Pieces of April

Listen while you read:  Pieces of April

April gave us springtime
And the promise of the flowers
And the feeling that we both shared
And a love that we called ours

We knew no time for sadness
That's a road we each had crossed
We were living a time meant for us
And even when it would rain, we would laugh it off

I've got pieces of April
I keep 'em in a memory bouquet
I've got pieces of April
It's a morning in May

~  Dave Loggins (Three Dog Night)

It's an overcast, breezy Sunday, and I am reaching into the way-back machine to bid farewell to April. I used to think this was such a pretty song, but I admit to being slightly disappointed when I found it this morning. I guess it doesn't reach me the way it did when I was twenty-two! But it's still okay, and it allows me to be reflective about my own "pieces of April."

Dave Loggins of Three Dog Night wrote this for the band's November 1972 release, Seven Separate Fools.  (I just realized that was the same month that my father died, perhaps giving me some insight into why the song mattered to me?) Written about his break-up with the "love of my life," Loggins had this to say about it: "May is symbolic of the present. April was, and still remains, a sweet yesterday."

Depends on how you look at it. Politically, there was nothing sweet about this April, unless one considers the ever-growing resistance that provides many of us with hope. That, and what we expect to be revenge for Russian interference in our democracy with the help of certain members of the current administration, is sweet. Wait for it. (Cue The Kinks: "So tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for . . . ")

Today, on the 101st day of this nightmare we have had to endure, let's hope that this jigsaw puzzle soon has the last piece in place to dismantle this dangerous threat to our democracy. The pieces that were put into place in April, especially in regard to Michael Flynn, have allowed a coherent picture to emerge. We can only hope that there are no missing pieces to prevent us from completing the case against him and his co-conspiritors.

Yeah, okay, I admit it . . . I did a jigsaw puzzle yesterday. I'll take whatever distractions I can find.

All We Ever Knew

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/S5cgWCoMSyc

When I wake up in the morning, I see nothing
For miles and miles and miles
When I sleep in the evening, oh lord, there she goes
Only in dreams, she's only in dreams
Well, well, my love, we've been here before
Don't drag me through this again
We tried everything under the sun

Now I'm trying to wake up from this
I'm trying to make up for it
All we ever do is all we ever knew

You don't see why your world has no love to give
Well, what goes around comes around
I know sometimes you get so caught in a dream
But now it's time to wake up from this
It's time to make up for it

I'm feelin' low, I'm feelin' high, feelin' down
Why isn't this enough?

All we ever do is all we ever knew
All we ever do

~ Jonathan Russell (The Head and the Heart)

So the song is in my head when I wake up, then I hear it on my radio, and then, when I start to research it, I find that just the night before, The Head and the Heart performed it on The Late Late Show! So that's the version you are hearing if you click on the link above. The song has been out for almost a year, part of the 2016 release, Signs of Light, so it surprised me to find out how present it is for me today.

If the song sounds familiar to you, it may be because it was featured on Cameron Crowe's Showtime dramedy, Roadies. I don't watch much TV, so I don't know anything about the show. But if it features The Head and the Heart, it must be good?

In explaining the lyrics, Jonathan Russell had this to say: "Everyone's gone through a relationship where things didn't work out. You try it again and it doesn't work out. That feeling of 'Why are we doing this to ourselves? We know it's not going to work out. We've tried it before. Just let it go.'" Hmpff.  Easier said than done?

But I'm choosing to look at this song through a larger lens. All we ever do is all we ever knew. In how many ways do we get stuck in our own ruts? How many times do we retreat to our own bubbles? Why are solutions so hard to come by? Why do we resist change? Sometimes it's arrogance and ignorance, but sometimes it's tenacity and faith. In terms of the polarization of our nation, I'd say it's all of those things. I don't claim to have any answers, except maybe the age-old wisdom that love is the answer. (See "All You Need Is Love," "What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love," "Imagine," "Give Me Love, Give Me Peace on Earth," "Love Train," "One Love," "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?" etc.) Yep, love is the answer.

Maybe we've just forgotten the question.

The Trees Are All Gone

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/GRKHTXCoJOk

The glaciers near the polar cap have all begin to melt
Temperatures are on the rise far from the southern belt

Water levels shifting tides on every changing land
Rain forests in the Amazon have vanished from our hand

And the trees are all gone
Yeah, you know it's all wrong
And the trees are all gone

The people want to eat today, and so they clear the land
Global warming is a concept they can't understand

But all the politicians now, they have no excuse
They just hide behind their power and keep us from the truth

Man has tried his suicide with bigotry and hate
But in the end he'll kill himself with nothing but his waste

What will finally happen when the farm lands turn to dust?
When only rich receive the food and nothing's left for us?

