Not too long after the Soviet Union collapsed, I was in this bar in Moscow called The Armadillo (not far from the Kremlin) when two guys from Tiblisi, Georgia (the country not the state) began to play the blues, acoustic. They were not messing around either, and I instantly became their self proclaimed biggest fan and proceeded to help them get a live spot on a local blues radio show and a number of gigs at bars that catered to Americans.
Soon after that I became friends with one of the guys, his name is Levan. One day I was hanging out with Levan and he was working on learning a new song. I don’t remember the name of the song, but there was a line about “standing on the corner sucking on some Tanqueray.” Levan spoke English with a heavy accent, but when he sang he managed to lose the accent mostly. But as he practiced this song, he was singing the line “standing on the corner sucking on some tangerines.” He didn’t know what Tanqueray was, so the reference was lost on him and the closest word he could think of was tangerines.
When I explained it to him we had a good laugh and then he was relieved, because he really didn’t understand why the guy in the song was standing on the corner sucking on a tangerine when his life was falling apart. It just didn’t ring true when you sang it Levan’s way. That’s just not what people do when the shit hits the fan. We don’t reach for citrus fruit to calm our nerves or to forget our troubles.
But, I have lived now for a long time with the line in my head, “standing on the corner sucking on some tangerines,” and I am here to tell you that there is wisdom in that line. You cannot eat a tangerine in some half-assed manner while your mind wonders over your troubles. When you are eating a tangerine, there is too much happening not to get caught up in the moment, caught up in the act of eating the wet, messy, sweet fruit. So for that short time, while you stand on the corner sucking on a tangerine, that is all that you will be doing. And stopping to do just one thing and really do it, is sometimes all it takes to get away from the rest of the lyrics that fill your day-to-day life long enough to gain a little reprieve and maybe even some perspective.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be sucking on a tangerine. You can get the same relief from uncompromising focus on the moment when you practice. Next time you pick up your instrument, say the line to yourself. “I’m just standing on a corner sucking on a tangerine,” and then practice like it. I predict you will play better, and when you are done you will feel much better than the guy in the song. Even if your rent is still late.
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