Post by retread on May 3, 2018 23:23:19 GMT 1
Before we get to the video, I have a few comments about it. I've put those in a spoiler for those of you who prefer to get right to the good stuff. Same with the lyrics. If I recall correctly this is either the first or second CD I bought when those became available and I bought a player.
My take on the song
Of course this is about baseball in some respects. But to me it's more the case study of an old man. His meager life, and the way he escapes from the mundane day-to-day through daydreaming and vivid imagination. There are several metaphors within the lyrics and the music swells as he begins his exit though daydream and ebbs during the description of his reality.
It's an amateur video. The visuals are just a sequence of historic baseball pictures. While there's not much finesse in the switch from one image to the next, if there are any baseball fans here, they might enjoy the images as well as the song.
The song is by Dave Grusin from his Night Lines album with vocals by the late Phoebe Snow.
Lyrics
My take on the song
Of course this is about baseball in some respects. But to me it's more the case study of an old man. His meager life, and the way he escapes from the mundane day-to-day through daydreaming and vivid imagination. There are several metaphors within the lyrics and the music swells as he begins his exit though daydream and ebbs during the description of his reality.
It's an amateur video. The visuals are just a sequence of historic baseball pictures. While there's not much finesse in the switch from one image to the next, if there are any baseball fans here, they might enjoy the images as well as the song.
The song is by Dave Grusin from his Night Lines album with vocals by the late Phoebe Snow.
Lyrics
For 60 years
he shined shoes
in the same spot
in the shadow of
Yankee Stadium...
And as he shines
he hears the game,
and in his mind
he hears his name
as if he
played for them...
Takes his turn at bat,
there's the pitch,
he swings at it,
and it's gone...
Back through the years he's gone...
To take the field with Ruth and Gehrig,
bring the pennant home...
He sees himself in pinstripes,
in a lineup of his own...
He's stranded on a basepath,
somewhere between
old and New York...
As a customer
asks for the shine,
he snaps his cloth,
another inning ends...
Dodgers come to bat,
there's a drive,
he makes the catch
two quarters tossed to him...
His cloth becomes a glove,
as it's done with every customer he's known...
Back through the years he's gone...
To take the field with Maris and Mantle,
bring the pennant home...
He sees himself in pinstripes,
in a lineup of his own...
He's stranded on a basepath,
somewhere between
old and New York...
Takes his turn at bat,
there's the pitch,
he swings at it,
there it goes...
Back through the years he goes...
Ride a ticker tape parade with
Joe DiMaggio...
As he patiently signs an autograph
with a spitshine on a toe...
He's stranded on a basepath,
somewhere between
old and New York...
