Two singer/songwriters (and in one case, /actor) with Sun in Pisces came to mind via a kind of chain reaction. March 7, this Wednesday, would have been the birthday of Texan singer/wongwriter Townes Van Zandt. One of his songs, Pancho & Lefty, is a favourite of mine, when feeling country-ish. Searching YouTube for another of his songs to feature, I noticed his version of Dirty Old Town. Huh? That song, another longtime favourite and one that sends pangs of homesick feelings through my bones, was written by Ewan MacColl about the northern English city of Salford. Strange to hear it being sung by an American artist, and a Texan at that! Townes Van Zandt must have admired the song and managed to infuse a different flavour into it, but for me, his cannot equal the songwriter's own version, featured in a post last year - SEE HERE.
Listening again to Dirty Old Town had me longing to hear another homesicky song - one written and sung by actor/singer/songwriter Jimmy Nail: Big River, then I realised that Nail, born 16 March, also has Sun in Pisces.
Pisces probably rules nostalgia, and mild melancholia - homesickness. Several songs of both artists have that in common. I wasn't born in either Salford or Newcastle-on-Tyne (the Big River), but in another northern city on a river: Hull. I suspect that this kind of nostalgia is common to all English northerners (and Scots, and the Irish) when far from home.
These two guys, Townes Van Zandt and Jimmy Nail, born 5,000+ miles, 9 days and 10 years apart, have few things astrologically in common apart from their Sun and Mercury in Pisces, and the fact that neither has any planet in Earth signs. Without access to their times of birth I've set the charts at 12 noon. Both guys' natal Moons were at 21 Leo at noon; natal Moon of both would have to be somewhere in the second half of show-bizzy Leo, whatever their times of birth.
Townes Van Zandt, born into a wealthy Texas oil family fell into severe drug addiction and alcoholism early on, died, too soon, at age 52 .
Jimmy Nail was born in Newcastle-on-tyne, in the north east of England, best-known for his acting roles in TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Spender; seen in the movie Evita playing the part of Magaldi. He has around half a dozen cd albums to his name and his autobiography, A Northern Soul, was published in 2005.
Why one of these guys would fall into a swamp of addiction and suffer an untimely death wasn't clear to me from his chart initially. However, there's a configuration astrologers call a Yod (Finger of Fate) in Van Zandt's chart. It links Neptune and Pluto in sextile (60*) both planets link to Mercury via quincunx (150*) aspect.
The Neptune/Pluto sextile is a generational one, it'll be common to all born between (roughly) 1943 and 1956 with Neptune in Libra and Pluto in Leo transiting at around 60* apart. This is the generation who came to maturity in the 1960s, Van Zandt was one of the avant garde of that highly creative group, many of whose lives did, eventually and sadly end due to overwhelming addictions. Astrological Neptune connects to addictive tendencies, Pluto to darkness and death.
Bear in mind that Neptune is ruler of Pisces where both guys' Natal Sun and Mercury were at the time of their birth, making Neptune highly significant in the life patterns of these two artists.
Nail was born in one of the last years of that same Neptune/Pluto generation. His chart also has the Yod, in his case it links to his natal Sun - but - perhaps here's the big difference: Nail has a Grand Trine involving Neptune too: Neptune/Jupiter/Mercury. Could it be, I wonder, that this harmonious link of Mercury to benign Jupiter and creative Neptune has outweighed, or at least balanced Neptune's sextile to Pluto in Nail's life pattern, diluting the potential of Pluto's negativity? Just a thought.
And
RIP Davy Jones.
Listening again to Dirty Old Town had me longing to hear another homesicky song - one written and sung by actor/singer/songwriter Jimmy Nail: Big River, then I realised that Nail, born 16 March, also has Sun in Pisces.
Pisces probably rules nostalgia, and mild melancholia - homesickness. Several songs of both artists have that in common. I wasn't born in either Salford or Newcastle-on-Tyne (the Big River), but in another northern city on a river: Hull. I suspect that this kind of nostalgia is common to all English northerners (and Scots, and the Irish) when far from home.
These two guys, Townes Van Zandt and Jimmy Nail, born 5,000+ miles, 9 days and 10 years apart, have few things astrologically in common apart from their Sun and Mercury in Pisces, and the fact that neither has any planet in Earth signs. Without access to their times of birth I've set the charts at 12 noon. Both guys' natal Moons were at 21 Leo at noon; natal Moon of both would have to be somewhere in the second half of show-bizzy Leo, whatever their times of birth.
Townes Van Zandt, born into a wealthy Texas oil family fell into severe drug addiction and alcoholism early on, died, too soon, at age 52 .
