3:45 am: Alarm.
4:50 am: DFW Airport.
6:05 am: Boarding.
6:40 am: Wheels up and over the pre-dawn lights of Dallas. Sunrise blazing orange on the horizon.
The National’s new album “Sleep Well Beast” has been playing on a loop for days now. And, for 6 hours last night, the Beast did sleep well with the aid of two shots of Advil PM. For a man who swore off all forms of artificial assistance, I’m pumpin’ it now. Screw insomnia. I’m making the trade: Zombie for Woozy. A few moments of lucidity in exchange for Anne Michael’s black earth breathing its winter breath…And so far, so far, it’s workin’…
But let’s be a bit more precise, it’s not the album that’s been on a loop but “Empire Line“. I seem to sit, kneel and stand to this anthem with the mind parsing and plaiting the lyrics that burn the groove:
You’ve been sleeping for miles / So what did you see? / Here the sky’s been falling white flowers…/ Can’t you find a way? / Can’t you find a way? / And I want what I want / And I want everything / I want everything.
We climb to 35,000 feet and the giant steel bird levels out. Continue reading “Flying Over I-40 E. And I want what I want…”