A few days ago, a popular
tourist section in downtown Nashville, Tennessee was taken out by a mad bomber
who decided that since he wanted to end his life, why not take the city with
him?
The guy evidently was an electronics expert, and he knew how to set things up so that he could do this without being detected, which in this day of surveillance cameras all over the place, is kind of hard to believe, but he did it.
Whether he wanted to die a martyr—a neighbor claimed that he told him something to the effect that “everyone will know my name” without any explanation about what he meant—or he just wanted to make a statement about telecommunications companies—the explosives went off right in front of an AT&T building in the downtown area—remains to be figured out, but this guy was a crazy person, but a crazy person with enough knowledge about how to do such an act—
And he did it.
That is scary in itself, and now, with him dead and part of the rubble that his deed left behind, authorities may never know the real reason(s) that he did what he did, and they are now trying to piece together any clues that they can find to try to figure out this whole thing.
They have found a person who was supposedly highly intelligent, and electronics expert, someone whose home turned up lots of items that would attest to his vast knowledge.
They have searched his credit card receipts, found that in addition to what he already had, he had purchased some other items that could be linked to explosions, and that this was not a random act, it was an act that was meticulously planned over a period of time.
He even set up a van with loudspeakers, telling the populace of the explosion before it actually took place, on a tape loop with a supposed female voice warning people to stay away.
The police have said that he acted alone, so I figure that that “female” voice was created by him to throw authorities off.
But looking for every clue they can find, the authorities have said that that tape loop also included a popular song from yesteryear, a song whose lyrics they are now combing through to try to find out exactly what they mean in the context of what this sick person did.
The song id “Downtown,” one of the most beloved songs of the “British Invasion” era that spawned the likes of British acts led by the Beatles taking over the American music charts and changing the music we listen to forever.
The song, written by Tony Hatch, made Petula Clark an international star, rising to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964 and spawning a career for Clark, already a star in Europe but prior to this song, never quite hitting her stride in the U.S.
The song is Clark’s signature tune of her 70-year career, and has been covered by many other artists, including Dolly Parton.
But what does this song have to do with the Christmas Day bombing? That is what the authorities are trying to find out, and the answer may be within those lyrics.
Here are the lyrics of the song, from the metrolyrics website (https://www.metrolyrics.com/downtown-lyrics-petula-clark.html):
“When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go downtown.
When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help I know downtown.
When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help I know downtown.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
so go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
No finer place for sure downtown
Everything's waiting for you.
Don't hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows downtown.
Maybe you know some little places to go to
where they never close downtown.
Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova
You'll be dancing with 'em too before the night is over
happy again.
The lights are much brighter there
you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
so go - downtown
Where all the lights are bright downtown
waiting for you tonight downtown
you're gonna be alright now
downtown
downtown
downtown
And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to
guide them along.
So maybe I'll see you there
we can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
so go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
don't wait a minute more downtown
Everything is waiting for you
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown... “
What do the lyrics mean, and what did these lyrics mean to the perpetrator?
On the surface, they appear to be pretty innocuous; you can be part of the crowd if you go “downtown,” and going there will cure all the ills that you might have in your life during the time that you are there.
And I guess that that, in itself, might be a movie for what happened.
This guy felt so isolated, so thrown away be society, that the only place he could feel wanted is “downtown,”
So he went there, decided to blow himself up to take him out of his misery, and take that area with him.
Seems simple, but he could have also used the song as part of his manifesto to throw off the authorities.
Maybe his plan was more dastardly than that.
The Nashville police—whose heroic actions perhaps thwarted this deranged lunatic from taking out anyone else with his deed—have stated that we may never know what prompted this miscreant to do what he did.
Are the answers in the lyrics?
With this downtown area in rubble, and with Nashville of course looking for not only answers but the will and strength to rebuild this area, one other unfortunate byproduct of this horrible deed—and really nothing compared to the destruction that was the deed’s aftermath—is that the song “Downtown” will never be looked at again as just a popular, innocuous song from the mid-1960s.
I doubt you will hear that song on oldies stations for the time being, with those stations putting it on hold as the investigation unfurls.
Maybe one day, “Downtown” will return to just being what it was intended to be, a great pop song, but right now, it carries way too much weight because some mad bomber decided to make it his theme song.
Hopefully one day, when downtown Nashville is rebuilt and flourishes once again, we can also look at “Downtown” in the way it was intended, not in the way this horrible person stole it from us for his own dastardly means.
