House at Pooh Corner by Loggins & Messina - 019
a place you remember, but maybe not vividly
Happy Friday!!!
And welcome back to another week of Music Appreciation!!
Thank you all for opening, reading, and tuning in.
This week we have a pretty famous song and one that definitely blurs the line between our two themes of Memory and Story. I think its really cool to see how these themes overlap and it is a magical experience to listen to something and be present to a place in either memory or imagination. Anyways, here’s the song -
The SONG:
LYRICS:
How it Relates to STORY - Place, Imagination
For me, what really makes this song shine is its ability to make a reference to a particular story that has become somewhat of a cultural artifact. I don’t remember watching or reading Winnie the Pooh as a child, but I definitely know of the story and what he looks like. I am most familiar with the Disney version (yellow bear, red shirt, kinda thicc), but other than that I don’t really have memories of this story in particular.
The singer laments on not being able to go back to that place of imagination that he reminisces about. Initially, my first reaction is a bit of a pushback. I typically like to see myself as an imaginative person. Imagination just involves letting go and letting the mind wander. However, when I think about my own memories of the stories of Winnie the Pooh, they’re not all that clear and then suddenly the song hits a little more. The inaccessibility that is felt by the singer is similar to my inaccessibility to return to these memories of this story.
All of this works well because it utilizes the concept of place.
House on Pooh Corner is a place. It is somewhat literal (although in Winnie-the-Pooh, they are actually placed in the Hundred-Acre-Wood), but more than anything it’s a place that’s more of a representation of an imaginary world. All those character references that they make are specific characters to that work. More than anything, Eeyore, Owl, Pooh, are all always together and they’re always qualities of Hundred-Acre-Wood.
Place is important in story. Characters are important in story. The line between those two are a bit blurred in Winnie the Pooh and this song makes strong references to all of that. Place and Character in this sense are enmeshed.
LAST words:
Somewhat of an English-grammar-usage giggle sort of thing, but the usage of “further” in the song is actually pretty profound.
Farther is for literal, physical distances. Further is for figurative, non physical distances. So when the singer says, “But I've wandered much further today than I should // And I can't seem to find my way back to the wood . . ." he is making it contextual and definitive that the song is nostalgic and imaginative. There is a mental loss of a place versus one that is physically far away. To me, that pulls at the heart strings a little more. Had the line been “farther” it would hint that this is a magical world that the singer can go back to. By saying further, it’s saying like that imaginative place is too far gone.
A small, possibly even unintentional word choice, but one that I feel makes a huge difference. It is like the difference between literally revisiting your childhood home versus the mere memory of it being inaccessible in a lot of ways. Sad, but beautiful.
Anyways! Thank you to Loggins and Messina for the wonderful music!
And! Thank you to Mr. A for another awesome song to look at!
Next WEEK:
We got two more weeks until the Season Finale of Story!
Next week I’m going to do a scan of all the different details that were reviewed and see what else can be talked about or listened to. I’ll probably focus on a song that is of a different genre. Either throwing it back more or bringing something more contemporary.
BONUS:
Not a song bonus this week! But a fun pairing for this song. The video gives some context (albeit specifically for the Disney version). The line is meaningful and it is true! To all you readers out there, read the title :)