1. Prior to forming Love, Arthur Lee was a Los Angeles, CA, United States-based hustler, desperately searching for the formula that would make him a star. In the early 1960s he recorded some unsuccessful singles including one as The American Four ('Luci Baines' b/w 'Soul Food'). He also recorded a session for Rosa Lee Brooks which featured Jimi Hendrix as a session guitarist. Lee found his niche at last when he founded one of the '60s seminal garage/folk/psychedelic bands, Love, in 1965. The band which also featured fellow songwriter and singer Bryan Maclean, recorded three albums for Elektra, including the legendary Forever Changes. In 1968, Lee decided to scrap the idea of Love as a real band, kicked out all the remaining members and began recording with pickup bands and sessionmen.
The band's and Lee's fortunes quickly declined and Lee, never the most normal person in the best of times, began exhibiting erratic behavior as his drug intake began to take its toll. He recorded more unsuccessful albums under the Love moniker and also recorded his full-length solo début album, Vindicator (1972). After that, he began to fade away. Lee would regularly tour and recordings were made of these shows but he rarely returned to a studio or wrote new songs. In 1994, Lee recorded a new single ('Midnight Sun' b/w 'Girl on Fire'), although the B-side was actually salvaged from an unreleased album Lee recorded with Jimi Hendrix years before. Soon after this Lee's problems with the law took over his life. In 1995, Lee broke into an ex-girlfriend's apartment and tried to set it aflame.
He was bailed out by Rhino Records who had just released the Love Story compilation. In 1996, Lee was arrested for shooting a gun into the air during an argument with a neighbor and convicted on a illegal possession of a fire arm charge. Thanks to California's strict and sometimes unfair three strikes and you're out law, Lee (who had been convicted of a drug offense sometime in the 1980s) was sentenced to eight to twelve years in prison. In 2000, Rhino reissued an expanded version of Love's Forever Changes which served as a reminder just what a huge talent Arthur Lee was in his prime. On December, 12 2001 Lee was released from prison having served six years of his original sentence, a federal appeals court in California reversed the charge of negligent discharge of a firearm as they found the prosecuter at Lee's trial was guilty of misconduct.
In 2002, Arthur Lee began touring in earnest under the name Love with Arthur Lee. This new phase of his career met with great success, and he performed to enthusiastic audiences and critical acclaim throughout Europe, North America and Australia. The band began to perform the Forever Changes album in its entirety, often with a string and horn section. A live CD and DVD of this material was released in 2003.
Arthur Lee left the members of Baby Lemonade who, after prison, had backed him as Love in August 2005. The remaining members continued the tour as The Love Band. Lee carried the band name forward, hiring drummer Greg Roberson (Reigning Sound, Her Majesty's Buzz, Compulsive Gamblers) to put together a new line-up in Memphis, which was to include Adam Woodard, Alex Greene (Reigning Sound, Big Ass Truck), Jack "Oblivian" Yarber, Alicia Trout, and Johnny Echols from the original Love line-up.
In April 2006 it was reported that Lee was being treated for acute myeloid leukemia. A tribute fund was set up shortly after the announcement, with a series of benefit concerts to be performed to help pay medical bills. The most notable of these concerts was produced by Steve Weitzman of SW Productions at New York's Beacon Theater on June 23, 2006, and featured Robert Plant, Ian Hunter, Ryan Adams, Nils Lofgren, Yo La Tengo, Garland Jeffreys, Johnny Echols (Love's original lead guitarist) and Flashy Python & The Body Snatchers (featuring Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands say Yeah). Robert Plant, backed by Ian Hunter's band performed twelve songs, including five Led Zeppelin songs and five recorded by Love in the 60s ("Seven And Seven Is", "A House Is Not A Motel", "Bummer In The Summer", "Old Man" and "Hey Joe").
Later in 2006, despite aggressive treatment, including three bouts of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant using stem cells from an umbilical cord—which made him the first adult patient in Tennessee to receive this treatment—his condition worsened, and Lee passed away on August 3, 2006, at Memphis, TN's Methodist University Hospital, with his wife Diane at his side.
2. An indie game developer and artist. His website can be found at http://www.superfundungeonrun.com/
August
Arthur Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The higher we both climb the further we fall
Now were under looking up into the floor
And burn each other though we're dying for more
We're stuck on this dysfunction We love it to our death
We celebrate destruction by lighting up this bed....
You can take your love away but don't you ever leave alone
Come on touch me show me your imperfect too
These broken lights they shine on us tonight
We don't talk much when there's so much to say
We don't listen but yet we try anyway
My stomach sick bitter and open
Reveries of helplessness have left me all but hopin'
We strip each others beauty and we push it to the end
We face each other smiling and leave it all unsaid
We kiss till we bleed
We Feel So much its killing us
We fight till were free
And he threatens to leave but won't let me
We cry till we see
Infatuations Break Us down
Were healing at three
We dance inside this tragedy
You can take your love away but don't you ever leave alone
Burn the ghosts we've carried home
Come on touch me show me your imperfect too
These broken lights they shine on us tonight
The song August by Arthur Lee and Love is a powerful expression of love and the dysfunction that can come with it. The first verse portrays a relationship that has reached a high point but is now falling apart. The line "Put your swords away I'm already down" suggests that one person is vulnerable and wants the other to stop attacking them. The second line "The higher we both climb the further we fall" is a metaphor for the idea that the more invested we become in something the harder it falls when it doesn't work out. The third line "Now we're under looking up into the floor" is a surreal and disorienting image that conveys the confusion and disconnection of the couple. Finally, the line "And burn each other though we're dying for more" speaks to the spiteful and destructive nature of the relationship.
