Re: Only the Lonely / George J. Dance

> George J. Dance wrote:
> 
>> Creepy Mike aka HarryLime aka michaelmaleficapendragon@ wrote:
>> Will Dockery <user3274> posted:
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> michaelmaleficapendragon@ wrote:
>>> [email protected] (Will-Dockery) posted:
>>> michaelmaleficapendragon@ wrote:
>>> [email protected] (Will-Dockery) posted:
>>> George J. Dance wrote:
>>> 
>>> Only the Lonely
>>> 
>>> The man in shades
>>> strides to the mic
>>> and declares,
>>> "Only the lonely
>>> know the way I feel tonight ..."
>>> " and ten thousand screaming,
>>> chanting fans wedged up against
>>> each other in the hall all together
>>> suddenly feel so
>>> lonely.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> George J. Dance, 2010
>>> from Doggerel, and other doggerel, 2015.
>>> 
>>> [All rights reserved by the author - Used with permission]
>>> 
>>> https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2010/03/orbison-man-in-shades-strides-to-mic.html
>>> 
>>> Commentary: This poem was posted on aapc in the Sunday Sampler
>>> 10 years ago. It appears on the original, 'rough' thread, but was left
>>> out of the Official Sampler thread for the week. The editor of that week's
>>> Official thread, Michael Pendragon, said that the omission was an mistake,
>>> but if so it was never corrected.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Nice Roy Orbison tribute.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Thanks, Will. I hope you realize that, while Orbison is the subject, it's not a poem about him or one of his concerts. In fact I don't even mention his name. Using his picture may make it look like the poem's about him, and I hesitated to use it; but I had to use something as an illustration, so that Harry or Nancy wouldn't put some of their AI art on as the illustration instead.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> True, I think many readers will take it like I did, as a poem in tribute to Roy Orbison.
>>> 
>>> I'm not sure how you can "fix" that but it might be something you'll encounter a lot from the general audience.
>>> 
>>> Just my opinion.
>>> 
>>> If readers enjoy it as a tribute to Orbison, I have no trouble with that. What a poem means to a reader is always going to be unique to that poem and that reader, and it's not my place to tell reders they're wrong. The only people I'd take issue with are critics who try to tell me this is what one of my poems means, period, or this is what I meant when I wrote it.
>>> 
>>> Orbison, as you, Creepy Mike, and (I'd bet) everyone else who's read it has figured out, is the subject of the poem. And it was originally written as an OB poem to one by Jim Senetto (called "Orbison" IIRC), which I think was simply a tribute to him and nothing more. So in that sense it's about him.
>>> 
>>> But what a poem's really about is its theme; and the theme of this poem is the power of music, to affect how people feel and to bring them together. In the poem, Orbison sings those lines, and 10,000 people instantly have the same feeling. And what they feel is loneliness. They certainly are not lonely; loneliness is the sadness of being alone, and if they're in a room with 10,000 people of like mind, they certainly are not alone. But when he sang those words, he got everyone, alone or not, to feel that sadness. That is a tribute to him as an artist, but it's only one example of the theme.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I'll look for the Jim Senetto poem you mentioned, I've always known Roy Orbison as a tragic figure I'm not sure any poem has fully captured yet.
>>> 
>>> No need; I'll post it in here. Since I found it reposted by Corey down in one of his threads, I won't give a link, just paste it:
>>> 
>>> Orbison
>>> 
>>> Angel voice
>>> sings with sons
>>> lost in fire.
>>> the pretty woman
>>> sits front row
>>> smiling.
>>> 
>>> by BLACKPOOLJIMMY
>>> 
>>> "Sons" may be a typo for "songs" or not.
>>> 
>>> There was a fire tragedy involving Roy Orbison, I'll need to look it up for the correct details.
>>> 
>>> Found it.
>>> "During a tour of Britain and playing Birmingham on Saturday, September 14, 1968,[57] he received the news that his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, had burned down, and his two eldest sons had died.[58] This occurred two years after the death of his wife Claudette and Orbison's grief meant he could not write songs.[6] Fire officials stated that the cause of the fire may have been an aerosol can, which possibly contained lacquer.[59] The property was sold to Johnny Cash, whose house at the same location also burned down later.[6]"
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Orbison
>>> That is tragic.
>>> 
>>> That must have been a nightmarish time for Roy Orbison.
>>> 
>>> This response appears in the discussion at:
>>> http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=703674682#703674682
>>> 
>>> Thank you
>>> 
>>> Only obvious if you know Roy Orbison's story.
>>> 
>>> HTH and HAND.
>>> 
>>> This response appears in the discussion at:
>>> http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=703674682#703674682
>>> 
>>> Which everyone reading this thread does
>>> 
>>> Now they do.
>>> 
>>> Apparently you and George Dance were not aware of the details of Roy Orbison's life until I pointed it out.
>>> 
>>> And so it goes.
>>> 
>>> This response appears in the discussion at:
>>> http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=703674682#703674682
>>> 
>>> I thoroughly researched the lives of all of the singers who are discussed in my book on the history of popular music; Mr. Orbison included.
>>> 
>>> I haven't read your book, can you give me and others here who might be interested some details on the Roy Orbison section?
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> There are no "sections" on individual vocalists; the book is arranged by year.
>> 
>> https://www.amazon.com/MUSIC-Definitive-History-American-Popular/dp/B08D4VRR83/ref=
>> 
> 
> 
> Didn't you include an index? If you did, it woulldn't be that hard for you to
> pull out and share some other personal information on Orbison.



Seems a little odd that a book of this type doesn't have a basic index. 


This response appears in the discussion at:
http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=703674682#703674682

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