The Lemon Twigs
Cross My Heart
Hello, fans and friends. Welcome to our new blog. I don’t know how often we’ll post on this, and if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you. It’s about time I had a place to express my thoughts. Every once in a while I get one floating around, and it pays to write it down so it doesn’t go somewhere else. Hopefully these thoughts embed themselves into your consciousness, thus spreading my influence on the rich culture we’re all creating. I’ve always thought of myself as one of our time’s great thinkers and poets, and I think it’s about time the rest of you felt the same. All that aside, there’s a song by Phil Ochs that plays in my head just about any time something goes really wrong. Phil Ochs was a great songwriter. A contemporary of Dylan in the Greenwich folk scene who as well as having great admiration for his song craft was also a vocal critic of Dylan turning his back on social causes. There’s an interview of him criticizing Blonde on Blonde, saying that Dylan was letting his images get away from him. And as we all know, history proved him right, with Blonde on Blonde eventually earning its reputation as a hiccup on an otherwise impressive back catalogue. Cross My Heart. The first track on Phil Ochs’ lush (a great word) orchestral masterwork Pleasures of the Harbor. Phil saw the writing on the wall. After 3 great records in the folk tradition of solo acoustic guitar accompaniment, Phil saw what was happening in the music scene (and what was selling), and decided to take full advantage of the move from folk label Elektra to major label A&M. While Dylan expanded his musical palette by leaning on his early blues and rock roots, Phil in his pre-Bob Gibson college years was a clarinetist. He got into a classical bag. In the late 60’s those were basically your two options. Pleasures of the Harbor is of its time, before it and ahead of it, like all the best shit. He recognized the hope for change that was in the air, and knew like everything else, it’d come crashing down. He sums up the era to come on that first track beautifully.
“I don’t know, but it seems that every single dream’s painted pretty pictures in the air
Then it tumbles in despair
And it starts to bend until by the end it’s a nightmare
But I’m gonna give all that I’ve got to give
Cross my heart and I hope to live”
Through many small, insignificant struggles of my own, I’ve thought of those words. And it applies as much to our own selves as it does to our expanded, collective self. It applies to the General Public of then and now. I say listen to the song. The non hit of 67 that’s as uplifting as it is upsetting. But maybe more upsetting.
-Brian
The Lemon Twigs editorial committee would also like to add that the final track of Pleasures Of The Harbor “Crucifixion” is a Kennedy assassination epic that rivals Dylan’s Murder Most Foul.
Band Statement
To quote an old showbiz saying, “The show must NOT go on!”
It’s with great disappointment that we announce the postponement of our 2020 tour. We know you wanted to see us, and we wanted to see you too. And they wanted to see us also. Not to mention them. But as we retreat back into ourselves and try to pick up the pieces, we drop our keys, and after our keys, we drop our glasses. And without our glasses, it becomes very difficult to find the pieces we were looking for. But I digress. I’d like tell you when the new shows will be, but I’m a lousy scientist, and an even worse doctor.
It’s with even greater disappointment that we move our record release date to August 21st. They say good things come to those who wait, and even better things come to those who wait longer. And then they tell you not to procrastinate. What kind of sense does that make? To try and make it up to you, we’re hard at work on another record. And expect some new tracks and videos in the meantime.
In times of global turmoil, I find it comforting to recall something the late great Abraham Lincoln once said. After that, I like to take a large ice cube out from the freezer and suck on it for a couple of minutes
♥Light and Love♥
Brian and Michael D’Addario
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