City in Flight, part 2

“City in Flight” — track 6 on handmade — is dedicated to James Blish, the author who got me into science fiction for grownups (for the full story, see part 1).

One of his most widely-read works is a sequence of short novels called “Cities in Flight.”  The key concept behind this series is that humans have discovered a cheap, efficient, and powerful antigravity device called a spindizzy.   With this device, the title of the series becomes literal truth: entire cities take flight and leave Earth behind.

Now, a lot of people don’t like science fiction, no matter how well written.  I believe that the underlying reason is they have difficulty joining a new world.  That is, in science fiction, usually there’s a big concept (such as a cheap and efficient antigravity device) on which the entire world is based.  Some people just can’t leap their imagination from what they know; they are trapped by reality.

I feel sorry for them.  They will never walk the Pattern, deep below Castle Amber in the heart of Mount Kolvir; they will never travel out of the galaxy for a life-and-death game of Azad; they will never travel through history in the company of immortals.

So this song is really about the joy of science fiction.  Let me step you through it (at least my interpretation, you’re free to make your own):

1. When you first start reading a good science fiction book, there is a time when your mind is busy absorbing the facts of the new world you have entered.  This can be confusing; I think this is the part that throws some people off.  In the song, this is symbolized by the long rubato section at the beginning, the interweaving timeless bass and guitar melodies.
2. Suddenly, there is focus.  Read far enough, and you become part of the world of the novel.  There is flow and continuity, and for a brief time, you are in the novel.  It can be quite a shock to realize how much time has gone by in the outside world.  In the song, this is symbolized by the driving salsa rhythm (fastest one I’ve ever played, actually — 191 bpm, or 382 eighth notes per minute on two drums).
3. The break in the middle is the time when you have to stop reading and do something else, like eat or go to sleep (or to work).
4. Finally, at the end, you can go back and finish your novel . . . .
5. But, at the end, you will always carry a bit of it around with you.