Dust
There's a sublime chord sequence hidden in the 13th Floor Elevators' 'Dust' from the 'Easter Everywhere' album. It occurs only twice in the song, a switch from a barre C chord on the 3rd, up to a B7 on the 7th, and finally to an Em also on the 7th. That Em, missing out the lower E string and going 7-9-9-8-7 is just a beautiful chord, and when put at the end of that particular sequence had a kind of final, triumphant ring to it. I had wondered what that chord was and why it had that effect - was it perhaps a major chord in a tune of minors and 7ths? Actually the opposite is almost true, it's a song filled with C, G, D, and the occasional Em and Bm. The real genius of that sequence is its subtlety and under-use in the song. Just those two times, almost hidden in the background, easily missable if you're not listening closely. It's not made a feature, or even really a link, it's just... there. And then immediately gone.
If you want to follow along at home, it's at approximately 1:13 and 2:48.
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The car is parked on a faintly ridiculous slope, the front far higher than the back and the left far higher than the right, but it'll do all the same. As I make my way up Nine Stone Rig the rain tumbles upon me in a sheet an the wind gusts, often sticking my shower-proof hood to the side of my face. The way is mostly grass and my feet slowly become damp as my worn and no longer waterproof shoes weigh themselves down. This is some of the wildness that I've been missing, the pleasure of exploring, the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of living in the here and now, although travelling to the deep past.
The circle isn't much to look at really, but it's there all the same. The 'Nine Stone Stone Circle' is chiefly notable for having 8 stones, or maybe 10 depending on your perspective, perhaps in the same spirit that at one stage the Big 10 conference had 12 teams in it, while the Big 12 conference had 10 teams. A site visit in 1913 notes that only eight remain, although a further visit in 1979 claims nine, although says one has been recently moved and calls it only a "probable stone circle". It is not even particularly circular, and it seems at least some of the stones have wandered from their original positions having fallen and being imprecisely shoved back. Both note the centre, 1913 calling it a "slight excavation" and 1979 a "ragged central depression", while a far earlier dubious mention of 1853 excitedly states that a rumour of hidden treasure in the circle led to various unsuccessful attempts to find it. They didn't have any time for that type of thing in 1979, calling the centre "of doubtful significance". That was that until 2012, when that rarest of things happened to an ancient historic site in this area - actual archaeology! With a trench! They found that the circle had been built into natural gravel and the centre was "sterile of any features". Poor centre, everyone's a critic. There are other standing stones in the area, such as the larger Crow Stones. An OS survey book of 1854 calls it "A large circle of Stones, on a heathy eminence at the south end of "Crow Moss". There is no tradition in the country concerning it, but it appears to have been a druidical circle", neatly summing up the futility of attempting to decipher precise meaning from an unwritten past.
If you want to follow along at home, it's at approximately 1:13 and 2:48.
*
The car is parked on a faintly ridiculous slope, the front far higher than the back and the left far higher than the right, but it'll do all the same. As I make my way up Nine Stone Rig the rain tumbles upon me in a sheet an the wind gusts, often sticking my shower-proof hood to the side of my face. The way is mostly grass and my feet slowly become damp as my worn and no longer waterproof shoes weigh themselves down. This is some of the wildness that I've been missing, the pleasure of exploring, the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of living in the here and now, although travelling to the deep past.
The circle isn't much to look at really, but it's there all the same. The 'Nine Stone Stone Circle' is chiefly notable for having 8 stones, or maybe 10 depending on your perspective, perhaps in the same spirit that at one stage the Big 10 conference had 12 teams in it, while the Big 12 conference had 10 teams. A site visit in 1913 notes that only eight remain, although a further visit in 1979 claims nine, although says one has been recently moved and calls it only a "probable stone circle". It is not even particularly circular, and it seems at least some of the stones have wandered from their original positions having fallen and being imprecisely shoved back. Both note the centre, 1913 calling it a "slight excavation" and 1979 a "ragged central depression", while a far earlier dubious mention of 1853 excitedly states that a rumour of hidden treasure in the circle led to various unsuccessful attempts to find it. They didn't have any time for that type of thing in 1979, calling the centre "of doubtful significance". That was that until 2012, when that rarest of things happened to an ancient historic site in this area - actual archaeology! With a trench! They found that the circle had been built into natural gravel and the centre was "sterile of any features". Poor centre, everyone's a critic. There are other standing stones in the area, such as the larger Crow Stones. An OS survey book of 1854 calls it "A large circle of Stones, on a heathy eminence at the south end of "Crow Moss". There is no tradition in the country concerning it, but it appears to have been a druidical circle", neatly summing up the futility of attempting to decipher precise meaning from an unwritten past.