Hopefully those times will come soon.
The guy evidently was an electronics expert, and he knew how to set things up so that he could do this without being detected, which in this day of surveillance cameras all over the place, is kind of hard to believe, but he did it.
Whether he wanted to die a martyr—a neighbor claimed that he told him something to the effect that “everyone will know my name” without any explanation about what he meant—or he just wanted to make a statement about telecommunications companies—the explosives went off right in front of an AT&T building in the downtown area—remains to be figured out, but this guy was a crazy person, but a crazy person with enough knowledge about how to do such an act—
And he did it.
That is scary in itself, and now, with him dead and part of the rubble that his deed left behind, authorities may never know the real reason(s) that he did what he did, and they are now trying to piece together any clues that they can find to try to figure out this whole thing.
They have found a person who was supposedly highly intelligent, and electronics expert, someone whose home turned up lots of items that would attest to his vast knowledge.
They have searched his credit card receipts, found that in addition to what he already had, he had purchased some other items that could be linked to explosions, and that this was not a random act, it was an act that was meticulously planned over a period of time.
He even set up a van with loudspeakers, telling the populace of the explosion before it actually took place, on a tape loop with a supposed female voice warning people to stay away.
The police have said that he acted alone, so I figure that that “female” voice was created by him to throw authorities off.
But looking for every clue they can find, the authorities have said that that tape loop also included a popular song from yesteryear, a song whose lyrics they are now combing through to try to find out exactly what they mean in the context of what this sick person did.
The song id “Downtown,” one of the most beloved songs of the “British Invasion” era that spawned the likes of British acts led by the Beatles taking over the American music charts and changing the music we listen to forever.
The song, written by Tony Hatch, made Petula Clark an international star, rising to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964 and spawning a career for Clark, already a star in Europe but prior to this song, never quite hitting her stride in the U.S.
The song is Clark’s signature tune of her 70-year career, and has been covered by many other artists, including Dolly Parton.
But what does this song have to do with the Christmas Day bombing? That is what the authorities are trying to find out, and the answer may be within those lyrics.
Here are the lyrics of the song, from the metrolyrics website (https://www.metrolyrics.com/downtown-lyrics-petula-clark.html):
“When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go downtown.
When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help I know downtown.
When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help I know downtown.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
so go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
No finer place for sure downtown
Everything's waiting for you.
Don't hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows downtown.
Maybe you know some little places to go to
where they never close downtown.
Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova
You'll be dancing with 'em too before the night is over
happy again.
The lights are much brighter there
you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
so go - downtown
Where all the lights are bright downtown
waiting for you tonight downtown
you're gonna be alright now
downtown
downtown
downtown
And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to
guide them along.
So maybe I'll see you there
we can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
so go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
don't wait a minute more downtown
Everything is waiting for you
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown
downtown... “
What do the lyrics mean, and what did these lyrics mean to the perpetrator?
On the surface, they appear to be pretty innocuous; you can be part of the crowd if you go “downtown,” and going there will cure all the ills that you might have in your life during the time that you are there.
And I guess that that, in itself, might be a movie for what happened.
This guy felt so isolated, so thrown away be society, that the only place he could feel wanted is “downtown,”
So he went there, decided to blow himself up to take him out of his misery, and take that area with him.
Seems simple, but he could have also used the song as part of his manifesto to throw off the authorities.
Maybe his plan was more dastardly than that.
The Nashville police—whose heroic actions perhaps thwarted this deranged lunatic from taking out anyone else with his deed—have stated that we may never know what prompted this miscreant to do what he did.
Are the answers in the lyrics?
With this downtown area in rubble, and with Nashville of course looking for not only answers but the will and strength to rebuild this area, one other unfortunate byproduct of this horrible deed—and really nothing compared to the destruction that was the deed’s aftermath—is that the song “Downtown” will never be looked at again as just a popular, innocuous song from the mid-1960s.
I doubt you will hear that song on oldies stations for the time being, with those stations putting it on hold as the investigation unfurls.
Maybe one day, “Downtown” will return to just being what it was intended to be, a great pop song, but right now, it carries way too much weight because some mad bomber decided to make it his theme song.
Hopefully one day, when downtown Nashville is rebuilt and flourishes once again, we can also look at “Downtown” in the way it was intended, not in the way this horrible person stole it from us for his own dastardly means.
Hopefully those times will come soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.