The Amazing ZigZag Concert (2010)

?: From California, Michael Nesmith and Red Rhodes.

Mike: Well, I’m very happy to be here. And uh, I’d like to thank you for asking me to come. In case you don’t know, this is Red Rhodes, and I think—I’m gonna start off with the early stuff, and we’ll work up to where things are with me at the present.

Her name was Joanne
And she lived in a meadow by a pond
And she touched me for a moment
With a look that spoke to me of her sweet love
Then the woman that she was drove her on with desperation
And I saw as she went, a most hopeless situation
For Joanne and the man and the time that made them both run

She was only a girl
I know that well, but still I could not see
That the hold that she had
Was much stronger than the love she felt for me
But staying with her and my little bit of wisdom
Broke down her desires like a light through a prism
Into yellows and blues and a tune that I could not have sung

Though the essence is gone
I have no tears to cry for her
And my only thoughts of her are kind

Her name was Joanne
And she lived in a meadow by a pond
And she touched me for a moment
With a look that spoke to me of her sweet love
Then the woman that she was drove her on with desperation
And I saw as she went, a most hopeless situation
For Joanne and the man and the time that made them both run
For Joanne and the man and the time that made them both run

Tell me just one more time the reasons why you must leave
Tell me once more why you’re sure you don’t need me
Tell me again, but don’t think that you’ll convince me

Now you’ve said before fallin’ in love again, you’d rather be dead
’Cause when someone breaks your heart, you cry your eyes red
But there’s nothin’ so hard about the life that you’ve led

As far as I can see, there’s no reason for goodbyes
You’re just runnin’ scared, and that’s something I won’t buy

So you lose, I won’t let you go with nothin’ to show but more blues
And all this talk about leavin’ is strictly bad news
So you settle down and stay with the man that loves you

[break]

So you lose, I won’t let you go with nothin’ to show but more blues
And all this talk about leavin’ is strictly bad news
So you settle down and stay with the man that loves you
You settle down and stay with the man that loves you
Yes, you settle down and stay with me, baby

Mike: This was um, like the beginning of the change in that whole thing with me, this song, in terms of just um, dealing with the way things are. And, and remains one of my favorite songs. Because it began to talk, not so much about um, uh, interpersonal relationships, but, in fact, the place from where the interpersonal relationships develop inside. And um, in this song, “home” refers to that place in your own consciousness where you are the most comfortable.

See the lazy windmill slowly turning
Cutting up the marble canyons of the sky
See the dust around my feet go churning
Moving with the wind down the highways of goodbye

And I’m standing in the lonely light of the silver moon, ah
Looking over maps of memories for the road
Standing in the lonely light of the silver moon
With the unexpected destination of my home

Half the thoughts that I’m thinking speak in sighs
As that same old wave of loneliness returns
And I can see you when I close my eyes
Speaking very softly as you turn

And I’m standing in the lonely light of the silver moon
Looking over maps of memories for the road
Standing in the lonely light of the silver moon
With the unexpected destination of my home

[break]

Now I must go
Go and let go

And I’m standing in the lonely light of the silver moon
Looking over maps of memories for the road
Standing in the lonely light of the silver moon
With the unexpected destination of my home
With the unexpected destination of my home
With the unexpected destination of my home

Mike: So we’ll go back to the real early part and uh, do “Different Drum” and um, and uh, what else was back there? “Propinquity”, remember “Propinquity”? Yeah. Now, this is the way I did it, I don’t know whether you ever heard me do it, but uh, Linda—Linda did it a whole lot different, you know she did it, ta ta-ta ta, da da-da-da-da-da, and she go oooh and ahhh and really sing it kind of out, you know. Well, I did it fast, and uh, back in the days when I was ridin’ a motorcycle and playin’ harmonica.

You and I travel to the beat of a different drum
Whoa, can’t you tell by the way I run
Every time you make eyes at me?

Yes, you cry and moan and say it’ll work out
But honey child, I’ve got my doubts
You can’t see the forest for the trees

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I knock it
It’s just that I am not in the market
For a girl who wants to love only me

And I’m not sayin’ that you ain’t pretty
All’s I’m sayin’s that I’m not ready
For any person, place, or thing
To try and pull the reins in on me

Well, I feel pretty sure you’ll find a man
Who will take a lot more than I ever could or can, friend
And you’ll settle down with him, and I know
That you’ll be happy

So goodbye, I’m a-leavin’
I see no sense in you cryin’ and grievin’
We’ll both live a lot longer
If you live without me, friend

Mike: Red Rhodes on the electric Hawaiian pedal steel guitar.
[break]
Mike: See?

