Once, the rhythm had my soul. Peter Gabriel's (arguably) best album, Security, starts with the song, "The Rhythm of the Heat". It's much like a long incantation. Once, I was listening to this song while I was tripping on LSD, and something quite incredible happened to me. Twice in the song, Mr. Gabriel says the phrase, "The rhythm is inside me / The rhythm has my soul". On the second such time, he really hits it with the word "soul", a long, intense wail: "soooooooouuuuuuul": and then the drums kick in, an extended percussion jam. This particular listening, I let go utterly when he thus howled, and my body began to convulse — to the rhythm of the drums. It was wild, to use one of my favorite phrases. At the end of the song, it ends with a final, thump!, and when it finished, the convulsions quit, and I had control of my body again. I was numb. I was tingling.
I don't know if he ever meant that to happen to anyone, or if it happens in any case listening to a rock 'n' roll song. It was like a sexual experience done in electricity. I also don't know if I would recommend it to anyone, for it was getting a little scary in the last half of the drums; I had no power over my anatomy at all. I was glad to get my functions back again, at that last thump! But it is what it is, it was what it was — I will never forget the experience, when the rhythm, yes, it had my soul. When I let go into total abandon, when all there was was the beat making throe my animus.
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10:43am monday, 15th december
Keep telling you to buy drums and play them. It's the best thing in the WORLD!
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