1968 Conqueror of American Rock - Chapter 145



Only Noblemtl

145. Jekyll & Hyde (2)

In the future I know, there was a song written by Seo Taiji based on ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. At the time, it was a thrash metal that was groundbreaking in the music industry. At the time, the song was censored in Korea for its violence because of the four-syllable lyric ‘I got off’ in the middle where Dr. Jekyll commits a crime. And that was in 1994.

But this is America. Maybe we can be a little more daring.

Since I went back 50 years, I had to check the copyright of the original work. Copyright is not a big issue now, but it will definitely become an issue in the future.

With Brad’s help, I was able to go to the library at UCLA and borrow the original novel. The author, Robert Louis Stevenson, published the work in 1886 and died on December 3, 1894.

He passed away at the age of forty-four······.

Anyway, it’s 1970 now, so it’s been over 70 years. Under the current copyright law, it would be 50 years after the author’s death, so there’s no need to worry about copyright.

I started reading the book. Even though I already knew the content, I was very immersed in it. It was more fun than a movie or a musical. Is this the imagination that text gives?

I couldn’t stop reading as the story unfolded in an exciting way. How many hours had passed? I read the entire book in one sitting, right up to the last chapter.

After reading the book, I became curious about the author. How could he write such a creepy story about human duality mixed with melodrama?

When I write songs, I add my imagination to my personal experiences and thoughts. This time, I read a book with the help of Tom Waits to try writing songs based on indirect experiences.

But then I suddenly wondered whether this shocking content was the author’s direct experience or indirect experience.

I had a feeling Tom would know.

* * *

The company gave Tom a private practice room, but he said he was more comfortable working at home, so I went to his house.

“Come in, James.”

It smelled like alcohol and the air was filled with cigarette smoke.

“Ugh, hello, Tom.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He quickly opened the window and ventilated the room.

This is exactly why he decided to work from home. But all his early gems were born in this environment.

“Tom, have you ever read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?”

“Yes, it is a masterpiece.”

“I read it today too, but I came here because I had some questions.”

“Reading discussions are always welcome, haha.”

In his house, there was a large bookshelf on one wall, filled with books. I read the books to him and asked him questions about things I was curious about.

“James, have you read a lot of books?”

I have to confess that I was so obsessed with reading music magazines that I almost built a wall between myself and other books.

“No, I’m just trying to find a hobby now, haha.”

“That’s a great start. That’s a good question. Every creator adds imagination to their own direct and indirect experiences to create their works. I’m the same. I read that book and was curious, so I looked up information about the author. Robert Louis Stevenson was very sickly as a child. He traveled around Europe with his lighthouse designer father to recuperate. He tried to take over his father’s job, but it didn’t suit him, so he studied law and even became a lawyer.”

“Ah, so that’s why the lawyer appears at the beginning of the piece.”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s a field he knows well. But when he was writing this piece, he was seriously ill with tuberculosis. He was treated with ergot, a type of mushroom, at a local hospital. It’s a very strong painkiller that can even cause hallucinations. It’s likely that he experienced a split in his ego and a feeling of loss of control during the process.”

“Aha, now I understand. So this was the author’s first-hand experience.”

“James, you know Treasure Island?”

“yes.”

I answered curiously, but I only saw it as a cartoon.

“Treasure Island is also a work by the same author.”

“Really? It feels so different.”

“The author married his wife and settled in Samoa in the South Pacific. His wife had a son from her previous husband. One day, he was looking at a map of the island with his child when he got an inspiration. He thought, “What if this is a secret map to Treasure Island?” Isn’t that fun? Hehe.”

His literary talent was truly great. He was respected as a fellow creator. Later, he was strongly recognized as a singer with a rough voice who lived off of whiskey and cigarettes. However, this image only applied to his early years. When he met his beloved wife and got married, he completely stopped drinking and smoking, which he had enjoyed so much.

So enjoy it now, Tom.

Also, there is no record anywhere of the rumor that Tom Waits was a ‘debaucher and a swindler’. And when I met him in person, I could see that the rumor was false.

“I have a question too.”

“Yes? To me?”

“Yes, I just listened to Sparkling Ripple’s album. It has really experimental sounds, amazing performances, and the vocalist Annie has amazing vocals. But what I’m curious about is the song ‘21st Century Hippie Girl’. The lyrics seem to be written as if someone had been to the future. Can I ask the original author’s thoughts?”

That, that······is because I came from the future······.

“I wanted to deliver a warning message in a lighthearted way: If you guys mess up the venue and just leave, the festival will be gone in the future.”

“Then what do you think about watching a performance on a screen the size of the palm of your hand?”

Ha, how do I answer this?

“That, that was just a fantasy. I just thought that maybe a world like that could come someday.”

