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  • From: Will Dockery <will.dockery AT gmail.com>
  • To: ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: Nightswimming Revisited by Gene Woolfolk, Jr.
  • Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 23:34:37 -0000

Gene Woolfolk Jr. MySpace and other info:

http://www.myspace.com/genewoolfolkjr

Nightswimming Revisited by Gene Woolfolk, Jr.
>
> Current mood: nostalgic
> Category: Life
>
> It was the summer of 1980 in Athens, GA, home of the University of
> Georgia Bulldogs. I was working for Danver's International, a fast
> food restaurant on Atlanta Highway, as an assistant manager. I lived
> with three other guys in a two bedroom apartment at Sussex Club
> Apartments. One of my roommates, Jim "Mal" Mallory, was a graduate
> psychology student and also one of my night time employees at
> Danver's. Jim and I had finished closing the restaurant one night in
> June, along with the help of Susan McChesney, another graduate
> psychology student who was working as a cashier nightly at Danver's.
> We left the restaurant and went to our apartment complex, which was
> about a mile down the road. When we reached the apartment, we decided
> to sit around the pool and drink beer. It was incredibly hot, even
> for June, for after midnight.
>
> I suggested we go swimming. When Mal said we didn't have anything
> to swim in, Susan and I countered with "Who needs a swim suit!" I
> mean...it was summer in a college town....in other words, the city was
> almost deserted. It was late at night, there were no lights in the
> pool and it was too damn hot to just sit around and drink beer. This
> was the first night with the original Nightswimmers.
>
> So, it became the thing for us to do. Every night after we closed,
> we'd find a pool at an apartment complex to swim in. Yes, we were
> swimming naked! As the summer progressed, Jim, Susan and I would tell
> our friends about what we were doing. As the summer wore on, we'd
> slowly grow in numbers as we all continued to ask our friends to join
> us for our skinny-dipping parties. As for me, being nude around
> friends and srangers took away alot of inhibitions society had
> caused. It was fun and exhilerating.
>
> By the middle of July, friends were inviting other friends. There
> were about fifteen of us one night at an apartment across the street
> from Gloria's apartment (sorry Gloria, I just haven't been able to
> remember your last name. Gloria was also a grad student in
> psychology (counseling). This was the night that the guys, who had
> just formed a local band that they called R.E.M., showed up for the
> skinny-dipping party. I remeber people advising me to stay away from
> Michael because he was gay, bi-sexual or something like that. Later
> in life, Michael made a significant statement when asked if he was gay
> or bi-sexual. Michael stated, "I'm just very sexual."
>
> The numbers continued to grow. And as Michael later put it,
> September's coming soon. It was finally decided that the last skinny-
> dipping party of the summer would be held at River Mill Apartments,
> the largest student community on campus. I had to work that night but
> I did plan to attend after we closed. Besides, that was how we
> started....after work. But, there was no real leadership in the
> nightswimming episodes. And, some moron decided to start the party
> early, like 9PM . Over a hundred people had already shown up at River
> Mill, and now they were all skinny-dipping. Welllllllllll......,
> needless to say the police were called and numerous students were
> hauled off for indecent exposure ( I still haven't figured out why we
> consider the nude human body indecent). When I finally got off work
> that night, it was already over.....nightswiming was just another page
> in the book of history in what would turn out to be a national
> championship season for those Georgia Bulldogss.
>
> I miss my days in Athens and think of them often. It was several
> years later (almost 10 years later) that Michael and REM released
> Automatic for the People which included the song Nightswimming. A
> song that is written about a photograph on the dashboard of the car
> that was taken years ago. A song that is about the summer of 1980 in
> Athens, GA. With no intentions to violate any copyright laws, the
> following are the lyrics to Nightswimming:
>
> (Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)
>
> Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
> The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
> Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
> Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
> Still, it's so much clearer
> I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
> The moon is low tonight
>
> Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
> I'm not sure all these people understand
> It's not like years ago,
> The fear of getting caught,
> Of recklessness and water
> They cannot see me naked
> These things, they go away,
> Replaced by everyday
>
> Nightswimming, remembering that night
> September's coming soon
> I'm pining for the moon
> And what if there were two
> Side by side in orbit
> Around the fairest sun?
> That bright, tight forever drum
> Could not describe nightswimming
>
> You, I thought I knew you
> You, I cannot judge
> You, I thought you knew me,
> This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
> Nightswimming
>
> The photograph reflects,
> Every streetlight a reminder
> Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night
>
> -REM
>
> Currently listening :
> Automatic for the People (CD & DVD Audio)
> By R.E.M.
>
> This is one of my favourite songs ever. As a matter of fact its on my
> mp3 and I hear it on a daily basis. Thanks for the story! Wow. this
> makes the song even more special...
>
> Posted by Conny on Saturday, November 03, 2007 at 5:18 PM
>
> --
> Shadowville Speedway Blues
>
> In a taxi watching a sporting house
> Beside a Linwood vacant lot
> Silverdollar moon portspotting
> Constellation like a sailor's knot.
>
> The sky was black, ink and glitter in the night
> Train whine saxophone out beyond the light
> I'm in love with a ghost blue turns to grey
> Put a pyramid on my head to take my pain away.
>
> Hazel knew the karma, she kept it in a bottle
> Now I'm here on the receiving end
> At least I still know how to take a joke
> And laugh with none of my friends.
>
> Shadowville, Shadowville Speedway
> Riding slow down a one way street
> Shadowville, Shadowville Speedway
> Don't look back, don't admit defeat.
>
> Brown Reculse magic drifting around the shed
> Someone has it in for me I must not lose my head
> Moving with the speedo life several with me left behind
> Burned too many bridges defragmented my time.
>
> Somewhere in time I've seen all this before
> In a magazine or a dream of a distant war
> Manifested destiny a manifesto and a part
> All the actors still agree that ever had a heart.
>
> The good book and the fortune telling lady
> Black tooth mojo marked index cards
> Bundles over the side of Dillingham Bridge
> Splashing as ripples reflect from the stars.
>
> Hazel knew the karma she kept it in a bottle
> Now I'm here on the receiving end
> At least I still know how to take a joke
> And laugh with none of my friends.
>
> Shadowville, Shadowville Speedway
> Riding slow down a one way street
> Shadowville, Shadowville Speedway
> Don't look back, don't admit defeat.
>
> -Will Dockery (words)/Henry Conley (music)
>
> Rhino's open mic for music &
> poetry:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Rhinos-Open_Mic-02.PNG
>
> "Wobble" by Dockery & Conley (recorded August 14
> 2007):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVIF2-qWIUc
>
> "Toxin on Glass" by Shadowville Installation - song by Gene Woolfolk
> Jr,Timothy Maxwell, Gary Frankfurth, & Will
> Dockery:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XWUdCRbVnc






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