Word: wail
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Even members of Hell's Angels, the roughknuckled, leather-jacketed motorcyclists in Nazi drag, turned up to turn on: some were seen holding lost children or gently shaking tambourines. Not a single fight marred the Be-In, and as the sun went down (to the sullen wail of Ginsberg blowing a conch shell), the forgathered hippies quietly cleared every bit of litter from the park. Officials later said that they had never seen so large a crowd leave so clean a field...
...elusive, bittersweet quality that gives bite to the blues, soulin' is a Rawls specialty. His style is all his own. Drawing from a mixed bag of songs, he improvises effortlessly within a three-octave range, spiraling up to a keening, gospel wail, then swooping down to a gritty, resonant bottom. Betwixt and between, he intersperses rhythmic lick-ety-split soliloquies. He will lead into Streetcorner Hustler's Blues, for example, by telling of a two-timing hippie who pleads with his knife-wielding wife to take his white-on-white Cadillac "butjustdon'tcutmynewsuit'causeljustgotit outofthepawnshopandlgottohavemy-frontsolcankeepmakingmygame...
...half-outraged, half-defensive statement by self-described "gun fanatic" Charles A. Whitman, father of Mass Murderer Charles J. Whitman, that "I raised my boys to know how to handle guns" echoes the plaintive wail of another father, Willy Loman, protagonist of Death of a Salesman, who in exasperation over his son Biff, cries out: "Why is he stealing? What did I tell him? I never in my life told him anything but decent things." Particularly in light of the Austin tragedy, Whitman's utterance seems just as hollow, counterfeit and pathetic as Willy...
...Unfortunately, the plastic sealing rings designed to keep the lubricant in and moisture out were not up to the task, giving the steering and suspension assembly the mechanical equivalent of an arthritic knee. Though no accidents were reported, corrosion in the ball joints could lead first to a pained wail of steel on steel and eventually to loose wheels and a front-end shimmy. Now worn joints will be replaced and tougher sealing rings installed, at Volkswagen's expense...
...much of a rush." When Dr. Fisher advises teen-agers to cut down on foods rich in both fats and sweets-fried foods, ice cream, peanut butter, whole-milk cheeses (as distinct from cottage cheese), nuts and pastries, many of them set up an anguished wail: "Why, that's everything I live on." Dr. Fisher has another, admittedly impractical, prescription for his pimply patients: relax. Their acne, he notes, almost always flares up at such times of stress as high school exams, and two-thirds of them "look better after a carefree summer vacation...