But feeling the pull of undiscovered countries at moment, and wanting to find some pocket of peace, something existentially like the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. I used to go there as a child, pining for the rice crackers and jasmine tea we had at the end of every visit.
r Just some pictures I found while 'researching' underground Seventies music. These two photographs were taken at a Sikh commune in the States (lots of ex-hippies running around in shawls, singing and dancing, unloading tents from Volkswagen trunks).
The other night at the Co-Op on Walton Street, I heard two pretty girls singing this tune in harmony beside the lettuce and tomatoes. They were, I thought, too young, too effervescent in their fur coats to ever know such a song as this, first recorded by Jackson C. Frank in 1966, on an album produced by a very young Paul Simon. It was beautiful, a little shock to hear I song I know so very well being sung, shared among others. I wanted to ask these girls where they had heard it, but refrained. They were, I think, busy waiting for someone to buy them cigarettes. Then a few days later I found out that Laura Marling, also young, also from down the road (in Reading), had just released a version of Blues Run the Game on 7 inch vinyl. Personally, I doubt anyone (other than girls beside the produce section in mini-markets) can do much better than Simon and Garfunkel's majesterial but unreleased version of the song. Nothing quite like hearing two voices sharing a sad but resilient melody together.
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