By The Landlord
“Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.” – Archimedes
"There is no off position on the genius switch." – David Letterman
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla
“I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.” – Muhammad Ali
Archimedes put the lever in clever.
No one turned it on more than Telsa,
Ancient to modern, literal, metaphorical,
Electrical, mechanical, even psychological,
This week it’s time to join or break the circuit
Click into a colourful, lyric-based cockpit
Where switches of all types ignite a rush,
Lyrics to give our buttons that push.
Are switches like people? But how activated?
Are we ever on or off, or always oscillated?
And what turns us on? Or is it just ourselves?
Are we touch sensitive with all our lights and bells?
The first exciting life switch I think I did encounter
Was seeing Dr Frankenstein turn on his monster.
The lever came down, all crackles and sparks
Lightning power’s effect all quenching and arcs.
Switches bring joy, and deep satisfaction,
With sound and feel, friction and traction,
They’re physically pleasing, they make things happen
They give sense of power via minimal action.
The click-whirr-ping to timely twock,
Old bakelite switch to clunk of airlock.
Soft, silent turn to tiny touch sensor,
Pump-action spring to circuit breaker.
Metal clang of railway track changer
Feedback scream of sudden-amped flanger.
Pickup tone and volume knob twiddle,
One for lead, one rhythm, one middle,
Footswitch click between each pedal
Jimmy’s wah-wah to Floyd’s on Meddle,
Fleets of fingers dance on mixer console
On-offs to sliders for maximum control.
Possibly too many …
Massive banks of synth machines?
Switches are gateways of musical dreams.
My Bloody Valentine to ELP,
Double Pole Double Throw Switch (DPDT).
The ‘rocker’ type switch has see-saw movement.
Musicians love tone and volume improvement.
Plus Spinal Tap Nigel’s extra knob heaven:
“But this one goes right up to eleven.”
From temperature to lighting, electrical flow,
Turning on and off to make a cheap disco,
A dead man’s switch in case a pilot passes out,
A fireman’s switch in case high voltages ignite.
Pulley to kill-switch, load to relay,
Membrane to mercury, push to delay,
Latching to optical, rotary to toggle,
So many types it makes the mind boggle,
Whatever they do, if they turn us on in lyrics
Suggest those songs; parameters and limits,
More guidance and and gentle, controlling flow
Come from this week’s guru – welcome back Marco!
Place nominations in the usual place below,
Justify your choices to see where thoughts might go,
Monday 11pm UK time is when to stop the itch
And deadline comes around, and then we pull the switch.
Push pull, toggle, turn …
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Fancy a turn behind the pumps at The Song Bar? Care to choose a playlist from songs nominated and write something about it? Then feel free to contact The Song Bar here, or try the usual email address. Also please follow us social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: