As everyone knows, J. D. Salinger died this week. Catcher in the Rye was always my favorite book growing up, and I loved some of his other writing as well. I taught Catcher this year for the first time in a while, and it was really great seeing some of my students also connect with his writing. True, Holden is annoying and jaded, but there is so much love in that book, and most of Salinger's other writing. You can really tell how much he loved kids. If I had a gun to my head, I would probably also say that Pet Sounds is my favorite album (though the person holding the gun would probably ask for money instead of my favorite album). There's a lot of sadness in the Beach Boys music, but there's also a lot of love. "You Still Believe in Me" has always been one of my favorites. It's so lush, the harmonies are of course brilliant, and Brian Wilson makes it sound like a kid's song by adding in the bike bell and horn. Wilson was only 24 when this album was made! All but two songs on this album are absolutely knock-you-on-your-ass spectacular, and the other two are very good.
"Surf's Up" might be the saddest Beach Boys song, along with "Caroline, No." But wow, so amazing. My favorite part is at 3:12, the "Child is the father of the man" section. Gives me gigantic chills every time. Also don't forget how amazing their early songs are, like "Warmth of the Sun," "Don't Worry, Baby," and "Please Let Me Wonder."
There aren't many songs and books that can bring me to tears, but dammit, I'm man enough to admit when they do! Salinger and the Beach Boys both can do this. I have so many favorite parts in Catcher in the Rye, one of them being when Phoebe insists on keeping the broken pieces of the Little Shirley Beans record Holden bought for her. But I'm gonna post an excerpt towards the end of the book, because it sums up how listening to the Beach Boys sometimes makes me feel. Happy, sad, and completely in awe.
"Aren't you gonna ride, too?" she asked me. She was looking at me sort of funny. You could tell she wasn't too sore at me any more. "Maybe I will the next time. I'll watch ya," I said. "Got your ticket?" "Yes." "Go ahead, then--I'll be on this bench right over here. I'll watch ya." I went over and sat down on this bench, and she went and got on the carrousel. She walked all around it. I mean she walked once all the way around it. Then she sat down on this big, brown, beat-up-looking old horse. Then the carrousel started, and I watched her go around and around. There were only about five or six other kids on the ride, and the song the carrousel was playing was "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." It was playing it very jazzy and funny. All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them. When the ride was over she got off her horse and came over to me. "You ride once, too, this time," she said. "No, I'll just watch ya. I think I'll just watch," I said. I gave her some more of her dough. "Here. Get some more tickets." She took the dough off me. "I'm not mad at you any more," she said. "I know. Hurry up--the thing's gonna start again." Then all of a sudden she gave me a kiss. Then she held her hand out, and said, "It's raining. It's starting to rain." "I know." Then what she did--it damn near killed me--she reached in my coat pocket and took out my red hunting hat and put it on my head. "Don't you want it?" I said. "You can wear it a while." "Okay. Hurry up, though, now. You're gonna miss your ride. You won't get your own horse or anything." She kept hanging around, though. "Did you mean it what you said? You really aren't going away anywhere? Are you really going home afterwards?" she asked me. "Yeah," I said. I meant it, too. I wasn't lying to her. I really did go home afterwards. "Hurry up, now," I said. "The thing's starting." She ran and bought her ticket and got back on the goddam carrousel just in time. Then she walked all the way around it till she got her own horse back. Then she got on it. She waved to me and I waved back. Boy, it began to rain like a bastard. In buckets, I swear to God. All the parents and mothers and everybody went over and stood right under the roof of the carrousel, so they wouldn't get soaked to the skin or anything, but I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty soaking wet, especially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way; but I got soaked anyway. I didn't care, though. I felt so damn happy all of sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could've been there.
(Sorry for the blob - I got it online and there were no paragraph breaks)
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