And Moses ran the soundboard

Dr. X posts this from the EVA VIP Lounge at SFO:

Ezra Pound, in a rare lucid moment, said: art is news that stays news.  But that is not always so.  Some of the greatest artists have suffered from episodes of neglect.  Even Shakespeare's stock took a hit in the 19th century as social mores changed and the literary audience lost (temporarily) its taste for stabbings, poisonings, and cooking enemies into pies.  And when something great has been away from you, it creates the potential for a second shock of the new - a re-realization of what made it great in the first place.

I had that experience just the other day when I happened to hear again a song I thought I knew well, but hadn't really listened to in years - Fixing a Hole by Cheap Trick.  Robin Zander's powerful and assured vocal performance and Rick Nielsen's nicely-framed guitar solo are...way better than I would have expected.  But, then, Cheap Trick has always been a band that took its Beatles seriously.

But it got me wondering about the original - I know it's a Beatles song, but is it a really good song?  I looked it up.  Listening to it again (here, on 720) I noticed a few things:

• Um, yes, it's a really good song.
• It has aged better than many other songs on the album.   McCartney's customary vices - cuteness, sentimentality, vocal gimmickry - are absent here.  When I'm 64 should be so lucky.
• The song shifts tone rapidly and repeatedly.  The estimable Alan Pollack suggests that there really are two songs here, a "Gershwinesque jazz/blues" for the verses and a "torch-song pop march" for the chorus.
• I would propose that there is also a third song, or mode if you will.  Harrison's guitar solo is succinct and articulate, but also syncopated and a little in different in tone from either the verses or chorus.  It is raw and maybe a little angry.  Throughout the song the guitar acknowledges the protagonist's sentiments, but perhaps does not affirm them.
• Surely this is one of McCartney's finer vocal performances.  His voice still has its youthful range and brilliance, but he is mature enough to handle the difficult vocal part without trying to show off (and if you don't think it's difficult, try singing it in the shower).
• The lyrics are...a little confusing.  Writing in 1967 Robert Christgau said:

“Fixing a Hole,” is full of suggestive phrases(…):

“And it really doesn't matter if I’m wrong I’m right/ Where I belong I’m right/ Where I belong./ See the people standing there who disagree and never win/ And wonder why they don't get in my door.”

This passage not only indicates the interesting things the Beatles are doing with rhyme, skewing their stanzas and dispensing almost completely with traditional song form. It also serves as a gnomic reminder of the limitations of criticism. Allow me to fall into its trap by providing my own paraphrase, viz.: “In matters of interpretation, the important thing is not whether you're ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ but whether you are faithful to your own peculiar stance in the world. Those who insist upon the absolute rectitude of their opinions will never attain a state of enlightenment.”

Some good points there, but I don't think that's quite it.  Fixing a Hole is not an argument for relativism (which is the gateway drug to nihilism).  It's about fixing something, putting right something that one is only just seeing the need to put right.  And it's about some kind of transcendent experience that comes out of that, or led to it.

McCartney over the years would ward off questions by characterizing the song as an "ode to pot".  But that's just, like, his opinion.

The song confounds would-be interpreters.  YouTube is full of unfortunate attempts that need not be detailed here (the reggae version is ok, but a missed opportunity, I think).  I did want to take special notice, however, of The Fray's version.  It is a little lighter, but no less competent than the original, thanks in particular Isaac Slade's inspired vocal.  It was recorded at the BBC on 1960s equipment as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of Sgt. Pepper:




I believe the song's sense of wonder and awakening is so singular that it could be considered a religious tune, although McCartney has not offered that interpretation.  It is certainly as interested in enlightenment experiences as Within You Without You, but it is witnessing instead of preaching.

McCartney does attest, however, that Jesus was there for the recording session.  So he's got that going for him.