And the trees are all gone
Yeah, you know it's all wrong
And the trees are all gone

~  Roger McGuinn

It's so exhausting. Every day, a new assault on the environment. Yesterday's news informed us that a signed executive order asks that the Department of the Interior review all national monument designations of 100,000 acres or more since January of 1996 to determine if they can be altered or nullified. One such monument on the list is the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument in Utah. I've been there. It's beautiful. To imagine it developed into shopping malls or factories or anything just goes against any respect for the landscape of America. Also on the list is Giant Sequoia National Monument in California which includes 34 groves of those ancient trees. I have not been there, but I have seen sequoias in Yosemite and I have been in several Redwood groves. My belief is that no one should exit this life without having walked through a grove of these giants. To do so is one of the most peaceful and mind-altering experiences one could ever have.

Roger McGuinn (whom you remember from The Byrds) wrote this song a quarter of a century ago. It appears on Back From Rio. I think the lyrics speak for themselves. What more is there to say? We are watching the destruction of the environment unfold before us every single day. To what end? So the rich can become richer? Is that all there is?

I'm sorry, I'm too exhausted to say anything else. Wait. Oh, yeah . . .

Happy Arbor Day.

Jedediah Smith Redwood Forest CA 2008

My Old Neighborhood

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/l0APXPF0dZY

Let's go back in time to that childhood of mine
To where the gypsies parked their cars
Beneath the bridge we'd hide
Down river banks we'd slide
Under those English summer stars

I wonder what became of those kids I knew the names of
I still got a deep love for my old neighborhood
Did I just see an old ghost hide behind a lamppost?
Been talking to the fine folks in my old neighborhood

So take my hand, let's go where memory's rivers flow
And every footstep rings a bell
And in those deep dark woods my childhood memory floods
So be my witness as I tell

~  James Maddock

Gingerville. Comprised of the Lower Road, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Streets, Maple Avenue, and Chestnut, Walnut, and Sycamore Streets. This was my neighborhood. Its name derives, so the folklore goes, from a milkman's horse named Ginger. But that was before my time. I was born smack in the middle of the 20th century, one of the early Baby Boomers. And my neighborhood was full of them.

James Maddock grew up in England, but his sentimentality about his neighborhood is universal. This sweet song appears on The Green, his 2015 release. I saw Maddock a few years ago, and he was very personable and accessible, the kind of man who would have an appreciation for the children he grew up with in his neighborhood.

I wonder what became of those kids I knew the names of? Well, I do happen to know what became of many of them, thanks to social media. David, Linda, Ford and Jane. Lynne, Bob and Stephen. The Steffener twins. Tommy, Tony, Ellen, Liz, Mike, and Sandy. Richard, Robert, Danny and Phil. They're all alive and well in my Facebook world. Peggy, Joanne, Celeste and Judith are still alive in my heart, although they've left this earth.

I recently received a "friend request" from someone who lived at the other end of my street. Joanne was a few years younger than I, so I didn't know her well. But I remembered something that happened at her house all those decades ago. As a way to bully Joanne's older brother, some of the bad boys in town (my cousin included) caught and killed dozens of frogs and scattered their bloodied bodies all over Joanne's front yard. This was, perhaps, the beginning of my loss of innocence. Riding my bike down the street to view the carnage, I was conflicted in how I was supposed to react. Was this "cool" or cruel? Based on how sickened I felt, I knew in my gut that it was the latter. But my 8-year-old self said nothing.

In accepting Joanne's recent friend request, I apologized for the behavior of those boys. It's never too late.

But that was an isolated incident. My memories of Gingerville are flooded with good things. Roller-skating on the concrete foundation across from the Daileys' house, sleigh-riding in the fields behind Maple (dubbed "Yankee Stadium.") Riding two-wheelers as part of the Gingerville Bicycle Club, playing "Cucaracha," a hide 'n seek game played at twilight. Holding backyard circuses and puppet shows to raise money for candy. Watching our fathers "lay hose" on the Lower Road in preparation for The Firemen's Parade in October. Trick or Treat and the Halloween Parade. Placing pennies on the railroad tracks to be flattened by the freight trains, whose engineers blasted their horns at us when we pulled our arms up and down. Stepping on tar bubbles on our way to the GLF to buy nickel ice pops.

