Re: [LAU] A bright sparkly little tune from me

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:56:59 -0700 (PDT)
Stephen Stubbs <theother1510@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>  
> > Dave Phillips <dlphillips@woh.rr.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> I must be perverse. As I listened to this (very fine) tune I kept
> >> thinking about the horror movie "Carnival Of Souls"...
> >>   
> >
> > Thanks Dave, although I find it slightly disturbing that you sensed
> > something not entirely happy in the tune. You're actually one of three
> > people who have said that, and I can't for the life of me understand how
> > that should come about.
>
> > To my ears the form and instrumentation are reminiscent of music for a
> > carousel or carnival. In my psyche (admittedly influenced by 'way too
> > many horror and sf books & movies from the 50s and 60s) there's
> > something inherently surreal or even menacing about such things and
> > events. Perhaps it's a cultural conditioning ?
>
> It was definitely early conditioning in my life regarding circus clowns.
>
> As a very sickly infant and young child, I quickly learned to associate circus clowns with intense, physical pain.
>
> The pediatrician had circus clown portraits on the walls of his waiting rooms, hallways, and patient rooms.  Everywhere I went and waited, there were circus clowns.  Then came the treatments and pain, with those circus clowns watching and laughing.
>
> To this day (I'm 56), I don't find anything remotely joyful or comforting about circus clowns.  They were the stuff of nightmares to me.
>
> Amazed and just realizing how much I'm *still* upset with circus clowns,
> Stephen.

It is astonishing how easily we can be accidentally 'conditioned'
when very young.

When I was 3 I was in a children's home for a while. All the kids had a
distinctive flower as a tag on all their possessions. This was also
used to indicate where they should sit at the table, which cot/bed was
theirs etc. I'm sure it made things a lot easier for the staff, but to
this day I feel a sense of affinity to anything with a wild poppy on it
- and a field of them always gives me a lift.

-- 
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
Say you have a poem and I have a tune.
Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.
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