Editor's note: This post ran last spring. Still got the flow, the mojo. Ain't no turning back, Jack.
SWEET. BABYBOOMERS SEEKING Proustian moments may recall their folks slow-dancing in the kitchen to "Rise," Herb Alpert's huge pop-jazz hit from the late '70s. Ah, Moms and Pops. Everything is perfect in this one.
Who is the smiling, dancing woman? Herb Alpert's wife, I assume? And why is this video so entrancing? At 1:18, they're moving as one, in perfect rhythm and repose, until she breaks the beautiful stasis by suddenly leaping into his arms. The photographers and onlookers can't help but whoop and laugh in joy. That instant. Grace? Harmony? Equipoise? The "secret chord" that Leonard Cohen sings of in Hallelujah, at the precise moment of embarking:
"It goes like this / The fourth, the fifth / The minor fall, the major lift / The baffled king composing Hallelujah . . . . "
KD Lang's version of "Hallelujah" during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver may be an even more moving illustration of that near-transcendent rise, the swelling of voice and intent. Her voice is powerful, angelic, other-worldly.
So we aim for this in our real writing, to trace that still point with our clumsy little words. We always fall a tad a bit a little short, but the fun is in the trying. Happy weekend.
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