Saturday, December 21, 2013
to understand more and much more than there was, and they began duelling
for this; everything came out of the horn, no more phrases, just cries,
cries, “Baugh” and down to “Beep!” and up to “EEEEE!” and down to
clinkers and over to sideways echoing horn-sounds. He tried everything,
up, down, sideways, upside down, horizontal, thirty degrees, forty
degrees and finally he fell back in somebody’s arms and gave up and
everybody pushed around and yelled “Yes! Yes! He blowed that one!” Neal
wiped himself with his handkerchief. Then up stepped Freddy on the
bandstand and asked for a slow beat and looked sadly out the open door
over people’s heads and began singing “Close Your Eyes.” Things quieted
down a minute. Freddy wore a tattered suede jacket, a purple shirt,
cracked shoes and zoot pants without press: he didn’t care. He looked
like a Negro Hunkey. His big brown eyes were concerned with sadness, and
the singing of songs slowly and with long thoughtful pauses. But in the
second chorus he got excited and grabbed the mike and jumped down from
the bandstand and bent to it. To sing a note he had to touch his
shoe-tops and pull it all up to blow, and he blew so much he staggered
from the effect, and only recovered himself in time for the next long
slow note. “Mu-u-u-u-sic pla-a-a-a-a-a-ay!” he leaned back with his face
to the ceiling, mike held at his fly. He shook, he swayed. Then he
leaned in almost falling with his face against the mike. “Ma-a-a-ake it
dream-y for dan-cing”---and he looked at the street outside with his
lips curled in scorn---“while we go ro-man-n-n-cing” he staggered
sideways----“Lo-o-o-ove’s holi-da-a-ay”---he shook his head with disgust
and weariness at the whole world----“Will make it seem”---what would it
make it seem?---everybody waited, he mourned--- “O---kay.” The piano
hit a chord. “So baby come on just clo-o-oose your ey-y-y-y-y-yes”---his
mouth quivered, he looked at us, Neal and I, with an expression that
seemed to say “Hey now, what’s this thing we’re all doing in this sad
brown world”---and then he came to the end of his song, and for this
there had to be elaborate preparations during which time you could send
all the messages to Garcia around the world twelve times and what
difference did it make to anybody because here
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