“James has already shown his genius from the beginning, but with that level of imagination, he is a musician to look forward to in the future. You can read books and think a lot, but that kind of imagination is something you are born with.”

I can only thank God for giving me a second chance.

After the reading discussion, we shared our stories. I told him about my journey from Korea to the United States, and he told him about how he got here.

“I was a hippie and a member of the Beat Generation. Whenever I saw a road, I wanted to leave. Whenever I had time, I would go on a radio trip with my friends. When I got tired of walking, I would lie down in a cemetery and sleep, and I would ride the train without paying. I would go to a church in a strange town and get food, and I would lie down on a mat on the side of the road and look at the stars.”

“You’ve had a lot of different experiences. The lyrics in the practice notebook you showed me back then weren’t just created for nothing, haha.”

He took two books from the shelf and handed them to me.

『On The Road』

“I’m done wandering now, but that book dominated me from my teens to my early twenties. It was a bible for me and my friends who traveled like crazy without a car. If you’re interested, I’ll lend it to you, so take it and read it. But don’t follow it, haha. I tried it and it was just like living a beggar’s life.”

“Yes, I’ll be satisfied with indirect experience. Now that my face is well-known, I can’t do it even if I want to, haha.”

Tom Waits emphasized the importance of reading to creators, and taught them how to interpret books in relation to their authors and the times.

I had a great day today.

* * *

“Everyone, come and get your butts pumped!”

Annie kept swearing while reading a book she had borrowed from Tom Waits called On the Road.

“I’m not saying that I want to eat for free, ride for free, and not work and just play. This kind of beggarly travel is possible because the country is wealthy. If it were Korea, I would have starved to death or been beaten to death long ago.”

That’s right. Annie knows more about poverty and survival than anyone else. It’s a subject that’s hard for Koreans to understand.

“Oh my, isn’t this ‘On the Road’? This is a novel that has been banned from publication in our country.”

Stella had read a lot of books since she was young. She knew the titles that had been published in Korean, and she also knew that the book had been banned in Korea when the military took over.

“I read it because my college student in the neighborhood lent it to me. It’s really shocking. It’s hard to understand with a Korean sensibility. But if you know the American historical background, you can understand it a little bit. Of course, I think the same way as Annie.”

“Right, Sister? You have to starve everyone to death before you come to your senses.”

“The author of this book also died last year from complications of alcoholism. I’m the kind of person who trembles when it comes to alcoholism.”

Even Stella, who was usually value-neutral and objective in her evaluations, was helpless when faced with the death of her family.

Honestly, I think the same way.

It is true that this novel influenced many musicians, including Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, and Tom Waits, but it was only for Americans. As Annie said, to Koreans, it just sounded like empty talk.

I decided to just think of it as a vicarious experience.

“Oh my, I read it all. I thought I was going to die because the book smelled like cigarette smoke. I read it because it’s said to be read by a lot of young Americans. I don’t like it, but we need to know them so we can do music too.”

“Hey, our little squirrel has grown up a bit after reading the book.”

“Inma, I’ve probably read a lot more books than you. The reason I couldn’t learn Korean is because I read so many English books. So to be exact, it’s not that I couldn’t learn, it’s that I didn’t learn.”

I hate to admit it, but Annie read this book much faster than I did. I had to ask Jake for the answers to words I didn’t know, but she just kept reading.

“I read that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde you brought me when I was young.”

By the way, you said that your name was taken from a novel.

I told him a story about a writer I had heard from Tom Waits.

“But that writer had no choice during the treatment process. The problem is that there are many people who choose the path of corruption on their own. Look at how Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin ended up in vain. Jim Morrison was also in a bad state. In my opinion, he is dangerous.”

Now this guy’s intuition is scary.

* * *

“It’s exactly like Anthony Hyde.”

Jack was one of those who, unintentionally, had a taste of street life earlier than any of the Beat Generation. When I told him I was reading two novels and writing songs, those were the first words out of his mouth.

“Anthony from The Devil’s Club?”

“Yeah, he wasn’t a son of a bitch to begin with. I’ve known him since he was a teenager. He was completely different then. He came up from the countryside and worked diner at first. But he was tall and had a pretty face. Nightclub owners would fight over who would take him to their establishments. Eventually, he started working at the places that paid the most money and soliciting customers. But how could a young guy resist temptations at a nightclub? At some point, his eyes started to change and his expressions started to change. He would laugh and fall for both men and women. When word got around Sunset Strip, live clubs started spending a lot of money to bring him in.”

Jack, who had been playing in an unknown band in LA for a long time, knew all about Anthony’s dark history.

“Did he do those things while sober? I absolutely do not think so. That bastard was completely taken over by Hyde.”