Liner Notes (Shuggie Otis Reissue)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Liner Notes (Shuggie Otis Reissue):For Fred Moten
1. inspiration information
breath, a treatiseinside a dreamstorm:bottleneck back-
beat,sleigh bell, slack-tonguedorgan
stick-back situationdark blue ring breath, a husting
an eight o'clock sit downbreath, a form his finger stirs
annular smoke he blew electric whirl- pools through his chest
then an exhalation distends the known dreaming in and out of style
2. island letter
dreaming in and out of townwe talked about your peachesand we laughed
we talked about your beachesand how we'd get therein good time and intact [End Page 98]
in my mouth you are I am stranded
in the light of this voice can you hear me when I call the voice with-
drawsin gold tones untucked
organ plotting an eternity of how I miss you
water lapping shifts the edge of loss in the sand
3. sparkle city
the foundation's all slya family of shinesand fuzzy angles at the horizon
sorry people, I'm not the oneyou found what you shouted outabout dig underfoot
no nachträglich geniusI'm not the buried coalyou burn with hindsight
keep your eyes off my asstry calling when you thinkyou found it meanwhile
I flicker and fadelight let outthe sibilant dream she took
4. aht uh mi hed
ought and might havetouted a sly bedof strum and tread [End Page 99]
sought might insteadno matter I hadhush aimed ahead
ached and misledan outer breedof tenor mayhem
hearts unheardarts misreadan utter sigh away
6. 7. 8. rainy day
ode to a roland 77:the falling rainput me to sleep
shuggie didn't get to the perfective what's carried to completion (the difference
between burned and burnt uptook a hiatus like moncurplayed some backup
for etta james and cleanhead I didn't get the chance to tell you what I would want
to see you again (spinning like the rain keeps falling down
in a drum machinethere are changes too (the shudder
when the tongue gets in a grooveand finds that things are different [End Page 100]
5. happy housewho's afraid of the big badand his inscrutable black faces? hmmph
his sullen broodcould be scheming anythingas deep as the music
santa barbara hospitalidad:shine a smile for mepine bluff on bleeker
that good duty free bourbonand the shit we talk about motherfuckers
don't know this good hurtthis art is a good hurtwhat fills the space of what's left
shuggie's sound a woman's voice receding
in a contraction of loss and linger (bereave and abide
what's left to take me foranother what's written between the strings [End Page 101]
