WEEKLY DISCUSSION GROUP - STRANGE PHENOMENA AND KITE

[rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald Hill)]

        The following is the weekly discussion group post.  This is where I
post material on two of Kate's songs, in the hope that this will stimulate
discussion on these two songs.  Opinions are mine, quotes are from the
'lectronic book Cloudbusting, lyrics (included only if they exist in different
versions then the published lyrics) are from The Garden, and most other info
in from the in-progress book Deeper Understanding.  


Strange Phenomena
-----------------
        Only Kate can make the "punctual blues" sound sexy.  Everytime I see
the live video I think of the song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds".  I've
spent many a time staring at a fuzzy black and white copy of the theme-park
video version of this, ironicly I seemed to enjoy the crummy copy of that that
I used to have more so then the new copy that's perfect quality!  

Kite
----
        Okay, Kate, so it's a Kite. 


STRANGE PHENOMENA
-----------------
        This next song is called "Strange Phenomena" and it's all about the
coincidences that happen to all of us all of the time.  Like maybe you're
listening to the radio and a certain thing will come up, you go outside and it
will happen again.  It's just how similar things seem to attract together,
like the saying "birds of a feather flock together" and how these things do
happen to us all the time.  Just strange coincidences that we're only
occasionally aware of.  And maybe you'll think how strange that is, but it
happens all the time.   (1978, Self Portrait) 

        "Strange Phenomena" is about how coincidences cluster together.  We
can all recall instances when we have been thinking about a particular person
and then have met a mutual friend who - totally unprompted - will begin
talking about that person.  That's a very basic way of explaining what I mean,
but these "clusters of coincidence" occur all the time.  We are surrounded by
strange phenomena, but very few people are aware of it.  Most take it as being
part of everyday life.   (1978, Music Talk) 

        It's all about coincidences - similar things seem to attract together
like the saying, "Birds of a feather flock together."
        There's a school of thought about that called Synchronicity.  It's
about how one day all these really strange coincidences will happen to you.  I
think by what you think and how you are you attract things to you.  If you are
a negative unhappy person I really believe a lot of negative unhappy things
could happen to you.  (????, AVD)

        In "Strange Phenomena," what do the words "om mani padme hum" mean?
        Club member Matthew Toreson has sent in an explanation, which he found
in an encyclopedia.  It is a form of adoration of the Buddha, and means, "Oh,
the jewel in the lotus." Thanks, Matthew.   (1979, KBC 1) 

        In "Strange Phenomena" you sing "G arrives" who or what is "G"?
        "G" is in fact someone we know called Mr. G.   (1980, KBC 5)

      "Om mani padme hum.
       Om mani padme hum.
       Om mani padme hum.
       Om mani padme hum..."

[*--A demo version replaces this chant (meaning "Oh the jewel
in the lotus") with simple "Oo-ooh" sounds.]

Patrick MacFarland:

"om mani padme hum" isn't Latin.  It's Sanskrit.  Probably the most well-known
Hindu mantra, or chant.  "om" and "hum" are "power words", which have no
ordinarily recognized meaning, although "om" or more correctly "aum"
supposedly represents the continuing process of creation, existence and
destruction.  "mani padme" means literally "the jewel is in the lotus".
Symbolically, it represents union of the human with the divine.  In some sects
(no pun intended), it also represents sexual union, the jewel standing for the
lingam, or phallus, and the lotus for the yoni, or vagina.  BTW, "aum" is also
used frequently as a mantra in its own right.


KITE
----
        In the song, the character starts to feel that he is rooted to the
ground, but there is a force pulling him up to the sky.  A voice calls out,
"Come up and be a kite," and he is drawn up to the sky and takes the form and
texture of a kite.  Suddenly he's flying "like a feather on the wind," and for
a while he enjoys it; but the longing for home and the security of the ground
overtake these feelings.   (1978, Music Talk) 

        ...people haven't noticed that Kite is [written like] a Bob Marley
song.   (1979, KBC 2, see WOW entry) 

        "2-D" means "two-dimensional", in the way that the kite appears to be.
  (1979, KBC 2)


 I feel a rush along my body, like a bullet.
 I'm 2-D after a push-and-pull feeling.
 And I want to get back to safe home:
 I love the homeland dome.*

 [*--A demo version has this as "'Cause I love that dome.]

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