Well, I feel pretty sure you’ll find a man
Who’ll take a lot more than I ever could or can
And you’ll settle down with him, and I know
That you’ll be happy

So goodbye, I’m a-leavin’
I see no sense in your cryin’ and your grievin’
We’ll both live a lot longer
If you live without me, babe
Yes, if you live without me, woman
Woo, if you live without me

Mike: I told you you could play by yourself, see?

Mike: This is the introduction to “Two Different Roads”. So you’ll hear it again in a minute.

I’ve known for a long time the kind of girl you are
Of a smile that covers teardrops
The way your head yields to your heart
Of things you’ve kept inside that most girls couldn’t bear
I’ve known you for a long time, but I’ve just begun to care

I’ve known of all the heartache, and I’ve known of all the pain
I’ve seen you when the sun shines
And I’ve seen you when it rains
I’ve seen you make a look of love from just an icy stare
I’ve known you for a long time, but I’ve just begun to care

I know that I’ve been blind
To not have loved you all this time
But the image of you wasn’t clear
I guess that I’ve been standing too near

And it’s taken me a while, but I have finally found
What you are to me, and that’s what really counts
And what you are to me is something we can share
I’ve known you for a long time, but I’ve just begun to care

Mike: Red?
[break]

And it’s taken me a while, but I have finally found
What you are to me, and that’s what really counts
And what you are to me is something we can share
I’ve known you for a long time, but I’ve just begun to care
Yes, I’ve known you for a long time, but I’ve just begun to care

Mike: Now um, on that same album was a song where I uh, where I began to change around. You know, “Silver Moon” was a place and uh, “Different Drum” and “Propinquity” both came from a place uh, back with the like me and you, a subject-object place that I was at for a long time. This was before cause and effect had any kind of truth in my consciousness about uh, the nature of it, um. This is a song that uh, that was like the beginning of the awakening through that period. And, and, in which Red takes a solo that will curl your little toes, boy.

Well, I was overland tourin’ in my new Ferrari
At just about a hundred and ten
On my way home from a sophisticated party
Where I got a little drunk on gin

And as the headlights cast
A glow on the road
I heard a voice inside of me
It said, “You lost the light
Now you’re movin’ through the night
And you’re runnin’ from the grand ennui
Yes, you’re runnin’ from the grand ennui”

So I reached in my pocket and I pulled out the omega
That was never one second behind
I knew the horse that I was runnin’ at the southern Talladega
Had won for the twenty-second time

And then the countess I was with
Bent over with a kiss
And put a jeweled hand on my knee, oh
I knew I’d lost the light
And I was movin’ through the night
Runnin’ from the grand ennui
Runnin’ from the grand ennui

Mike: Two tonk ah bonk, the drum break, a-one two.
[break]
Mike: One, two, three.

Well, that night passed in a blaze of glory
With the countess and the car, both mine
And each day passes with the same old story
But the countess has a brand new line

Yet still at night
I am haunted by the fright
And the distant memory
Of the day I lost the light
Movin’ through the night
Runnin’ from the grand ennui
Runnin’ from the grand ennui

I was overland tourin’ in a brand new Ferrari
At just about a hundred and ten
And I was on my way home from this real sophisticated party
Where I got a little drunk on gin

And as the headlights cast
This glow out on the road
I heard a voice inside of me
And it said, “You lost the light, son
And you’re movin’ through the night
Runnin’ from the grand ennui
Runnin’ from the grand ennui
Yeah, runnin’ from the grand ennui”

Mike: So now you got old Papa Nez locked early on the horns of a dilemma. Got everything in the world I want, and don’t want any of it. Ha ha ha ha, how ’bout that—now wait a minute. Hold your newt still for just a minute. “Wax Minute”. That’s a good song, incidentally. I like that. I was gonna sing it, but I don’t, I don’t wanna. It’s your favorite? We gotta play it, pal. But now, now, I gotta tell you something, this is, I’m gonna cop out now, I’m gonna tell you my tires aren’t that good before we race, so that if I lose, I’m cool, okay? Because I don’t, I haven’t played this song in a long time.

