I was enjoying a beautiful Bluegrass ride through the rolling hills of central Kentucky after a day of watching fast women and pretty horses Keeneland when James Taylor’s classic Fire and Rain blared forth. With it came memories of my sophomore year at Lafayette High: football Friday’s and first dates, crisp cold gray days with the multi-hued leaves filling the streets and lawns.
But what makes this such a powerful song? Certainly, there’s James himself, the author and creator. But I submit to you that there is so much more. Whoever planned the cello part was pure genius. Whoever played that cello did so to perfection. Whoever arranged the song and produced it did so flawlessly. And whoever engineered the sound, thereby creating the final product was at the top of their game.
Like any musical recording, it is ALL these working in tandem that creates the tunes so familiarly fabulous to our ears. That cello in Fire and Rain is so powerful that the song could never be the same without it.
Same with Hugh Masekela’s trumpet in the Byrd’s “So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star.” The song is hypnotic, but it is Hugh’s horn that makes it a heavenly harmony. It soars!
This all reminded me of the axle, that forgotten but essential part without which the wheel would be useless. The wheel gets all the credit as the greatest invention of all time, but where would it be without the humble axle.
Look behind the “stars” of your world. You’ll find a million such axles, cellos and Hughs.
RFD 10/18/06
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