BS: Philosophical ponderings

Subject: Philosophical ponderings
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 06:45 AM

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"

Discuss.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Ringer
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 07:09 AM

A bit cynical?

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 07:58 AM

Anyone who includes that line in the same song as "I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana" cannot be taken seriously in the UK;-)

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Jock Morris
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 08:26 AM

I know it's a quote from a song I've heard, but I don't know what song. AARRGGHH!!!! That's goin' tae bug me noo.

Scott

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 08:33 AM

Me And Bobby McGee...LA LA LA
Janis Joplin ROOOLS! Bet you to it, Matt. I likes Mercedes Benz better.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Jock Morris
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 08:58 AM

Thanks Sinsull; one of our regular session members has been singing it recently.

While you still have something somebody will probably want to take it away from you, be it property or the right to free speech or choice of religion. Yes, I am a cynical sod.

Scott

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 09:11 AM

Do you know what a "harpoon" is?

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 09:12 AM

You didn't beat me to it, Sins. I'm not into Janis Joplin at all. But The Move did a great live version of "Piece of My Heart".

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 09:19 AM

A harpoon is not something you stick into a whale! I'll leave you to explain it Kendall - keeping in mind that you are ex-law enforcement officer.

Matt, I miss the days when you loved every form of music known to man. But I miss watching my nephew (now 35) dripping ice cream on his favorite T-shirt and then weepingly begging me to wash it. Hate to see the kids grow up.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 09:30 AM

Sounds to me like your nephew HASN'T grown up! 35, and cant do laundry! Someone did a job on him! By the way, as I understand it, a "harpoon" is slang for a harmonica.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 09:34 AM

Nope - no idea what a harpoon is, but guess you can blow it (sad while Bobby sings the blues...)

Still fits in with my lavotorial humour.

Oh, err, missus, doesn't he blow a lovely harpoon;-)

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Ferrara
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 10:02 AM

We had a thread awhile back where it was claimed that "harpoon" used to be used to mean harmonica, I think especially in the Southern U.S. It originally may have referred to a specific brand that was popular in the south, but that may be "fakelore."

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 10:13 AM

Kendall,
My point was that at 35 he neither drips ice cream nor asks me to do his laundry. He not only does laundry, he cooks and changes diapars. I trained him well, thank you!

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Pseudolus
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 10:30 AM

I guess if I was 35 and wearing diapers, I'd wanna change my own....!!!

I'm really sorry, but I just couldn't resist, it's the first picture that came into my sick little mind...

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: dwditty
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 10:31 AM

Actually, Booby McGee was written by Kris Kristofferson, which might explain why the opening line of this thread appears in the same song as "pulled my harpoon..."

dw

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 10:40 AM

And frankly, the best rendition of it I can think of is by Ramblin' Jack.......not sure whether he uses diapers or not............................................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 10:54 AM

Hopeless. Just hopeless.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Dave Wynn
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 12:00 PM

Well I like it and sing it once every year without fail.!

Spot

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 12:02 PM

Well, I guess when you are completely free, you don't have anything to lose... hmmmm.....

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 12:29 PM

.........and what would you need a diaper for in that case anyhow? Just let fly.............................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Matt_R
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 02:04 PM

I always liked how Roger Miller sang it. No, I've not changed Sins...I've never been into Janis. Not that I hate her..just not exactly my style.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 02:12 PM

Sinsull...now you know how "Edgar Cayce" was created!

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 02:49 PM

But the next line is what makes it: "Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free".

Mind the DT doesn't have it that way, and I don't know if that's how it was written by KK. DT has it "Nothing don't mean nothing but it's free", which somehow loses the edge.

I've got this theory that Bobby is really a young man, which changes the whole song round a bit. All you'd need to change it is one "her" changed to "him", and a couple of "she's" changed to "he". And a hell of a lot of nerve.

Anyway it's not a bad song at all. Pity KK hasn't written a few more half as good. I've never heard Ramblin' Jack Elliot sing it, but I can imagine him doing it pretty well. (Not as well as we do it when our Pete's in good voice though.)

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 02:52 PM

That shouldn't have come out like that... Still, never mind. It should make more people have a shifty at the DT version.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 02:57 PM

That shouldn't have come out like that... Still, never mind. It should make more people have a shifty at the DT version.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 04:08 PM

shouldn't that be "take a shufti"? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 04:44 PM

Having nothing left to lose is a kind of freedom. You are then free to act without being tied to anything. That's exactly what it's like in moments of great danger, and it's one of the reasons that some people seek out dangerous situations...they want that brief taste of freedom.

To have many valuable possessions can deprive a person of freedom. You have to then guard those things, provide storage for them, pay for upkeep and insurance, worry about theft, and so on.

There's all kinds of stuff in the New Testament and in most spiritual teachings about this kind of thing..."store up treasures in heaven" (within yourself) where thieves, moths, and rust cannot go...

And to quote Dylan in Like A Rolling Stone...

"When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose, you're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal"

Maybe Kristofferson was thinking of that when he wrote those lines. Maybe not. It was a good song he did, but I got kind of tired of it over the years (Bobby McGee, that is), after too many requests to play it by various well-meaning people.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 04:53 PM

I prefer dwditty's Booby McGee - you couldn't turn her into a bloke, Kevin!

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Amos
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 05:04 PM

It's like a Zen thing, man. No matter what you own or don't, the ability to truly "have" nothing is like, the ultimate state, man. It's like essence of transcendance, man -- the Big Zero of Attachment, the Nihil of Ego, the true emptiness of Aware Will, man, no strings, no beams, no TV....I'm, like, wow... it is so Out, it's In! 'Cus see, true zero is like Outside the Universe, man, and there's no form, like, and like, not even any ground! It is SO like true, man! Gnarly, y'know? And if you dig True Zero, see, well, man it is JUST like infinity, so having nothing is just like having it all, ya dig? I'm like wow. I mean....

Regards,

A

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 06:10 PM

Right on, Amos

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 07:04 PM

Yeah, wow, like,uh,cool.....thanks, man..............far out.....................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 07:42 PM

Never own anything that you have to feed or paint. (Utah Phillips)

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 09:52 PM

Amos, you'd man.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 11:28 PM

shufti is closer to the original Hindi, I suppose, but words adjust, and you get both ways of saying it.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: Grab
Date: 15 Jan 01 - 08:42 AM

McGrath, nerve is one thing Janis wasn't short of! :-) You'd certainly need nerve as a man singing it about a man - "Bobbi McGee" is obviously a love-song, so you'd have to be sure of your audience.

Grab.

Subject: RE: BS: Philosophical ponderings
From: SINSULL
Date: 15 Jan 01 - 09:39 AM

How did I know that Edgar Cayce would turn up here - sorry for the pun.
True Zero??? I like that. Says it all. Thanks Amos.