As you complicate things greatly
Since you came into my life
Old veneers and stately postures
Wax minute within your sigh

And the taxing way of adjusting
To all the thoughts which you reveal
Only incites me to motion
While that’s the crux of your appeal — where’s it [???]

And just the thought of how it’s always been concealed
Where’s my heart, lo
As only you can heal

And this humble plans just don’t seem
To inspire me to heights
As they did or as seeing you
Or as touching you might

And the card that I shoulda sent days ago
Falls short of reaching you
Memories speak kindly now
But what can I do?

Just be thankful for an insight granted to few
And don’t linger
On what it might have meant to you

Mike: You’re all alone, Red.
[break]
Mike: Go to D flat minor.

The distance which I keep
Has entered into play
Miles which make me say
I won’t be seeing you

Mike: Now, I was back in a place where I was gonna tell you what happened after “Grand Ennui” because ah, remember the horns of the dilemma that I was stuck on, remember that? So, um, I got into a place in my consciousness which began to take on a lightly so-it-goes kind of philosophical c’est la via, you know, well, what the heck, what am I gonna do, I mean, I—you know, here I am, I’m stuck here, and uh, nothing I seem to do is gonna work, I mean, I don’t wanna get into any place where I’m doing any kind of funny, false heroics. I just wanna be what I’m—am, just do what I’m doing, you know, I mean, just like anybody does. And so, um, a lot of songs began to come out of that period, along with this kind of development of this funny little place because the idea about consciousness began to take on an element of living truth. But still in all, there we were with um, my philosophical bent and kind of there, and a couple of the songs that came out of that time were “Tomorrow & Me” and “The Upside of Goodbye”. Still involved an interpersonal relationship, still subject-object kind of thing happening. But uh, nonetheless, um indicative, and there began to be an element of hope, because the last line in “Tomorrow & Me” is um, “Gently place my heart back upon my sleeve”. Because I began to realize that really uh, somehow, I began to know that I couldn’t get hurt, which was a nice place to find myself. And the funny thing about it, is that came from the depths of despair, that particular thought.

I’ve forgotten how long I’ve been sitting here
Watching my reflection in a disappearing beer
The loneliness is so thick you can slice it
The emptiness is too much for me to fight it

And while tomorrow must be met, it seems
That life’s become a jewel that dimly gleams
From its perch atop a ring that’s slightly out of round
Casting the reflection of a crying clown

Oh-oh, the closeness is gone
Still, the memory lives on and on

[break]

The distance now is growing as the highway sings
Changing the complexion and the scheme of things
And as the world begins to turn, I feel the time has come
To accept apparent loss as a battle won

And so, with that in mind, I close my eyes and kiss your cheek
Push the loneliness aside and stand on shaky feet
And then reimplant the smile that never really leaves
And gently place my heart back on my sleeve

Oh-oh, the closeness is gone
Still, the memory lives on and on
Ah-ha, ah-ha, hmm, hmm

There was an element of majesty
In the way the lady said that she
Was leaving in the morning for the coast
And that goodbye should have brought me pain
But I watched her quickly check the reins
Of emotions, which unloosed, would cripple most

Still the thing that struck me quite strangely
Was the feelin’ that I had when she was gone
The few that left before had left me empty
But she left me with a fullness to lean on

[break]

And then the thing that struck me strangely
Was the feeling that I had when she was gone
You see, the few that left before had left me empty
But she left me with a fullness to lean on

And so, the bitterness that usually set in
Was effectively undone
By the girl’s uncommon grace
And the thrust of the experience
Was the enrichening and lively sense
She gave to my life and to its pace

I don’t know where she’s gone
Her wanderlust surely was strong
But love would be made much more sure
If all the ladies leaving left like her
If all the ladies leaving left like her

Mike: I had uh, I had in mind, going ahead, and letting you see what ultimately got me out of the little prison that I’d built for myself. And it has to do with just a simple conscious development. Um, but we don’t have time to talk about that, so maybe through the spirit of this next song, you can get an idea of where it is that I have found my peace.

