Return of Memoryfest - Day 4/31

[bironic]

4. Kindergarten/Elementary School

In the living room of our old house, there was about a foot or a foot and a half of space between the side of the oatmeal-upholstered couch and the wall beneath the bay windows. In the corner sat the left half of a pair of old stereo speakers, tall and narrow, with wood veneer, a beige mesh front and a black brand label attached to the bottom corner. When I was little and my mom played a record, I would sometimes wedge myself in between the couch and the wall with my face right in front of the speaker, listening, sometimes scratching my nails lightly down the mesh. I'm pretty sure she told me not to do it, but I did anyway. I remember lying there on the carpet one sunny afternoon, happy and peaceful, while Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits played, humming to the familiar melodies of "Mrs. Robinson" and "I am a Rock" and "Scarborough Fair."


ETA: Stealing mer_duff's idea: You can listen to a live version of "Scarborough Fair" on YouTube (only slightly off-key) for atmosphere.

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Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Is it scary? I remember being delighted the first time I heard it, which was in a music class in maybe 4th grade, learning how each instrument could represent a character and a mood and tell a story without words.

I know what you mean about being drawn to what frightens you, though. Is it that we like being scared? Or that we want to control what scares us by mastering it, by coming back again and again until it stops being frightening? Or...?

[roga.livejournal.com]

Well, it scared me, what with the wolf eating the duck and his general presence, and the music creates a very eerie atmosphere in some parts.

I think your latter explanation makes a lot of sense - trying to control the fear, trying to see if this time maybe we won't be scared. If that's the case, I'm impressed with my five-year-old self for returning to the Boy Who Cried Wolf Video over and over again, which I could barely watch with my eyes open. I know that nowadays, if I watch a scary movie, there won't be aa second time :-)