john denver and jacques cousteau

Reading Jacques Cousteau's The Living Sea made me eager to find YouTube clips from Cousteau's voyages aboard his ship, Calypso - I came across this video by chance. Although John Denver's video may appear corny or sentimental, it articulates the romanticism I read in Cousteau's writing. Denver explains the ineffable experiences on board the Calypso and his need to emote the adventures through song. For days, he felt his music was inadequate, until a moment of inspiration arrived while skiing days later.

Denver, like many of the "Romantic" composers, wandered around in nature until "inspiration" revealed itself in the form of a song. This account of Denver's compositional process fits perfectly for a song inspired by nature and sea expeditions. I feel poised, like a kid listening to storyteller, when I hear Denver's story because he is a talented storyteller, and because he has created a seamless narrative around his song.

That sense of narrative and inspiration in nature exudes from The Living Sea as well. Although the bulk of the memoir takes place in the 1950s, I felt like I was reading a story from the nineteenth century:

"The gray bank two hundred feet down was the boundary for two reasons; over the the precipice lay madness. Danger became voluptuous. My temples pounded. Extending my arms like a sleepwalker, I stroke my fins and glided over the edge of the beyond. Hundreds of white walking canes stuck out of the vertiginous wall. I dropped slowly along a torment of life forms... Pale gelatinous tumors grew on giant sponges ornamented with spider webs." (Cousteau, 20)

Who would imagine "madness" over "the edge of the beyond" when looking at the darkness of the ocean depths? Who describes "ornamented" sponges and "voluptuous" danger? Cousteau's writing reads more like an adventure novel than non-fiction account of sea exploration and I, like a Romantic sap, devour every word.

I also felt like a sap when I listened to Denver's song. The orchestra forced an epic and sentimental tone onto the song; perhaps the strings express Denvers feeling of grandeur while aboard Calypso. The half-yodeled chorus and folk-pop sound express Denver's style. This song was his way of describing the once indescribable feeling while sailing with Cousteau. The refrain reminds me a bit of a sea shanty, with Denver's pop twist to it.

I imagine that Cousteau approved of Denver's song with the sea footage. I think he liked know that he inspired environmentalists, readers, and artists. This music video is a fabulous collaboration of two great storytellers, as silly as it may seem on the surface.

the blues

Last night I stayed home from choir rehearsal due to a migraine. It was so intense that I couldn't simply sleep it off or take pain killers, so I sat listening to music until I fell asleep. As I sat in bed for the duration of about three albums, the final voice I heard before drifting off was that of Bessie Smith. On more than one occasion, I have forgotten about my physical pain while listening to this diva's voice. The repeated chord progressions comfort me and her voice surrounds me.