sense out of life and death. And for some of us, that meant turning to Anne. So right now this all seems a little, well, confusing. I can’t offer any kind of clarity.
This morning, when I learned about her death, my first instinct was to play records. I walked over to my record player, untouched for months, and what record was on there?
The Feelies — Only Life with the tag still on the clear sleeve “$8.00 VG”
What does it mean?
What can you do about it?
What can you say?
You don’t even know about it
Nobody talks
Nobody listens
Well look around
Yeah look out your window
They’re having a ball
Having a party
Well come inside
You can do what you like
Well it’s a nightmare
It’s all negative
Nothing matters
And what if it did?
You could lock your doors
Close all your windows and
Hide away …
It’s only life …
October 23rd, 2009Topic: Uncategorized Tags: None
