This song is an impression of the curious phenomenon of the ascendancy of one Barack Obama – particularly during the heady days of his ’08 “hope & change” campaign. The song title is derived from the similarly titled Gary Zukav book, which deals with the mystifying world of particle physics. The keystone tenet of that world is the “uncertainty principle”: particles come into and go out of existence unpredictably, and neither their location in space nor movement through time can be pinpointed definitively. The “dancing wu li master” (a Chinese equivalent of a “whirling dervish”) metaphor alludes to the minuet between the “observer” and the “observed” (particle). The elusive nature and hidden tendencies of the sub-atomic particle (the “dancing wu li master”) assures we can never hit the mark in our comprehension of its essence…such an apt metaphor, too, for the Obama phenomenon. In all his elusiveness of form and substance (“of mystified origination…without a trail to trace him”), Obama – like a “dancing wu li master” – ultimately defies definition, except by the predetermined categories of the constrained human imagination…perhaps forever an unsolved mystery…like who really killed JFK, or where Jimmy Hoffa’s remains are buried, or who really did 9/11…Enjoy.

The Dancing Wu Li Master

There is a quote from that ancient Chinese mystic, Lao Tzu: “at no time in the world will a man who is sane over-reach himself, over-spend himself, over-rate himself.” Well, a “sane” man might avoid these pitfalls, but a “vain” man will not. And in the days of “irrational exuberance” in late 20th – early 21st century America, vanity (Lao Tzu’s kind of “insanity”) is the road down which those who do not hear have lead those who cannot see. And as that wonderful jazz-age entertainer of yesteryear – one Jimmy Durante – famously liked to say: “everybody wants to get into the act.”  Certainly you can judge the absurdities of the zeitgeist by the personalities most celebrated by it (“the tabloid talented tenth”). But as the ancient wisdom reminds us, “pride goeth before the fall”, and eventually all vanities go up in smoke…The title for this calypso-esque song was taken from Tom Wolfe’s bestselling novel about the “irrational exuberance” of the go-go 80s – “Bonfire of the Vanities” – which also explored this theme in a most entertaining way…On a closing note, it just seemed so appropriate to accent the theme for this tune with a reference to Carly Simon’s hit song of the ‘70s, “You’re So Vain”…Enjoy.

A Bonfire Of The Vanities

This instrumental number is a return to and completion of the “Dancing Wu Li Master” theme. If the Obama phenomenon of ’08 can be characterized as a kind of “irrational exuberance” in and of itself, the sense the 2012 stage of the phenomenon seems to engender is more of a resignation, a submission, to the Obama era. The multitudes of yesteryear aren’t “signing up for dancing wu li lessons” anymore, but anyone can still tap their feet to the bouncy beat of this tune while the remainder of the era plays itself out…Enjoy.

Wu Li Master Coda

Most of us at some point in our lives have had the experience of a seemingly life-and-death struggle to hold onto, to hold together, a self-defining situation in peril of crumbling before our very eyes – battling for everything we’ve valued and accustomed ourselves to in those circumstances. The struggle may have been for a relationship or a way of life, for a state of wellness, or for a pledge of allegiance to the flag of some socio-cultural abstraction…The title for this song is derived from a similarly titled wonderful little novel by a Spanish writer (Juan Goytisolo) living in 1980s Paris when the threat of social upheaval boiled just beneath the Franco-cultural surface under the massive tread of immigrant refugees streaming into France at that time. The tune simply puts Goytisolo’s theme of sudden disorientation by unexpected dislocation in another context. When one finds oneself on the losing end of a struggle, any struggle, what remains is to confront as stoically as one can the disorienting uncharted landscapes after the battles. Having a song (or a psalm) in your heart as a traveling companion can help moderate the trepidation faced in suddenly having to navigate the unknown…Enjoy.

Landscapes After The Battles

The name of Martin Luther King still is often invoked to inspire us to struggle for a more humane world today than yesterday. Sometimes these invocations are sincere, sometimes merely expedient. Nonetheless, one cannot but be humbled and in awe when contemplating the life of that truly heroic man – especially when one considers that early in life he was called upon by his people to put the entire weight of their struggle and aspirations on his young shoulders. This he accepted – forgoing the life of bourgeois normality in which he himself was raised. (Most males today of the age MLK was when he was called upon to lead that great struggle pass their lives  playing video games in the comfort of  the basement of mommy & daddy’s house!) From the moment he took up the mission, the sword of Damocles dangled just above his head, every day of his life. Knowing that eventually the sword would fall upon it (but never knowing when!), still, he never shrank from the ardors and dangers of the role he accepted. A most remarkable man, especially when you consider the oh-so vain mediocrities of today who somehow get designated (by exuberant public relations practitioners, no doubt) as leaders of this or that – caricatures for whom nothing matters more in the world than their own celebrity!...This song is a celebratory salute to MLK and all martyrs of his stripe – from Jesus Christ to Joe Hill. It’s the least they are owed by us…Enjoy.

Ode To The Martyred King

In the relentless globalization of the “irrational exuberance” zeitgeist – hell-bent as it seems to be on leveling every idyllic feature of this earth and of every human mind to a flattened superficial invariance and predictable uniformity everywhere – one can’t help but wonder if the idea of the “beautiful”, like the “age of reason” has had its day, never again to titillate the imagination. Without the idea of “the beautiful”, how is it possible to know a joyous moment?... and what is life really worth without the possibility of the joyous moment?...This song is a kind of lamentation for the lost ideals and ideas of “the beautiful”…Enjoy.

The Beautiful

This timeless Cole Porter classic is one of the most gorgeously haunting melodies in popular music. Composed in 1930, the song’s beauty never seems to fade or go stale. It’s one of those musical masterpieces that lends itself well to rendering in most any musical style or genre – including the Brazilian Bossa Nova-like approach we take here…Enjoy.

indianlucy