music clip of the day

basement jukebox

“The Only Way Is Up” (G. Jackson, J. Henderson)

Otis Clay (1942-2016), 1980

A few years after Otis Clay recorded this song for his small Chicago label, another version was released in England, where it topped the charts for several weeks.

Yazz (1960-), 1988

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lagniappe

reading table

It is Spring in the mountains.
I come alone seeking you.
The sound of chopping wood echoes
Between the silent peaks.
The streams are still icy.
There is snow on the trail.
At sunset I reach your grove
In the stony mountain pass.
You want nothing, although at night
You can see the aura of gold
And silver ore all around you.
You have learned to be gentle
As the mountain deer you have tamed.
The way back forgotten, hidden
Away, I become like you,
An empty boat, floating, adrift.

—Tu Fu (aka Du Fu, 712-729), “Written on the Wall of Chang’s Hermitage” (translated from Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth)