October 16, 2006 Sadness

Steve: You’re listening to Jonesy’s Jukebox on Indie 1031. Three minutes after twelve…it’s kind of a funny ol’ day. Yesterday was funky, too. Has someone been playing my…oh, they tuned it down didn’t they, the Def Leppard guy. (starts tuning his guitar) I haven’t played it since the Def Leppards were in here. The def leppard colonies…oh, they’re lepers. Oh, they tuned it down a whole step for Joe’s voice. If you don’t know what I’m talking about…it doesn’t matter. All you’ve got to know is I’m tuning the guitar up. Let me explain it to you. When people’s voices…been on the road a long time and the older they get, bands tend to tune down to make it easier on the vocals. You don’t have to hit the high notes and scream as hard so they tune down their guitars for the singer. That’s the whole reason of tuning down. Unless you’re in one of them horrendous bands and they just like the sound of them guitars when they’re like banjos, like rubber bands. I am particularly not fond of that kind of guitar tuning. I prefer the more standard procedure. Almost there. Bear with me, would you? Is that any better? Bloody Leppards. What have they done to my guitar?

Mr. Shovel: See, they have a guy who tunes all their guitars for ‘em.

Steve: I know. Well they’re, you know…I ain’t gonna have some bloke standing here tuning my guitar. I don’t need it. I have perfect pitch. (continues tuning) There you go. (sighs) Yeah, it was funky yesterday, man. I don’t know it was but if…I don’t know if it’s this weather change…a lot of people are funky, I think. I don’t know. Energy. You know when someone’s really angry and they want to punch your lights out but they haven’t actually done it? You can feel the energy coming off ‘em, when that’s gonna happen. You know what I mean? When someone’s like, even if they don’t, they’re not raising their arms to ya, their gonna do it and you can feel it. Do you know what I mean? So there’s a lot in that energy, invisible energy that you don’t see that goes on around you. Like, this morning I was having something to eat and this bloke came in and he was just bugging me, for no apparent reason. His energy, he’s just horrible. I’ve no reason why. Don’t even know the bloke. Do you believe in that, Shovel?

Mr. Shovel: Yeah, but maybe you were just predisposed to be in a bad mood.

Steve: Well but you go into a house that’s kind of haunted…

Mr. Shovel: That I can feel.

Steve: Right, so it’s the same thing. It’s all energy, innit? Invisible energy that you feel, wherever it’s…wonder what it’s like, the energy, when you’re in space? Wonder what that’s like…

~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Sadness, it’s unusual
for me to be this way
Sadness, it’s very common
to be this way

What does it mean
what does it mean
to feel this way
most of the time

Sadness oh sadness, what’s it like
to be the only lonely one
Sadness, you’re my true friend
The one that I’m so fond of

In these lonely times
What do I get
What do I get
What do I get
What do I get

Sadness, why do you love me so
Why can’t I let you go
Tell me what’s it like when you’re
on the other side
Maybe it is easier to take your life

Maybe it’s better
to get somewhere quicker
than where I’m at right now
To be in this place
Oh I don’t want to be in this place, no more

I would like to get out of here
Just for a short while
I’ve had enough of this place

Sadness...

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

After typing this "energy" discussion I remembered something I read, someone had an anecdote from the '70's about Steve's...special intuition. I dug around and found it in John's book, "Rotten". This recollection is from rock photographer Bob Gruen:

Bob Gruen: Once I was in a bar called the Speakeasy with Steve Jones and Johnny Rotten. Steve and I went into the bathroom, into the stall to smoke something. We could hear two people washing their hands and talking. Since this was a rock star bar full of musicians, I assumed the artists at least got along with each other and had a sense of free thought.

But these guys were talking about how angry they were and how much they hated the Sex Pistols because they’d insulted the Queen. I couldn’t believe it. Steve and I were listening to all this anger. I didn’t get it at all. That’s when I felt like a tourist. Musicians angry at a band because they sang a song against the Queen? I guess Steve had a better idea of what was going on. Afterward we went back out into the bar and were drinking beer out of these big, heavy beer mugs.

To me it was still just a bar full of musicians, but Steve was aware of the undercurrent. Johnny Rotten was a couple of feet away from us, talking to somebody. All of a sudden Steve said, “Get down, there’s gonna be a fight.”

Just as we ducked under the edge of the bar, every glass in the place went flying in the air. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. From every direction, heavy beer glasses came crashing down on us, smashing against the walls and pillars of the bar. Within seconds the place was ankle deep in broken glass. I asked, “What the fuck was that for?”

Steve answered, “Some people don’t like us.”