She was a lackluster lover
Who thought of another
When I offered her my hand
To help her in out of the rain

Then she became quite possessive
When I gave her the message
That I had to leave
On the outbound ten o’clock train

She said, “I thought you were stable
And that I might be able
To talk you into stickin’ around
A couple of years”

I said I roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
Even if it rolls out of here

There was this didactic minister
Who told me of sinister things
Which would happen if I were
To do something wrong

He spoke at length about brimstone
And lives that were based on belief
That the bad and the good
Were equally strong

That’s why I think I undid him
When I started to kid him
’Cause he said, “Look, if you’ll give me some time
I’ll make it quite clear”

I said I roll with the flow, pal
Wherever it goes, pal
And it’s rollin’ me out of here

[break]

Now, those are two fine examples
Of the way that I handled the pressure
That tried to draw me away from the light

And in the final analysis
It’s foolish if you resist
The changes that come into
Your everyday life

There might be some trepidation
But don’t let hesitation
Deprive you of hope
And try to replace it with fear

You just roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
Even if it rolls out of here

We just roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
Even if it rolls out of here

You just roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
Even if it rolls out of here

You just roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
Even if it rolls out of here

Mike: Sing it.

You just roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
Even if it rolls out of here

Mike: Keep going.

You just roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
Even if it rolls out of here

Mike: One more.

You just roll with the flow
Wherever it goes
And it’s rollin’ me out of here

Mike: Well, we gotta go.

Mike: Well, uh, I thought uh, ha ha ha ha ha ha, well, yeah, let’s see now uh. I wanna tell you about a dream I had the other night. Kind of, then, then before I go, and so uh, I can share this with ya anyway, which would be nice. I dreamed I was playing golf with Bing Crosby. You know that song? And um, it was really, it was really, this is kind of in response to, to yelling out the songs, you know? Because I can’t do them all. Um. And I got up in the morning I thought well, now that was interesting, wasn’t it. There I was playing golf with Bing Crosby, and it was really sort of bizarre, and he was so nice to me. No, Bob Hope wasn’t there. And uh, I got an idea, or, or an idea kind of arose, and it has to do with this business of oneness. Of all being of the same mind. And I thought, well, now, how does that work? Because I mean, I’m not Bing Crosby. And Bing Crosby isn’t me, and Bing Crosby isn’t uh, Joe Smith, you know? I mean Bing Crosby is Bing Crosby, and yet, somehow, I was pretty sure that uh, um, there, there is only one mind. Do you hear that? Okay, and, and uh, so I um, began to think, you know, it’s nice we got Bing Crosby, because Bing Crosby provides all of us with our Bing Crosby. And Bob Hope provides everybody with our Bob Hope. Well, that’s kind of what I do. I provide us all with our Bing Crosby. And as a matter of fact, that uh, within each one of us, just like there is uh, all of you inside of me, well, I’m in all of you. You dig that? You see? Well, I thought I’d bring it up. I know it’s a little hard when you’re drunk, ha ha ha.

Mike: Now this is a new one. That way uh, we’re all straight.

His only remark was a closing remark
That one sometimes hears between friends
And he began to emerge, without speaking a word
Into something quite different from him
For he usually would start
Where he usually would stop
And then blissfully wade right on through

Still, the ideas unfolded in perfect array
Only hinting at what lay beyond for them
Hidden behind all the logic one finds without truth

I recall how a carnival meeting in late fall
Had brought me together with them
With no real direction, just simple reflection
Of movement as clear as the wind
We both stood there gazing
And not quite believing
Or willing to change points of view

And still, the ideas unfolded in perfect array
Only hinting at what lay beyond them
Hidden behind all the logic one finds without truth

Da da dun
[break]

Down down da doe
Da da down doo da doe
Hmm
Only hinting at what lay beyond them
Hidden behind all the logic one finds without truth

So I’m watching another exceptional flower
Beginning to blossom and grow
As yet, still unspoken, but with more than a token
Reminder of times yet to go
And the frequent suggestion
Is that time is the question
And not so much which one you choose

Still, the ideas unfold in their perfect array
Only hinting at what lay beyond them
Hidden behind all the logic one finds without truth

And the ideas unfold in their perfect array
Only hinting at what lay beyond them
Hidden behind all the logic one finds without truth
Hidden behind all the logic one finds without truth