I lean on a memory that I thought was all gone
A memory that seemed to be long gone
But here it is, as vivid as a sunny day

Gingerville. My old neighborhood.

Gingerville Kids

Mercury Blues

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/URm7Ze9a56o

If I had money, I tell you what I'd do
I'd go downtown and buy a Mercury or two
I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

The girl I love, I stole her from a friend
He got lucky, stole her back again
'Cause she knew he had a Mercury
She knew he had a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

Hey now, Mama, you look so fine
Ridin' 'round in your Mercury 49
I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

My baby went out, she didn't stay long
She bought herself a Mercury, come a-cruisin' home
I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road

~  Douglass / Geddins (David Lindley & El Rayo-X)

So sometimes it's funny how I find a song. I try to connect the song choice to something that is happening either in my world or the world-at-large. In my world today, I got an oil change on my VW. Exciting. Googling "songs about VWs" wasn't bringing anything up, so I started thinking about cars I've owned. Went back to my first car, a 1966 Mercury Comet Capri. Which I got in 1972. It was a piece of shit. Actually, my father picked it out. I paid for it, but I think it was in his name. (A year later and one week before he died, I replaced it with a brand-spankin'-new 1973 red Ford Mustang.) Anyway, this Mercury never wanted to start on cold winter days. I was student teaching in Bumblefuck, Pennsylvania, and there were many mornings when I had to hitchhike to the school because my car would not start. Nonetheless, it was my very first car, so it holds a special place. I think.

"Mercury Blues" has been recorded by several artists, but my first exposure to it was David Lindley and El Rayo-Ex. I knew of David Lindley because he has played with Jackson Browne many times and he is amazing. His version of the song just makes me want to hop in my car and drive! In fact, it is my #1 road trip song. And given that I have five CDs packed with road trip songs, that's saying something.

Ford Motor Company stopped making Mercurys in 2010. So you cannot go downtown and buy a Mercury or two. Sorry. But it doesn't matter what kind of car you drive, this song will make you want to get out and drive it. Go ahead, do it. Drive without a destination. No trip to the Acme, no picking up one of your kids, no doctor appointment. Just drive for the sake of driving. Preferably, drive on a back road and go over the speed limit. (Watch out for the possums!) Put the top down or open the windows. Turn the music up loud! And SING! Sing along with David Lindley.

You feel better now, don't you? You're welcome.

(Mine was green.)

Reboot the Mission

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/hZMt6a4SeR8

Where you're going has no signs
And you're not going in a straight line
You ought to have me on your mind
I dare you to think otherwise

One day the water, more water
You keep diving and you won't be recovered
You need a clue, I'll come in closer
I want to tell you, you've had it coming

Eyes on the prize, reboot the mission
I've lost my sight, but not the vision
. . . 

No matter how you use it, which way you swing
Even the longest day at some point ends
I'll throw your shoes off, hat in the ring
Show me a hook shot, the whole thing

~  Jakob Dylan (The Wallflowers, featuring Mick Jones)

When I first heard this song five years ago, I was immediately thrown back a couple of decades to the music of The Clash (the only band that matters). And sure enough, that's Mick Jones' distinctive sound on the recording. That was no accident. Jakob Dylan wrote the song deliberately trying to capture that reggae-infused addictive music and then asked Mick Jones, after the fact, if he would play on it. Jones obliged. The song appears on 2012's Glad All Over, the first Wallflowers' release in seven years.

Dylan, who grew up listening to The Clash, makes no secret of tipping his hat to the influential band. Welcome Jack, the new drummer / He jammed with the mighty Joe Strummer. (Jack Irons, the drummer, did not play with The Clash, but he drummed for Strummer on his 1989 solo effort, Earthquake Weather. But really, how convenient is it that "drummer" rhymes with "Strummer"?) "Reboot the Mission" has been compared to "The Magnificent Seven," a Clash masterpiece.

It is interesting to note that Dylan wrote the lyrics after the song had already been arranged by the band. I always assumed that it worked the other way around, and perhaps it usually does. It may explain why some of the lyrics, at least to me, do not make great sense. (I've left those out above; you can google them yourself if you are interested.)

I have a tendency these days to study lyrics through the lens of the current political climate. In my imagination, the song is being addressed to a leader, one who is screwing things up. Of course, that was not Dylan's intention, but nonetheless, I am ready for the mission to be rebooted. I have not lost the vision.

