The vampire chronicles, part 1 (or so I fear)

So here I am at 3:10 am -- that's EST, folks, here in western MA -- having a beer and listening to Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief (a much-loved album, definitely one of my 10 Under-The-Radar Albums Without Which You Don't Have A Complete Record Collection), and generally being quite awake. This is pretty much a lifelong pattern. I wouldn't mind arresting it, and have temporarily at times; I was quite effective on my first year at my current job, for instance, rolling in at 7:30 am and working a quasi-normal day like the rest of the human race and then doing other human-race daylight activities like coaching youth soccer teams. That general schedule got torched about 14 months ago, when I was still posting my news organization's Web site primarily early in the morning but also tracking a Red Sox playoff run and the Obama-McCain debates/election...which riled my general adrenalin level enough to bounce me back into my usual night owl tendencies. And here I remain, for now anyway.

(Discursion: I'm listening here to "Matty Groves," an insanely violent and fascinating murder ballad from the British canon that in the hands of Fairport was turned into one of the most driving, interesting songs I know in rock. I don't think Britney Spears has ever sung a song that has two killings, a brutal observation on class structure and an outright cynical commentary on marriage in two verses! The Liege & Lief version is fairly mid-tempo and doesn't have quite the impact that the band has given it in later years, but it does have Sandy Denny singing it, which is more than enough to be great. She remains the best voice I've known in my lifetime.)

In truth, I'm a natural night owl. My mind is just active at this point of the day. I seem to write best from midnight to 3 am and always have. Sometimes I think I shouldn't fight it...and yet I kinda like daylight, and interpersonal relationships with my family (who all rise at 6:30 am on most days), and the other benefits that come with rolling in roughly the same timeframe as most other people. I fondly remember the days when I would rise around 7 am and go running -- what a start to the day! Now that's been turned on its head: I'm far more likely to be on a treadmill at Planet Fitness at midnight, and I'm very happy that the place is open 24 hours on weekdays.

And so much of the music I love sounds better at night. Am I supposed to listen to Nick Drake singing "Pink Moon" at 9:30 am? Preposterous. Liege & Lief is a perfect example of this problem: I'm just not going to concentrate on the lyrics, or feel like the minor-chord structure of some of the songs fits the morning. That's just me.

(Another discursion: Now it's up to "Tam Lin," another traditional ballad from Olde England that is the song that started my fascination with Fairport Convention and British folk in general, as far back as grade school. As I was making the crossover to FM radio, this was a song that would crop up now and then, and I can still remember ads for a concert with Fairport and Renaissance on a double-bill at the Trenton War Memorial in 1975 -- the first show I can remember wanting to go to. I didn't, though, didn't think to ask "Can I go?" and wouldn't see a rock concert for another year. How I'd love to time-travel back to that and see Sandy sing once! But this song has never lost its allure for me. File it under "British pregnancy-by-supernatural-being ballad," a phrase that may define the term "subgenre" as well as anything else I can think of...but one that's still active -- the Decemberists got their entire current album from this subgenre! It all started here. Great song. I didn't realize for many years that the person responsible for the beguiling guitar solo was Richard Thompson.)

So, for now I exist in the quiet corners of the night. I had thought I'd take the vacation week I'm on and work on my sleep schedule, but it hasn't worked out that way. So be it: I'll get back to this topic after I deal with some other lifestyle things, I suppose. But I would say it's a fair bet that there'll be a part 2 of The Vampire Chronicles, sooner than later.

Liege & Lief. Just go buy it. (I guarantee the deluxe version is more than worth it, too...and that sooner or later I'll spring for it even at the import price.)