GK: It's summer and the windows are open and it's a world of sound out there -- (DOGS) Life! Action! (MOTORCYCLE) People out and doing things! The excitement of lawn care. (LAWNMOWER) The thrill of weed trimming. (WEED WHACKER) and brush cutting (BRUSH CUTTER) the natural high of cucumber cultivation. (GARDEN TRACTOR) People are out, moving around. (TENNIS) Playing badminton. (BADMINTON) Swimming. (DIVING BOARD) Boating. (SPEEDBOAT PASS, WHEEE OF WATER SKIER) Horseback riding. (CLIPCLOP, WHINNIES) There's music in the air. (BOOMBOX HIP HOP) The neighbor kid practicing the violin. (BAD VIOLIN NOTES) The neighbor kid's mother upstairs meditating. (TABLA, SITAR)
Winter was silent, gloomy. (WIND, DISTANT WOLF) Once in awhile you heard a southbound train. (DISTANT FREIGHT TRAIN WHISTLE) and except for your own teeth grinding (GRIND) and the furnace cranking up (FURNACE WHEEZING) it was a world of silence. (WIND) Winter. A state of non-being.
GK: ...But now suddenly it's June, and then July, the big 4th of July parade (PARADE, BASS DRUM) comes down the street and the Scottish band (BAGPIPE) and the Shriners on their little motor scooters (SCOOTERS WEAVING AROUND) and a circus calliope (STEAM CALLIOPE, ELEPHANTS) and that night the big fireworks show. (ROCKETS, ROCKETS, ROCKETS)
So, You go away for vacation to the seashore (WAVES, GULLS) and you come back home and-- something has changed. (RATCHETING) There is an amusement park next door to you. (ROLLER COASTER SEQUENCE) You neglected to attend that meeting of the zoning board. An enormous roller coaster towers over your house. And every ten minutes-- (ROLLER COASTER SEQUENCE). So you look for another house. You drive out in the country and (BIRDS) find a peaceful place and just as you are about to sign the contract--(JET PLANE LANDING) a 747 comes in low -- so you look for someplace else. And you find a lovely place in the woods (BIRDS) and you sit there all day and all night --nothing -- no problem-- so you buy it (STAMPING OF DOCUMENT) and shake hands and that Friday night (RACETRACK) -- the speedway is right through there. You couldn't see it for the trees. You write angry letters (FUMING) and you call up talk shows (ANGER) and you stand outside and picket the racetrack (ANGER, FUMING) and nothing works so, late on Sunday night, right after church, you walk over there and blow it up. (EXPLOSION)...
GK: ...And you're caught (SIREN) and taken to court (GAVEL) and sentenced to prison (STEEL DOORS, FOOTSTEPS, CELL DOOR OPEN, CLOSE) and there in your cell you find peace and quiet. Sort of. (DRIPPING) Some sort of leak. You flush the toilet (FLUSH) and that solves the problem. (DRIPPING) Almost. So you send away for a harmonica. And you try to figure out how it works. (HOWARD, BEGINNER) And you start to master it. (HOWARD INTERMEDIATE) And because you have all the time in the world to practice, you get sort of good. (HOWARD FLASH) This is where harmonica players start. All of them have done prison time. You get very good--..so good that when the governor comes to visit the next week, he stops in front of your cell to listen. (HARMONICA). And he weeps (MAN SOBS), and the next day you are pardoned (BIG STAMP, JAIL DOORS OPEN), and you're out in the world with a harmonica and a criminal record. A perfect way to start life as a professional musician. So you start playing in dive bars (HARMONICA), and then the college circuit (HARMONICA) and a few months later you're playing Carnegie Hall (HARMONICA, POLITE APPLAUSE), and you're pulling down tons of money and now you can afford two, three, four homes-one in Jamaica, where you have a whole menagerie of animals living inside (MONKEY, WILD BIRDS, ELEPHANT), and a penthouse in downtown Chicago (TRAFFIC WHIZZES PAST), and a seaside bungalow in Santa Barbara (SEAGULLS, WAVES CRASH), but you spend most of the time on the road. Hotel rooms and airports. Sometimes late at night in those hotel rooms, you get up and you turn on the faucet (SQUEAKING HANDLES)-just a little bit, just enough so you get the (SLOW DRIPPING). And suddenly you're back in that jail cell (BLUES HARMONICA) Back where it all began. And it feels good.