The Allman Joys’ (Brothers’) Odes to Joy

[You'll have to forgive this next excerpt from "The Gospel of Rock" -- it was written while
under the influence...]

PEOPLE CAN YOU FEEL IT,
LOVE IS EVERYWHERE

“Revival,” “Blue Sky”, and “Jessica” –
Allman Brothers Band

“Rejoice with them that do rejoice.” Romans 12:15

“Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.

Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing.”

— Friedrich Schiller, Ode to Joy

When I was 19 I had an amazing-sweet heart-opening experience. It was a feeling of blissful love is all I can say, perhaps you’ve experienced it, too, at some time or another in your life. It lasted for months. During that time there were a bunch of songs that really really kept the joy flowing, and got me dancing ecstatically; kind of like the Snoopy dance, I guess. One of my very favorites at that time (and still) was “Blue Sky,” I feel it might just be a perfect song. The most supremacious facet of it is of course the guitar work, or rather, play. It is Divine play. It touches something very deep, but maybe you have to be in love to feel it. If you don’t take entheogens (“God Facilitators,” otherwise known as “Psychedelics” — the Allmans did mushrooms in the Sixties), try a legal entheogen, namely chocolate, and then listen to it. I used to long to have that experience of love again, but now I’m like, “Oh wait, never mind, I’ll just have some dark chocolate…” ; )

The words of Blue Sky are also very beautiful, of course. It is really a song to God disguised as a love song. “Lord, you know it makes me high when you turn your love my way” is literally talking to God, giving Pops props (Cf. Skynyrd: “Lord, I’m Comin’ Home to You”); and “gone to Carolina” in the final verse no doubt refers to a paradisal realm (to which this song brings you!) Of course, there’s still some separation here, some duality: The blue bird is still ready to fly away into the blue sky as the singer walks on down the road; and the good Lord has to turn love the troubadour’s way for him to feel high, rather than his realizing that God is everywhere (of course, in reality, the said “high” and this song might have been the product of an especially choice drug trip; but me and my chocolate have no special quarrel with that).

All Men Are Brothers!

To get free of all separation, we must turn to “Revival,” the Allman’s old-timey gospel song. Substituting God with “Love” here (can get away with it better in a pop song), we are asked to feel The Love. And how do we feel it? If we do not feel it from within, then at least from the music. We become one with the musicians and their music. We may not know these bros at all, but when they play we feel that we know them intimately, because they have brought us to da Love. It is here in this place that we can truly love Love with all our heart, soul, and might, and our neighbor as ourselves in true brotherly love. It is here that we find our true Source, and once having known that, we can never go fully back to feeling separate.

That said, perhaps the greatest music is that without any words at all, music that expresses pure joi de vivre. That would be “Jessica,” Dickey Betts’ 9th Symphony, which ranks as the finest rock instrumental ever recorded. I definitely have done my share of Snoopy dancing to this one, especially Dickey’s guitar solo, so now I refer to it as “Dickey Dancing,” whereby I try to bust a move to every note he plays. Again, the chocolate is of mojo assistance. [It's hard to believe that the guy who wrote and played these songs is no longer with the band, and that he was such a terrible person that he was villified by the rest of the members. I've heard Dickey talk, and it seems that he was unfairly ousted and treated. Allman/men are brothers?]

So anyway, maybe their original name, The Allman Joys, was more accurate (even though definitely more bubblegum). And come to think of it, maybe we need to eat more of that chocolate bar from which their name is derived.

ODE TO JOY lyrics

BARITONE
Oh friends, not these tones!
Let us raise our voices in more
pleasing and more joyful sounds!

ODE TO JOY (Friedrich Schiller)

BARITONE, QUARTET, AND CHORUS
Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.

Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing.

May he who has had the fortune
To gain a true friend
And he who has won a noble wife
Join in our jubilation!

Yes, even if he calls but one soul
His own in all the world.
But he who has failed in this
Must steal away alone and in tears.

All the world’s creatures
Draw joy from nature’s breast;
Both the good and the evil
Follow her rose-strewn path.

She gave us kisses and wine
And a friend loyal unto death;
She gave lust for life to the lowliest,
And the Cherub stands before God.

TENOR SOLO AND CHORUS
Joyously, as his suns speed
Through Heaven’s glorious order,
Hasten, Brothers, on your way,
Exulting as a knight in victory.

CHORUS

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.

Be embraced, Millions!
This kiss for all the world!
Brothers!, above the starry canopy
A loving father must dwell.

Can you sense the Creator, world?
Seek him above the starry canopy.
Above the stars He must dwell.