One day soon, I hope to say to that screw-up leader, "You've had it coming."

One Little Song

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/UbnZMbes0vE

There's gotta be a song left to sing
'Cause everybody can't have thought of everything
One little song that ain't been sung
One little rag that ain't been wrung out completely yet
Just got a little left

One little drop of fallin' rain, one little chance to try again
One little bird that makes it home now and then
One little piece of endless sky, one little taste of cherry pie
One little week in paradise, and I start thinkin'

There's gotta be a song left to sing
'Cause everybody can't have thought of everything
One little note that ain't been used
One little word ain't been abused a thousand times
In a thousand rhymes

One little drop of fallin' rain, one little chance to try again
One little bird that makes it home now and then
One little piece of endless sky, one little taste of cherry pie
One little week in paradise, and I start thinkin'

There's gotta be a song left to sing
'Cause everybody can't have thought of everything
One little song that ain't been sung
One little rag that ain't been wrung out completely yet
'Til there's nothing left

~ Gillian Welch

Whenever this song comes on my shuffle, I am reminded once again of its simple beauty. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, partners in music and life, released Soul Journey in 2003. I was a newly-grieving widow at the time, and this song, for me, was a song of hope. It still is.

I don't have a lot to say about it; the song speaks for itself. The takeaway, for me at least, is to look to the small things for a reason to continue. Yes, the world seems to be falling apart, but outside my window, the white ibis take off as one in a breathtaking ascent into the blue sky. When the sky turns gray, an obliging earth soaks up the gentle rain, and moments later, a silvery brightness returns, more glorious for its reflection in the gathering puddles. The Muscovy ducks waddle to them and continue their simple existence, free of any disturbance in the world.

And the music! Where would we be without music? Without dance and art and theater? Without museums and comedy and sport and adventure? Without gardens and wildflowers and forests? There are so many ways to distract ourselves from the fear of nuclear annihilation. There are songs left to sing. Listen to this one again, but this time, sing along.

Then go get yourself some cherry pie. 'Til there's nothing left.

Early Morning Rain

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/1pqttl9aWm0

In the early morning rain with a dollar in my hand
With an aching in my heart and my pockets full of sand
I'm a long way from home, and I miss my loved one so
In the early morning rain with no place to go

Out on runway #9, big 707 set to go
Well, I'm stuck here on the grass where the pavement never grows
Where the liquor tasted good, and all the women all were fast
There, there she goes, my friend, she's rolling down at last

Hear the mighty engines roar, see the silver wing on high
She's away and westward bound; far above the clouds she'll fly
Where the morning rain don't fall, and the sun always shines
She'll be flying over my home in about three hours time

This old airport's got me down; it's no damn good to me
And I'm stuck here on the ground as cold and drunk as I can be
Can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So I best be on my way in the early morning rain

~  Gordon Lightfoot

You guessed it. I woke up to rain this morning, a much-needed rain here in south Florida. And then, because the music gods sometimes like to make things easy for me, my guy's iTunes shuffle offered this song. "Bob Dylan," I said. "Gordon Lightfoot," he replied. And he was right. I just hadn't gone back far enough, to 1965 when the song was released on Lightfoot! (although Judy Collins sang it first on her Fifth Album). Bob didn't record it until 1970 on Self-Portrait. Others who have recorded it include Ian & Sylvia, Peter, Paul & Mary, Elvis Presley, The Grateful Dead, and Paul Weller. I guess it's the Dylan version that stands out for me. But with all due credit to Gordon, the link above will offer you his version.

There's a plane in the song, and as coincidence would have it, today I am determined to book our flights out to Seattle for our summer road trip. Playing the airline fares game is exhausting, and with no new deals showing up in the last two weeks, we are ready to bite the bullet and pay through the nose, simply because we can't start booking hotels until we know our flight dates and times. One would think that a certain airline (one of only two that offer non-stops from EWR to SEA) would be lowering prices to win back customers who'd jumped on the boycott wagon a couple of weeks ago. But apparently not. Of course, we all know how this will end; 25 hours after I book, a lower fare will appear.

Back to the rain. The expectation is 2"-3" today. As lovely as the rain sounds and smells here in this lush environment, I would prefer not to be driving on the Interstate during the downpours, despite wanting to be back to my place before dark. Florida roads can gather several inches of flash flooding in a very short time, and I am not an experienced driver under those conditions. So I will wait it out. I'm not complaining, though. The company is good where I am, and booking those flights together will alleviate the stress of that decision-making. And then, on to the lodging search!

