Tuesday Afternoon: Another Morning
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Third up as we continue moving through our day is Another Morning, and our first glimpse into the mind of Ray Thomas.
Another morning is upbeat, cheerful, gentle, and optimistic, outlining the morning through the lens of childhood. In some ways, I feel like it is almost a spiritual predecessor to The White Stripes We’re Going to be Friends. The contributions from the London Festival Orchestra weave seamlessly into the intro and outro as well, and, considering the fact that the band and the orchestra were never in the studio at the same time, feel completely natural with each other.
Different members of the band have joked from time to time that none of them was really prepared to write a song about the early part of the day, because none of them were ever awake at that point. Even now, on John Lodge’s current tour, he cheerfully reminds the audience of the moment that Ray emerged with Legend of a Mind, “after waking up bright and early… you know, at about 4pm.”
But Ray’s sensibilities are very complimentary to a song like this, particularly because so many of his themes revolve around a sort of magical realism. Dipping back into the wonder of childhood doesn’t really seem like so much of a stretch.
I know that, even when I’m interested in something completely socially acceptable (or worse yet, popular!) the parts that interest me really aren’t the usual ones. In the case of the Moodies as a whole, part of what has always intrigued me is the fact that every one of them was sort of private. They once sold out two back-to-back shows at Madison Square Garden, and then were able to just leave the venue and walk unaccompanied and unnoticed through New York City. On one hand, it sort of makes me long for the days when someone could do that, maintain that sort of distance between their fame, their persona, and their personal life. On the other, it’s sometimes infuriating trying to get a read on who any of them really were as people. And, like, I know I will never know, not really, but I have always thought that, of all five of them, Ray was always the easiest to get a handle on.
There’s this moment, in the far-flung future from where we’re standing right now, in the video for The Voice, when the camera pans across Justin and John and, on the farthest side of the stage, you can see Ray shoot the most mirthful eyes at John, and then do this little butt-wiggle and his whole face crinkles up with glee. And the next time the camera lands on John’s face, you can see him trying to swallow whatever his reaction to that actually was. The two of them had been friends forever, they had been bandmates, they had been roommates, and that weird little moment of interplay is committed to celluloid forever. And it is my absolute favorite.
As always, if you are interested in obtaining a physical copy of Days of Future Passed for your collection (and I always recommend owning physical copies of the media you love), you can do so here.
