The Sun (Herakleitos; Arthur Brown)

 

39.    Morning is distinguished from evening by the Bear who rises and sets diametrically across from the path of Zeus of the Burning Air.

38.   If there were no sun, all the other stars together could not dispell the night. 

37.   The sun is one foot wide.

36.   There is a new sun for every day.  

34.   The life of fire comes from the death of earth.  The life of air comes from the death of fire. The life of water comes from the death of air.  The life of earth comes from the death of water.

*  The Crazy World of Arthur Brown will be appearing at Ray Davies' Meltdown Festival, Southbank Centre, London, on June 10, 2011.  FIRE!

**  Trans. Guy Davenport, Herakleitos and Diogenes, San Francisco, Grey Fox Press, 1979.

Animal (Ray Davies Lyric and Kinks Link)

  

Animal*

On reflection,

It was not all wine on the wall.

It was not all cuts and bruises,

Or the pulling out of hair

And the bloodying of nose

And the tearing off of clothes,

Although

It was really animal, truly animal.

There were times when there was absolute compassion in the air.

Though it was really animal, truly animal.

It could not compare to times she cared,

Was in control

And less Emotional.

While the intellect controls the spiritual,

The animal respects what's natural.

Ying and yang control man's actions

And both extremes are a natural reaction.

It was really animal, truly animal,

Well there were times when there was absolute compassion in the air.

 

On reflection,

It was not all crash and bang,

Broken bottles and abuse.

Sometimes there were sunsets on the sands,

Holding onto caring hands.

But there were vampire fangs --

As the angels sang --

It was ying and yang.

It was truly natural, though it was really animal,

In a sense it fell into a truly natural romance.

Oh yeah,

It was really animal, truly animal,

There were times when there was absolute compassion in the air.

True love, True love, True love

Is really Animal.

*Reader Note: Aside from the Kinks full band version of the song linked above and Here,which was one of the group's final recordings from 1996 (though reunion rumors now abound in connection with the upcoming London Meltdown Festival in June), there is also a solo performance of Animal by Ray Davies that can be found on the Kinks Kontraband bootleg, which is well worth seeking out.  The photographs included here were all taken by Jane Roberts at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum in Los Angeles, California in March, 2011.