The Time’s Arrow CD contains lyrical and melodic songs in various genres with themes focused on the poetry and melodies of the space-time continuum, and the cyclical aspects of our lives on this spinning globe traveling through the universe. It contains cosmological, inter-personal and even “Green” themes.
CROSSING GENRES is a musical group formed by Christine and Jimmy M. Salhany to present songs composed and produced by Jimmy. Christine is a vocalist and flutist working as a freelance musician in Omaha, Nebraska. Jimmy Mitchell Salhany is a poet, songwriter and musician. His poems have been published by the University of Chicago Press and literary journals such as Fine Lines Journal.
Each song has a story.
“Time's Arrow” (the theme song) was inspired by Jim's love of the poetry of Dylan Thomas, in particular the poem entitled "Twenty-Four Years." It's a poem about going forward in time, from birth to his last two lines:
"In the final direction of the elementary town
I advance for as long as forever is."
In this song Jim asks: How long is forever? How long can it be? What part of forever belongs to me?" He connects these questions to the image of hopes, dreams, reality, and a seed, a plant and a tree,” all going forward in time, “if we let it be." Thus, a "Green" theme sets a certain tone for the songs on this CD.
“Shadows”, the second song, explores the spirit of human existence. It picks up from a line in “Time’s Arrow” about being a shadow in a certain reality. In “Shadows” the image is one where shadows are inner spirits, which emerge with birth and the rising sun, perhaps referring to the struggles of youth, proceeding then to become short shadows in the noon light, an image at life’s peak, and finally becoming long shadows once again with the setting sun, to complete the cycle as karmas accumulate and life draws to an end.
“Dead Roses” finishes the shadows theme with a moralistic overtone: “Shadows cast in neon light...” Sin here is not of the biblical sort necessarily, but essentially a bad karma event. Humans are depicted as actors on a stage, who receive a token as payment for the play, a token for a ride “On a road lined with roses, none of them alive.” The words for this song were adapted from one of Jim’s poems entitled “As The Sun Marks Those Who Take The Toll,” published in 1971 by the University of Chicago Press and used with permission.
“The Abstruse Bee” is a song inspired by one of Jim’s recent poems entitled “The Wilted Rose.” This poem is in press in Fine Lines Journal, with an Autumn 2009 publication date. The song, and the poem are “Green” in their theme, being a comment on manipulation by the hybridizer, of the “First Rose” to a “Human Dream.” The song asks, will this manipulation of nature have a lasting quality. The answer is that “No one knows, not even the dreamer.” In the end the abstruse bee alights on the manipulated, wilted rose, searching for honey, searching for honey, searching where honey can no longer be found.
“Do You Love Me” is a song about confused feelings between one person looking for love and the other, who is the object of that affection. The first person tries to advance a relationship but finds the other person is not interested. But, this lack of interest is perplexing to the first person, as the words say: “Every time I see you, I wonder what’s going on inside. Every time I need you, I wonder why you run and hide.”
“Scared” is coupled to “Do You Love Me,” in that it answers the question as to why the second person runs and hides at the site of the first. The second person is scared, scared of being watched by a stranger, scared about the feelings of possible affection, and afraid to take a chance.
“Living The Dream” is an escapist song, but also a song that questions what we are all looking for in life, and if we are lucky enough to know, whether we can actually find it.
“A Beggar’s Rondo” is a song sung from the point of view of the beggar, with the rondo (a repetitive phrase) asking, “What would you say?” about the condition I’m in. Indeed, the beggar who is singing the song, tries to describe his condition, and in the end he blames his condition on his father: “I escaped from him to nowhere, searching for a sign, ended up begging for a dime. What would you say? What would you say?” The dime reference is from the depression era: "Brother can you spare a dime."
“Time Between Lives” is about life’s transitions. In this case, the song's chorus states, “I’ve got to put time between the life that I’ve had and the kind of life I’d like to live.” It describes the past in one verse, and in the last verse, asks whether the transition to the new life can be made without help of a friend.
“Spinning in a Sea” is the final song on the CD and it reminds us that the perspective for all that is happening on this planet must be placed in the context of humans on a “Big Blue Marble” spinning on its axis, spinning around the sun, spinning around the center of the galaxy, and traveling through space-time. Instead of instrumental interludes, poems are read, the first of which describes our universe in terms of the cosmological idea of a big bang, the expanding universe, which by one theory, eventually reaches a limit, and collapses back on itself to “Start it all once more.” Perhaps in this process we find rebirth, supporting the eastern view that we are truly part of a grand birth-death-rebirth cycle.
Some credits: The beautiful voice of Christine Salhany is heard on each song. On two songs Chris plays the alto recorder. Christi Zuniga from the Omaha Symphony played the acoustic piano on "Time Between Lives." Jimmy Salhany wrote and produced the songs, with excellent production help by Jeremy Garrett. Jimmy also played rhythm, lead and six string bass guitar on the songs, as well as synthesizer and various percussion instruments. The songs were recorded and mixed by Jeremy Garrett at his studio in Omaha. The CD cover art was designed by Paula Salhany (www.paulasalhany.com).
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