Roky Erickson, de legendarische zanger van de 13th Floor Elevators, is gisteren overleden. De doodsoorzaak is niet bekend gemaakt. Erickson werd 71 jaar oud.
Roky Erickson verwierf zijn status in de jaren ’60 als zanger van de psychedelische garagerock-band 13th Floor Elevators. De debuutsingle “You’re Gonna Miss Me” is een absolute klassieker. De band produceerde vier albums, waarvan de eerste twee – “The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators” en “Easter Everywhere” – in elke collectie thuishoren.
Na de release van het debuutalbum implodeerde de band min of meer. Na een succesvolle tour keerden de Elevators terug naar Texas, waar gitarist Stacy Sutherland werd opgepakt wegens het bezit van marihuana. De veroordeling leidde ertoe dat Sutherland Texas niet meer mocht verlaten. Omdat Erickson niet bereid was de gitarist te lozen, kon er niet langer worden opgetreden buiten Texas, waarop de drummer en de basgitarist de band verlieten. De opnames voor het tweede album verliepen zó chaotisch dat de band bijna failliet ging.
Erickson’s psychische problemen – nog aanzienlijk verergerd door zijn LSD-gebruik – leidden uiteindelijk in 1970 tot het einde van de band. Om aan een gevangenisstraf wegens het bezit van marihuana te ontsnappen liet de zanger zich opnemen in een psychiatrische inrichting, waar hij tegen zijn wil werd onderworpen aan elektroshocktherapie. De rest van de jaren ’70 en ’80 wisselde Roky het verblijf in diverse psychiatrische instellingen af met de release van een serie geschifte (maar soms briljante) singles en albums.
In 2001 kreeg zijn broer Sumner de voogdij over Rory. Zijn leven kwam daarmee in wat rustiger vaarwater en hij ging zelfs weer regelmatig optreden, o.a. met Okkervil River.
RIP Roky Erickson. De wereld is vandaag een stuk minder cool geworden.
Bedoin tribes ascending
From the egg into the flower
Alpha information sending
State within the heaven shower
From disciples the unending
Subtleties of river power
They slip inside this house as they pass by
If your limbs begin dissolving
In the water that you tread
All surroundings are evolving
In the stream that clears your head
Find yourself a caravan
Like Noah must have led
And slip inside this house as you pass by
Slip inside this house as you pass by
True conception, knowing why
Brings even more than meets the eye
Slip inside this house as you pass by
In this dark we call creation
We can be and feel and know
From an effort, comfort station
That’s surviving on the go
There’s infinite survival in
The high baptismal glow
Slip inside this house as you pass by
There is no season when you are grown
You are always risen from the seeds you’ve sown
There is no reason to rise alone
Other stories given have sages of their own
Live where your heart can be given
And your life starts to unfold
In the forms you envision
In this dream that’s ages old
On the river layer is the only sayer
You receive all you can hold
Like you’ve been told
Every day’s another dawning
Give the morning winds a chance
Always catch your thunder yawning
Lift your mind into the dance
Sweep the shadows from your awning
Shrink the fourfold circumstance
That lies outside this house don’t pass it by
Higher worlds that you uncover
Light the path you want to roam
You compare there and discover
You won’t need a shell of foam
Twice born gypsies care and keep
The nowhere of their former home
They slip inside this house as they pass by
Slip inside this house as you pass by
You think you can’t, you wish you could
I know you can, I wish you would
Slip inside this house as you pass by
Four and twenty birds of Maya
Baked into an atom you
Polarized into existence
Magnet heart from red to blue
To such extent the realm of dark
Within the picture it seems true
But slip inside this house and then decide
All your lightning waits inside you
Travel it along your spine
Seven stars receive your visit
Seven seals remain divine
Seven churches filled with spirit
Treasure from the angels’ mine
Slip inside this house as you pass by
Slip inside this house as you pass by
The space you make has your own laws
No longer human gods are cause
The center of this house will never die
There is no season when you are grown
You are always risen from the seeds you’ve sown
There is no reason to rise alone
Other stories given have sages of their own
Draw from the well of unchanging
Its union nourishes on
In the right re-arranging
Till the last confusion is gone
Water-brothers trust in the ultimust
Of the always singing song they pass along
One-eyed men aren’t really reigning
They just march in place until
Two-eyed men with mystery training
Finally feel the power fill
Three-eyed men are not complaining
They can yo-yo where they will
They slip inside this house as they pass by
Don’t pass it by
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Ron Baker (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kingsnake) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8861858
