Last week, Arthur Lee, frontman of '60s psychedelic legends Love, died of acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 61.I had heard on Sirius recently of a New York benefit concert having been put together by Robert Plant, Yo La Tengo, Ryan Adams, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to raise money for Lee's medical expenses, so I was aware that he was ill. I just didn't know how bad it was.
Love's 1967 album Forever Changes is widely considered one of the greatest of its era, and remains hugely influential nearly 40 years later.
I remember Love because my brother Jack had their first three albums: Love, Da Capo and Forever Changes and we would listen to them from time to time.
The Da Capo album contains a song with some of my favorite lyrics of all time: Seven and Seven Is:
Seven and Seven Is
by (Arthur Lee) Love
When I was a boy I thought about the times I'd be a man
I'd sit inside a bottle and pretend that I was in a can
In my lonely room I'd sit my mind in an ice cream cone
You can throw me if you wanna 'cause I'm a bone and I go
Oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!
If I don't start cryin' it's because that I have got no eyes
My father's in the fireplace and my dog lies hypnotized
Through a crack of light I was unable to find my way
Trapped inside a night but I'm a day and I go
Oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!
One... Two... Three... Four!
I listened to their Greatest Hits album this week and some of Love's music is still ahead of its time. I for one, will miss Arthur.
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