So not so long ago I was in Toronto hanging out with Mark, eating some good, but not great, Ben & Jerry's ice cream to which we decided to write a letter to them suggesting how they could improve the exciting taste of their Iced Cream.
Mark suggested that we throw on D.A. Pennebaker's documentary film
Don't Look Back which follows Bob Dylan on his 1965 British tour. While watching the film I couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Everytime a song came on there wasn't the overlapping sound of my dad's voice singing along to the lyrics.
So I says to Mark I says, "You know what's what Mark? And he's all like 'What the fuck is what Tristan?" So I says back to Mark I says, "When I watched No Direction Home with my Dad he would be singing along to all the songs. He knew all the words. He came from a generation that used to spend a lot of time listening to records. They used to fire up the turntable, get out a sweet pair of headphones and just let go and did some SERIOUS listening."
There have been times where I've walked into the living room and seen my dad sprawled out like a star on the floor, eyes closed and headphones on. I mean this must be a serious spiritual experience. And who better to listen to than Dylan. You'll never really understand where the boomer generation came from if you've never done just what my dad did, or even just sat and read the entire lyrics of "It's ok Ma, I'm only Bleeding."
So Mark and I came to the conclusion that this generation of spiritual headphone listeners needs a revival. We all need to really listen to records we really like and to listen to the records that our parents spent so much of their leisure time enjoying.
I recently broke my headphones and I am a bit of a hypocrite for already not having bought some new ones and leading this movement towards the spiritual listening movement. But that doesn't mean you (who owns headphones) can't lead the way. Try it sometime. And if you like it, tell others about it and to do it. Just give it a try is all I'm sayin'