Jimmy Nail was born in Newcastle-on-tyne, in the north east of England, best-known for his acting roles in TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Spender; seen in the movie Evita playing the part of Magaldi. He has around half a dozen cd albums to his name and his autobiography, A Northern Soul, was published in 2005.
Why one of these guys would fall into a swamp of addiction and suffer an untimely death wasn't clear to me from his chart initially. However, there's a configuration astrologers call a Yod (Finger of Fate) in Van Zandt's chart. It links Neptune and Pluto in sextile (60*) both planets link to Mercury via quincunx (150*) aspect. The Neptune/Pluto sextile is a generational one, it'll be common to all born between (roughly) 1943 and 1956 with Neptune in Libra and Pluto in Leo transiting at around 60* apart. This is the generation who came to maturity in the 1960s, Van Zandt was one of the avant garde of that highly creative group, many of whose lives did, eventually and sadly end due to overwhelming addictions. Astrological Neptune connects to addictive tendencies, Pluto to darkness and death.
Bear in mind that Neptune is ruler of Pisces where both guys' Natal Sun and Mercury were at the time of their birth, making Neptune highly significant in the life patterns of these two artists.
Nail was born in one of the last years of that same Neptune/Pluto generation. His chart also has the Yod, in his case it links to his natal Sun - but - perhaps here's the big difference: Nail has a Grand Trine involving Neptune too: Neptune/Jupiter/Mercury. Could it be, I wonder, that this harmonious link of Mercury to benign Jupiter and creative Neptune has outweighed, or at least balanced Neptune's sextile to Pluto in Nail's life pattern, diluting the potential of Pluto's negativity? Just a thought.
And
RIP Davy Jones.
The Jimmy Nail song is about more than just nostalgia, as the lyrics make clear-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metrolyrics.com/big-river-lyrics-jimmy-nail.html
It is a very personal song about the decline of shipbuilding and coalmining.
You will notice the clenched fist as he sings-
"this is a mighty town
built upon a solid ground
and everything they've tried so hard to kill
we will rebuild"
Great song but this helps to explain why things are as they are-
http://gco2e.blogspot.com/2012/03/wealth-gap-is-about-to-widen-raspberry.html
JD ~~~ Oh yes, I realise that too, of course - but for the purposes of this post it was the feelings I personally experience from the song.
ReplyDeleteMy nostalgic feelings encompass the sadness about loss of the way things used to be, and the determination to re-build. It is all part of the emotion that wells up each time I hear Jimmy Nail sing this song.
The emotions behind the words, slightly adjusted, could be applied to many other towns too.
Hull lost its trawlers, Sheffield lost its steelworks, The Welsh Valleys lost their mines. Detroit, and countless US cities could relate too.
Townes Van Zandt has stated in interviews that he was "triple Pisces," which may mean that was his rising sign as well. No way to know without a birth time, but it certainly amplifies those Piscean themes.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous ~~ Thanks for that!
ReplyDeleteIf born somewhere around 8:00 AM Pisces would have been on the ascendant, amplifying Piscean traits - including the unfortunate shadow one -addiction.
+ Moon at 20 Leo. if Pisces rising.
The talk of Jimmy Nail and the decline of industries brings back memories for me too.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time I visited Newcastle quite regularly due to work. My work contacts told me of the decline of these industries and the one that they were in was going the same way.
Technology means obsolescence and continually moving on...
I remember one occasion (when I was in Newcastle for a meeting and we all got together for an evening meal) one of my colleagues told me of his days in shipbuilding and how he had to adapt after its decline. He had moved on and that industry was declining too...
He was also very thoughtful when we were all on the way back to our respective hotels (or home for the locals). He talked me through the historic sites of Newcastle as we walked past them :-)
Cherry Pie ~~ Hi! Thanks for your input on this.
ReplyDeleteYes, there's a continual moving on, always has been, always will be (until we blow ourselves up and move on more quickly and in a different direction from that for which we had planned!) ;-(
Even in this area, Oklahoma and Texas it's very noticeable as we drive through the states. Where once towns had arisen due to the railway passing through, new settlers arriving, multi-story hotels sprang up, stores, office, dwellings followed - but now in so many - most - of such towns the railway is now used for freight only (still essential) but no longer for passengers who would fill the hotels, bringing trade to the places. So there are derelict buildings left to crumble, even huge hotels. Lots of veritable ghost towns, or ghost areas of still fairly lively towns which have since moved closer to the interstate or state highways.
These sights used to shock me at first, but I've grown used to seeing them now. I still wonder about the hopes and dreams the early inhabitants of those towns used to cherish.....building up a small business, supporting a new school, etc. All gone.
It's not too different from the situation in some UK cities, just a few levels back in the great scheme of things perhaps.