a thousand pearls of the largest size
“At the nuptials of the [Persian] prince [Almamon], a thousand pearls of the largest size were showered on the head of the bride, and a lottery of lands and houses displayed the capricious bounty of fortune. The glories of the court were brightened, rather than impaired, in the decline of [his family’s] empire. ‘The caliph’s whole army,’ says the historian Abulfeda, ‘both horse and foot, was under arms, which together made a body of one hundred and sixty thousand men. His state officers, the favorite slaves, stood near him in splendid apparel, their belts glittering with gold and gems. Near them were seven thousand eunuchs, four thousand of them white, the remainder black. The porters or door-keepers were in number seven hundred. Barges and boats, with the most superb decorations, were seen swimming upon the Tigris. Nor was the palace itself less splendid, in which were hung up thirty-eight thousand pieces of tapestry, twelve thousand five hundred of which were of silk embroidered with gold. The carpets on the floor were twenty-two thousand. A hundred lions were brought out, with a keeper to each lion. Among the other spectacles of rare and stupendous luxury was a tree of gold and silver spreading into eighteen large branches, on which . . . sat a variety of birds made of the same precious metals, as well as the leaves of the tree. While the machinery affected spontaneous motions, the several birds warbled their natural harmony.’”
—Edward Gibson, from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 5 of 6, published in 1856.
one hundred pieces of purple
“The list of [Alexias’s] presents [to Henry the Third or Fourth, king of Germany and Italy] expresses the manners of the age—a radiated crown of gold, a cross set with pearls to hang on the breast, a case of relics, with the names and titles of the saints, a vase of crystal, a vase of sardonyx, some balm, most probably of Mecca, and one hundred pieces of purple. To these he added a more solid present, of one hundred and forty-four thousand Byzantines of gold, with a further assurance of two hundred and sixteen thousand, so soon as Henry should have entered in arms the Apulian territories, and confirmed by an oath the league against the common enemy.”
—Edward Gibson, from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 5 of 6, published in 1856. I found this musty old book in a thrift store, bought it for the beautiful impressions of the type, but what do you know, I eventually read it and loved it! I’m not the first to say it, but this is a good book.
In his mind, as long as it came from the red family, it worked
“Oh, to dress Chet. Oh, yes. This is fun. . . I think the best comment he ever made about clothes, oh no, there were two really. ‘Listen Ruth, I’m not up there to win any beauty contests.’ That was the first one. And all I was talking about was a shower and a comb through the hair. The other one was . . . [he finally] turned around and said ‘Hey . . . does this look OK?’ And I said no, that stinks. He said ‘Well, it’s red, and it’s red.’ And it was like this hideous burgundy with a pair of red pants. . . . In his mind, as long as it came from the red family, it worked.”
—singer Ruth Young, on Chet Baker, from the documentary Let’s Get Lost, directed by Bruce Weber, 1987.
The sunburned hands I used to hold
“The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sunburned hands I used to hold”
—from Autumn Leaves, words and music by Johnny Mercer and Joseph Kosma. Chet Baker sings this wonderfully in Let’s Get Lost.
Almost blue
“Almost all the things that your eyes once promised
I see in hers too
Now your eyes are red from crying. . . .
Almost me
Almost you
Almost blue”
—from Almost Blue by Elvis Costello, 1981. Chet Baker’s arrangement, he sings it acapello in Let’s Get Lost.
the golden rosette of reality
“The Naz is a-talkin’ and a-swingin’ with how pretty the hour, how pretty the flower, how pretty you, how pretty she, how pretty the tree—Naz had them pretty eyes, wanted ever’body to see to pin the golden rosette of reality—and they is havin’ such a wailin’, swingin’, glorianna style stompin’ hike that before you know it, it was scoffin’ time and these poor cats is forty miles outa town, ain’t nobody got the first biscuit! ‘We wuz diggin’ so hard what you wuz puttin’ down, Naz, we didn’t PRE-pare. We goofed!’”
—Lord Buckley, describing the Nazz’s Feeding of the Five Thousand, of course. As quoted in The Hip: Hiptsters, Jazz and the Beat Generation, by Roy Carr, Brian Case and Fred Dellar, 1986.
in the moonlight
“Await in the moonlight at the Wester Chamber,
Where the door stands half opened by the breeze.
While the shadows of the flowers move on the wall,
The Precious One may be coming!”
—Hsi Hsiang Chi, from The Romance of the Western Chamber, translated by S.I. Hiung, 1936.
The Silver River
“In the clear sky, there is not a speck of cloud;
The Silver River casts its gentle light;
The moon shines brightly in the sky,
And the shadows of the flowers fill the courtyard.”
—Hsi Hsiang Chi, from The Romance of the Western Chamber, translated by S.I. Hiung, 1936.
faded leaves
“When we last met the red petals of the flowers were falling like rain on the green moss.
After we had separated, the faded leaves lay scattered in the evening mist.”
—Hsi Hsiang Chi, from The Romance of the Western Chamber, translated by S.I. Hiung, 1936.
tears of blood
“The tears of blood with flow from my eyes are as red as the azalea.”
—Hsi Hsiang Chi, from The Romance of the Western Chamber, translated by S.I. Hiung, 1936.