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Criss Cross
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Monday, 12 December 2005 11:45 |
april in paris
for george tysh
if there are standards
against which
we stand to be measured
or measure ourselves
& are found wanting, like
i want to be in paris
in april
but i'll be in detroit
instead, which is a whole
different place indeed,
or we find we measure up
or go so far beyond the mark
like monk on april
in paris, or bird with strings
or the will bill davis arrangement
by basie, let's hear it
one more once, this is not at al
l what those squares had in mind
when they wrote this shit
for some corny broadway musical,
junkies shooting dope
& playing they songs in-
side out like that,
turning broadway upside down
& shaking a few pitiful coins
out its pockets,
these are standards
because everybody knows them,
little simple melodies
hammered into the public body
thru sheer repetition,
blam blam blam blam blam,
20 or 30 times a day,
always the same fucking way,
little pop tunes with a bare modicum
of intelligence & invention
except as they are invested
& propelled beyond their premises
by the genius of a monk
or a bird or bud powell,
giants of spontaneous composition,
total masters of creative abstraction,
turning the western world
on its ear,
april in paris
or autumn in new york,
they set a standard so high
we are still trying to reach it
detroit
june 1984/
january 12 , 1985 |
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