The Police - 08/29/11
There's something delightful about having the day off after a big party. Although there was quite a bit of cleaning to do, it wasn't
overwhelming and we were able to relax for most of the day. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon watching a new series of documentaries about the planet. Now that I've watched just about every geology based documentary I could find, I've turned to a slightly different off-shoot:
the disaster scenario documentary. It's really a minor leap, to go from a series about the nature of the San Andreas Fault, to one about
the extreme possibility of a dramatically destructive earthquake up and down the west coast. Similarly, you can't talk about the creation of
the planet and the moon, without discussing asteroid impacts, but a number of stations are airing programs which are precisely about what
could happen if a large asteroid hit our modern day world.
Ironically, the station which seems to relish these destructive Armageddon-style scenarios most is The History Channel. As far as I know, this channel was exclusively for documentaries about old wars, with shows like "History of the Gun" and "Mustard Gas and the horror of World War I" --- I don't know when the History Channel shifted programming, but now there's virtually nothing along those lines. It's all shows about cars and mega-quakes.
I don't know how where they get off predicting apocalypse on a station called "The History Channel" but I guess I don't make the rules.
Today's song is only moderately connected. It's the wordy When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around, a cut off the 1980 album, Zenyatta Mondatta, by The Police. The song is more about the banal downward spiral that life can feel like, rather than the destructive impact of a large meteoroid, but it still feels somehow appropriate. I love the song's simple groove, laid down by Sting's bass and Stuart Copeland's excellent drumming, but (unlike much of the Police's catalog) Andy Summers plays a remarkably sparse set of paced chords, giving the song a strong punctuation, and an excellent groove.
When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around - The Police
1980 - Zenyatta Mondatta
Classic Rock
Track Length - 3:37
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