I suppose I was about twelve years old. We used to go to a place called Ballystockart to fish. We stopped in the village on the way up to this place and I went to this little stone house, and there was an old man there with dark weather-beaten skin, and we asked him if he had any water. He gave us some water which he said he'd got from the stream. We drank some and everything seemed to stop for me. Time stood still. For five minutes everything was really quiet and I was in this 'other dimension'. That's what the song is about.
During this song Morrison sings: "...Stoned me just like Jelly Roll. And it stoned me."
recordings Morrison listened to with his father as he was growing up.
I know what Van is talking about....
This Tuesday, Harley, my 4 year old, said the inevitable during a particularly intense temper tantrum.
"I don't love you ANY-MORE!"
I knew it was coming, someday, but it still stoned me. My offending behavior, turning off the television before Word World because we had somewhere to be.
Then yesterday, as I'm puttering around the kitchen, this conversation takes place:
H--"Mommy, you look old".
Me-- "Really? How so"?
H-- "Well, it's not your skin, it's more on the inside".
Me--"Oh".
H--"Well, mommy, it's only because you ARE old"!
Me--"Yes, I am... but I'm not THAT old"!
H--"Well, you're not a kid mom".
Me--"That's true... I'm not. What about grandma, does she look old too"?
H--- giggling-- "No!"
And there you have it. I may be old, hated and stoned to the bone, but not, as yet, in the way.
Some weeks you take what you can get.
