Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Sing the Body Electric

Maybe that should be Sing the Body Digital -- But Walt Whitman was way before digital. For that matter, electricity was pretty new in his day. Uh, let's just say the man was way before his time.

"What position did he play?" "You could say he pitched for the Cosmic All-Stars."

I have found that I can link just about any thought or any situation back to the movie "Bull Durham." (Try me! Or try it yourself!) And of course, early on, when Annie asks Eppie Calvin to stay the night, it's so she can read him poetry. Whitman. "I sing the body electric ..." The next morning, his nickname's Nuke, because reading poetry is more tiring than, well, you know. And if you read the poem, you know why. It's 19th century erotica.

You could look it up.

But I digress. In my house, we sing -- electric, digital, a capella, too loud, whether or not we know the words. In my car alone, I could give the Solid Gold Dancers a run for their lame (read: la-may). And now and then, it's caught on tape. My kids make me laugh every day and today I'm sharing. It's one of those things they'll point to in therapy in a few years, but I like it. In this video, they pay homage to the Go-Betweens with "Surfin' Magazines."

1 comment:

'nifer said...

Here's where you can find the poem. http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wwhitman/bl-ww-electric.htm

"I'm out."
(obscure Seinfeld reference)