And of course, I am putting my request in to the weather gods for a minimal amount of rain on my summer road trip. We'll see how that works out.

(Nothing But) Flowers

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/c3t5nmgRVMs

Years ago, I was an angry young man
And I'd pretend that I was a billboard
Standing tall by the side of the road
I fell in love with a beautiful highway
This used to be real estate
Now it's only fields and trees
Where, where is the town
Now it's nothing but flowers
The highway and cars were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we'd start over, but I guess I was wrong

Once there was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
You got it, you got it

I miss the honky tonks
Dairy Queens and 7-Elevens
You got it, you got it

And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
You got it, you got it

~  David Byrne (Talking Heads)

Happy Earth Day!

Okay, I had to go back nearly three decades for this one. Which only goes to show that we have been aware of the environmental threats to our planet for a long time now. And with this current administration, we seem to be going backward. I don't think Earth Day has ever been this important.

This song appears on 1988's Naked. In it, a post apocalyptic world is described, highlighting the protagonist's conflict between the beauty of the natural world and the convenience of modern technology. But Byrne messes with our heads by bemoaning the loss of the commercialized abuse of the land and the return of the natural one. It proposes the opposite of what is, in actuality, happening. Kind of like a "Big Yellow Taxi" in reverse. Very clever. I do have to admit, however, that I wonder if some will even catch the irony.

There was a factory
Now there are mountains and rivers
You got it, you got it

There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
You've got it, you've got it

I am currently living in the land of shopping, most of it high-end. My participation is minimal. How much "stuff" can any one person consume? To what end? We are a country driven by consumerism. I have never been able to wrap my head around where all the garbage goes. Conversely, few things make me happier than finding a good home for "stuff" that I no longer want or need. Doing so is hard work, but well worth it. (Anybody looking for a set of Pfaltzgraff Christmas dishes? How about some Disney VHS tapes? A 40-gallon aquarium, anybody?)

Don't leave me stranded here.
I can't get used to this lifestyle.

Which lifestyle would you want to get used to? One that honors the Earth? Or one that has the power to destroy it? If I am correctly predicting your answer, do something to honor the Earth today.

You Might Be Wrong

Listen while you read: https://youtu.be/PDMnCcpI4V8

Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jews
Got their own version of the truth
There's a line in the sand, there's a war going on
They forgot to remember you might be wrong

Carry your faith everywhere you go
Mix it with love and let it show
But keep your mind open as you move along
And always remember you might be wrong

Why do we argue? Why do we fight?
Everybody thinks God's on their side
Count to ten before you throw a stone
Whatever you believe, you might be wrong

Don't cut me off, don't say we're through
Just because I don't agree with you
You see flowers grow where seeds of love are sown
You could be right; you might be wrong

What's on the other side of life?
I won't know until the day I die
If you feel insecure, you are not alone
Everybody knows you might be wrong

~  Paul Thorn

If you're reading this in the evening, I will be in the audience at a funky outdoor venue in south Florida, listening to Paul Thorn. He is somewhat new to me, so I've been researching his story and listening to some of his songs, and I am so excited to see him perform! His 2010 release Pimps & Preachers is full of rootsy wisdom, including that found in the featured song here.

The son of a Pentecostal preacher, Thorn grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi. He learned religion, love and compassion from his father, but he also learned a thing or two from his uncle (the pimp) who taught him about women. He also taught the young Thorn how to box, which resulted in Thorn being ranked 28th in the world as a middleweight boxer before giving it up and pursuing his other love, music.

Thorn worked in a chair factory by day and sang his songs in clubs at night. A Southern storyteller, his consistent themes are sin, salvation and survival, presented with a questioning twist. Thorn was discovered by Sting's manager, Miles Copeland, and played his first concert in front of 14,000 people in Nashville, opening for Sting.

No Depression, an online journal of roots music, has a great story on Thorn, which you can find here: http://nodepression.com/interview/paul-thorns-lessons-learned-pimps-and-preachers. It's a good read.

I'm sure it came as no surprise to you that "You Might Be Wrong" would appeal to an agnostic like me. But even if you are passionate about your spiritual beliefs, there is wisdom in the lyrics, wisdom that the whole world would benefit from heeding.

I bet you liked this song. 
But then again, I might be wrong.

