People runnin' everywhere
Don't know where to go
Don't know where I am
Can't see past the next step
Don't have time to think about the last mile
Have no time to look around
Just run around, run around and think why
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care
If so, I can't imagine why
We've all got time enough to cry
~ Robert Lamm (Chicago Transit Authority)
Yeah, I know . . . today's song choice was predictable. Daylight Saving Time began at 2:00 a.m., whether or not you remembered to turn your clocks ahead one hour. ("Fall back, spring ahead.") And yes, while you were sleeping in on a Sunday morning, you lost an hour. Lost. You'll get it back in October, though. There's an adage, attributed to an unnamed Native American, which posits: "Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket."
I am well aware of the controversy regarding this attempt at manipulating time, but I have to admit that I don't mind at all losing sixty minutes when it means that I can enjoy the evening sun an hour longer. Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states that do not abide by DST. I was in Arizona last summer, traveling into Utah. It was a bit confusing, and I do recall feeling the bonus of that extra hour of daylight when we crossed into Utah. So, as silly as moving the hands of time twice a year is, I'm fine with it. I will be on my balcony at 7:30 tonight as the sun goes down.
Chicago Transit Authority released their first album of the same name in 1969, but "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" did not reach its peak popularity until the following year when it reached #7 on the U.S. charts. And the band had to shorten its name when the city informed them that they could not use the CTA moniker. The song remains today as one of their most popular. In case you do not recognize the block of lyrics that I selected, they form the spoken word portion of the song, words that are somewhat obscured by the band's horn section. I chose them because I think they still speak to our hurried culture.
Originally concerned with political and protest songs, Chicago eventually found non-political pop-rock to be more lucrative, so they left the protests behind. Thankfully, there were enough other bands around to keep the cause alive. But "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" presents an existential question, a theme that was certainly popular in the late 60s. Is there really any such thing as time? Isn't it a human invention? A friend and I had a conversation yesterday about wearing a watch. He said that he feels naked without his watch on. I replied that I stopped wearing a watch when I retired. In a teaching career, clocks rule. There's one in every room. Loud, brassy bells ring to announce the time as classes change. Sometimes, I would close my eyes as the bell rang, and the disturbing noise would seem to go on forever. I was happy to leave the clocks behind when my career ended. And although we all have phones that tell us the time all the time, I am happiest when I really have no idea what time it is. And I don't really care.
Enjoy the after-dinner sunset tonight!
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