The second verse is an admission of the couple's communication problems. The line "We don't talk much when there's so much to say" suggests a lack of intimacy or openness between them. The line "My stomach sick bitter and open" conveys the physical and emotional impact of the dysfunction, showing how it is eating away at the singer. The last two lines "We strip each other's beauty and we push it to the end / We face each other smiling and leave it all unsaid" speak to the desire to keep the relationship together despite the toxicity and unspoken resentment.
Overall, the song conveys a passionate and destructive love that is both alluring and dangerous. It speaks to the complexity of human relationships, the push and pull between love and hate, and the desperate need for intimacy and understanding.
Line by Line Meaning
Put your swords away I'm already down
Don't hurt me more, I am already vulnerable
The higher we both climb the further we fall
The closer we get, the more painful the separation
Now were under looking up into the floor
We are so consumed by our own issues that we fail to see the bigger picture
And burn each other though we're dying for more
We crave love so much that we are willing to accept the pain
We're stuck on this dysfunction We love it to our death
We can't help but love the chaos and drama, even if it destroys us
We celebrate destruction by lighting up this bed....
Our own self-destructive tendencies fuel our passion for each other
You can take your love away but don't you ever leave alone
I can't handle being left alone without love, even if it's toxic
Burn the ghosts we've carried home
Let go of the past trauma that follows us
Come on touch me show me your imperfect too
Let's be vulnerable with each other, flaws and all
These broken lights they shine on us tonight
Despite our brokenness, we are still shining and alive
We don't talk much when there's so much to say
There is so much pain and complexity between us that we don't know how to communicate it all
We don't listen but yet we try anyway
We may not fully understand each other, but we still attempt to make it work
My stomach sick bitter and open
Our relationship makes me physically ill with a deep sense of resentment
Reveries of helplessness have left me all but hopin'
Dreams of a better future for us are quickly fading, leaving me feeling hopeless
We strip each others beauty and we push it to the end
We take each other for granted and push our relationship to its breaking point
We face each other smiling and leave it all unsaid
We pretend that everything is okay and avoid addressing our issues
We kiss till we bleed
Our passion for each other is so intense that it hurts
We Feel So much its killing us
Our emotions are too overwhelming and destructive for us to handle
We fight till were free
Our arguments are a way for us to assert our individuality and escape from the confines of our relationship
And he threatens to leave but won't let me
We threaten to end the relationship, but can't seem to let each other go
We cry till we see
Only after breaking down in tears do we gain clarity about our relationship
Infatuations Break Us down
Our shallow obsession with each other causes our downfall
Were healing at three
We are at our most vulnerable late at night, but it is also the time when we feel the most hopeful about our relationship
We dance inside this tragedy
We continue moving forward in a relationship that feels like a tragedy in motion
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: ARTHUR LEE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Zyrrhos
@Zach Kopka. Zake I created a playlist on my iTunes that takes the best of Four Sail and The Blue Thumb Recordings. I think had some of the best tracks on The Blue Thumb Recordings been given the same treatment as the arrangements on Forever Changes or Four Sail, it would have been a top to bottom masterpiece like Forever Changes. Anyway, here's the track listing:
Listen to My Song (The Blue Thumb Recordings)
August
I Still Wonder (The Blue Thumb Recordings)
I'm With You
Good Times
Singing Cowboy
Dream
Robert Montgomery
Willow Willow (The Blue Thumb Recordings)
Nothing
Gather 'Round (The Blue Thumb Recordings)
Always See Your Face
TheDman216
George Suranovich was such an awesome drummer
Borodin
So underrated! He's a monster.
Robert Anderson
You are absolutely right. Whatever happened to that guy?
Michael Marino
You're right I drum and he caught my ear from the get go.
Joe M.
@Robert Anderson While playing a Sunday night gig in 1990 George experienced chest pains and was rushed to a hospital. A few days later\ George received bypass surgery. But during his recovery he suffered a massive heart attack and died. A few weeks after his death, a memorial concert was held at the Graffiti club in Pittsburgh.
machinemolle1968
Any drummer holding trad grip is great
Alex Kriukov
What an incredible song. George Suranovich was an incredible drummer. This song ranks up there with the music on Forever Changes, though very different stylistically. A great hard rock/jazz fusion jam.
Mike Fakh Beats
In my opinion this is the best rock song ever written
Duff Gordon
It's somethiong great, but not "rock"??
John Peniell
Man I love that guitar solo...gives me the shivers and goosebumps!