It's All Gone to Pot

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/A6c6eUeoa9Q

Well, it's all gone to pot
Whether we like it or not
The best I can tell
The world's gone to hell
And we're sure gonna miss it a lot

All of the whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee
It just couldn't hit the spot
I got a hundred dollar bill
Friend, you can keep your pills
'Cause it's all going to pot

That cackle-bobble-head-in-a-box
Must think I'm dumb as a rock
Readin' daily news
While I'm kickin' off my shoes
It's scarin' me outta my socks

The Red-Headed Stranger I'm not
But Buddy, let me tell you what
If you ask ol' Will
He'll tell ya here's the deal
Friends, it's all going to pot

~  Johnson / Cannon / Shell (for Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard)

I just spent a couple of hours deciding what song to do today, 4/20. There was even a site that listed 420 songs about marijuana. Seriously. Why did I settle on Willie's song? If you don't know, you have not been paying attention. (I also seriously considered Willie's signature "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.") Anyway, the story of how April 20 became a day to celebrate cannabis is an interesting one that involves Louis Pasteur, Where's Waldo, and a bunch of California kids. You can google it if you're curious.

"It's All Gone to Pot" was released on April 20, 2015 (of course!) on Django & Jimmie, a Willy Nelson / Merle Haggard collaboration. Merle didn't quite make it to the following year's 4/20 celebration, dying on April 6, 2016. Willy, of course, is still with us. I've seen Willie in concert a few times, and in recent years, he kind of looks half-dead on stage. That is either because he is stoned (most likely) or because he will turn 84 later this month (god-willin' and the creek don't rise).

My intention is not to get up on my pedestal to try to convince you that marijuana should be legalized.  I already did that in my February 25th post on Ben Harper's "Burn One Down," inspired by recently confirmed Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions' agenda.

But today's editorial in the (NJ) Star Ledger is titled "Sessions Aims to Revive Failed War on Drugs."

"He's setting the stage for a crackdown on marijuana, which is against federal law but legalized by many states, because he thinks it's 'only slightly less awful' than heroin -- which causes tens of thousands of deaths annually. Pot? Zero. Martinis? Somewhere in between." How angry does it make you that Sessions' exaggerated opinion should trump (word intended) the opinion of the 71% of Americans who do not want a federal crackdown on marijuana?

Okay, I'm stepping off the pedestal I said I would not get up on.

This installment will post at 4:00 this afternoon. Twenty minutes later, I will chill in honor of the day. I hope there's a happy hour in your afternoon, too.

Any Road

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/mFblhcQjKeY

Oh, I've been traveling on a boat and a plane
In a car, on a bike, with a bus and a train
Traveling there and traveling here
Everywhere in every gear

But, oh, Lord, we pay the price
With a spin of a wheel and the roll of a dice
Oh, yeah, you pay your fare
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

And I've been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future through the space and the time
Traveling deep beneath the waves
In watery grottoes and mountainous caves

But, oh, Lord, we've got to fight
With the thoughts in the head, with the dark and the light
No use to stop and stare
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

~  George Harrison

This song, written in 1988, was released posthumously on Brainwashed in 2002, one year after Harrison's death. Unable to finish the recording, his son Dhani completed it. Dhani says that the inspiration came when he and his father were on a beach in Hawaii and came upon a sign: If the wind blows, you can always adjust your sails, but if you don't know where you're going, then any road will take you there. (Other sources suggest the inspiration came from a scene in Alice in Wonderland.)

As I was working on this post, my friend Nora posted one of those little Facebook challenges. It was Lonely Planet's list of the 100 Best Cities in the World. Nora's been to 27 of them. I counted only 21 for me. (Fair enough, Nora is older than I, so I have time to catch up!) As grateful as I am for the traveling I've done, my age keeps reminding me that time is running out. Could I possibly visit 79 cities in the time I have left?

But it's not really the cities that I want to see (although it would be really sad if I died never having been to Paris). While museums and art galleries and restaurants and taverns/pubs/bars/saloons/taprooms/roadhouses are great, I am drawn to the landscapes. I want to see the rivers and canyons, the mountains and mesas, the forests and glens, the deserts and valleys, the oceans and fiords, the glaciers and rainforests. I want to see the planet.

Behind my computer, spread out on this table, are maps and tour books. There is a road trip being planned, one that will take me places I have never been. I will travel by plane, by car, and by ferry. If I plan it right, I might travel by balloon, by gondola, by boat, and who knows, maybe by zipline.  (I have ziplined before in Costa Rica. I got "stuck" 20' out from the landing deck! It was a bit scary.)

I've been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth, by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face, in the ice and the snow

See what you can of the world, while you can. Any road will take you there.

The News

Listen while you read:  http://lyrics365days.blogspot.com/2017/04/lives-in-balance.html

People started caring about what they eat
And people started smiling at everyone they meet
And people started looking for good instead of bad
Realize what they could lose in what they always had

People started growing, instead of being crushed
And people started slowing down instead of being rushed
And people started looking with very different eyes
And all this information now comes as a surprise

Good morning, here's the news, and all of it is good
Good evening, here's the news, and all of it is good
And the weather's good!

People started calling those in power to account
And people started saying, "I want my voice to count!"
And people started learning that they don't need to fight
And they control their future and try to make it right

And people started feeling that better's on the way
And people started feeling some peace and calm today
And people started liking the way the good life feels
And every precious moment becoming what is real

Good morning, here's the news, and all of it is good
Good evening, here's the news, and all of it is good
And the weather's good!

~  Mick Jones & Tony James (Carbon/Silicon)

If you listened to the song linked above, let me guess . . . you were tapping your fingernails on the table or your feet on the floor. Am I right? Quite catchy, yes? Already a decade old, "The News" was the hit song on Carbon/Silicon's The Last Post. Carbon/Silicon is Mick Jones (of The Clash) and Tony James. Their name comes from their chemistry: carbon, the human element, comes from the soul of Mick Jones, and silicon, the computer element, comes from Tony James' computers. Ah, the science of rock and roll!

I am a news junkie. No, I do not have CNN on all day long, nor do I listen to NPR in my car. Two online newspapers every morning (The Star Ledger and The Palm Beach Post), several legitimate journalists in my Facebook newsfeed (Dan Rather, Bill Moyers), and evenings spent with Chris, Rachel and Lawrence on MSNBC. Is it too much? I ask myself that question often. But since I started waking up every morning with "What did he do (or tweet or mispronounce or evade or insult or lie about or fuck up) today?" in my head, I am unable to divorce myself from my news sources. This obsession with the news is wearing me down. And who is responsible for the resulting ennui or malaise or plain old feeling like crap? I'm pretty sure you know.

Don't even get me started on "fake news."

So what if the news was all good? I have to admit that I would likely stop paying attention. I am not proud to admit that. Am I only attracted to bad news? Or is it just that without bad news, I would seek out my own good news instead of relying on that of others? Pessimistically, I don't see much good news in the near future, so I may never have the answer to that.

Mick Jones said this about the song: "It was a fantasy, a dream, a crackpot theory. I wish it could be true. I believe so much that we're facing a barrage of negativity, continually, on all levels. We got to speak up, but I don't want our music to bum anybody out. I want to do music that's joyous and lifts your spirits in some way."

Listen again and let your fingers and toes tap away. Repeat as needed. Feel your spirits lifting? You're welcome!

Lives in the Balance

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/Ms5J2U_ySdI

I've been waiting for something to happen

For a week or a month or a year

With the blood in the ink of the headlines

And the sound of the crowd in my ear

You might ask what it takes to remember

When you know that you've seen it before

Where a government lies to a people

And a country is drifting to war

And there's a shadow on the faces

Of the men who send the guns

To the wars that are fought in places

Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the T.V.

You hear one thing again and again

How the U.S.A. stands for freedom

And we come to the aid of a friend

But who are the ones that we call our friends

These governments killing their own?

Or the people who finally can't take any more

And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone

There are lives in the balance

There are people under fire

There are children at the cannons

And there is blood on the wire

There's a shadow on the faces

Of the men who fan the flames

Of the wars that are fought in places

Where we can't even say the names

They sell us the President the same way

They sell us our clothes and our cars

They sell us every thing from youth to religion

The same time they sell us our wars

I want to know who the men in the shadows are

I want to hear somebody asking them why

They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are

But they're never the ones to fight or to die

And there are lives in the balance

There are people under fire

There are children at the cannons

And there is blood on the wire

~  Jackson Browne

Yesterday I was telling a friend about what I recall is the first big concert I took my son to. It was October 13, 2004. Sam, who'd lost his father less than two years earlier, was twelve. Dear friends Jim and Lois took my kids and me to Continental Airlines Arena (now called The Meadowlands) in East Rutherford NJ for the next-to-the-last "Vote for Change" concert. Election Day was looming ahead, and most of us felt pretty confident that John Kerry would win over George W. Bush. Well, that didn't happen. But 19,800 people gathered at the Arena to make some noise about war, about freedom, about what America is supposed to be. We listened to Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, John Fogerty, and Jackson Browne.

We had nosebleed seats, and I remember that Sam, unaccustomed to these large venues, was a little dizzy climbing up to our seats. But the more important memory that I retain from that event over a dozen years ago was that Sam was really moved by Jackson's performance of "Lives in the Balance." He was a twelve-year-old kid, and he got it.

"Lives in the Balance" appears on the album of the same name, released in 1986. While Jackson was writing lyrics against the Reagan agenda and specifically, the conflict in Nicaragua, it should be obvious to you that these lyrics could as easily be applied to our conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the current state of affairs in this country.

My parents both served in WWII. My two nephews also served, one of them as a member of the 82nd Airborne, the other in Desert Storm. While I respect and honor their service, I have never been understanding of war. I'm a liberal, peace-loving, hippie dove. We are all familiar with the sobering statistic of 58,220 deaths of U.S. soldiers in the Vietnam War. The war in Afghanistan claimed 20,904 deaths, and the Iraq War claimed another 36,710. And here we are, saber-rattling again, dropping the Mother of All Bombs in Afghanistan, threatening North Korea, "sending a message" to Assad in Syria with 59 Tomahawk missiles. When (and where and how) does it all end?

In 2018, there will be another opportunity to "Vote for Change" in the mid-term elections. My prayer is that change will come. Because there are, indeed, lives in the balance.

Hallelujah

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/y8AWFf7EAc4

Well, I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?
Well, it goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah . . .

Well, your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips, she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah . . . 

But, baby, I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
You know, I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah . . . 

Maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

~  Leonard Cohen

I do not practice any religion, and I do not celebrate Easter.  But today is Easter Sunday, and it seems appropriate to look for some serenity and reflection in the day. "Hallelujah" does that for me. Written in 1984, Cohen's song was originally 80 verses long! For inclusion on his Various Positions, it was pared down to the handful of verses we know today, although various performers have added in up to 15 others from the original 80. The most famous (and arguably the best) version is Jeff Buckley's 1994 live version from his Grace album, which is the one linked above. Buckley's death in 1997 precluded him from knowing how popular his effort would become.

In keeping with the religious theme of the day, Bible scholars will recognize a few Biblical characters in the verses, notably King David, Bathsheba, Delilah, and Mary, mother of Jesus. But Cohen was not  focusing on traditional religion. "'Hallelujah' is a Hebrew word that means 'Glory to the Lord.' The song explains that many kinds of Hallelujahs do exist. I say all the perfect and broken Hallelujahs have an equal value. It's a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way, but with enthusiasm, with emotion."

Buckley goes even further in his distinction of the song as secular. "Whoever listens carefully to 'Hallelujah' will discover that it is a song about sex, about love, about life on earth. The Hallelujah is not a homage to a worshipped person, idol, or god, but the Hallelujah of the orgasm. It's an ode to life and love."

The most recent noted performance of the song was on a post-election Saturday Night Live. Kate McKinnon, who entertained us every week with her Hillary Clinton impersonation, sat at a piano for a cold open of the show and sang the song to us. Given that Leonard Cohen had died a few days earlier, the performance easily brought the tears. I recall not recognizing one of the verses and assumed that McKinnon had penned the lines in the voice of Hillary. In researching this post, I saw that indeed, the verse is one of Cohen's original ones.

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool ya
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

At the song's conclusion, McKinnon looked directly at the camera and said, "I'm not giving up, and neither should you." Her comment resonates with Cohen's own assessment of his song: "This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled. But there are moments when we can reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that's what I mean by 'Hallelujah.'"

And Cohen also said this, when asked what he thought about the song: "I think it's a good song, but I think too many people sing it."

I hope your day, however you spent it or celebrated it, brought you joy and peace.

Masters of War

Listen while you read:  https://vimeo.com/10724030

Come, you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
That I see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the last bullets fly
. . . 

You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
. . . 

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness?
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

~  Bob Dylan

It's hard to believe that The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan came out in 1963. "Masters of War," a protest against the building escalation in Vietnam, is still relevant today, five and a half decades later. The reference to the mansion is particularly creepy. The decision to drop 59 Tomahawk missiles on an airbase in Syria was made during dinner in a mansion last week. Waxing poetic over the chocolate cake being served for dessert (which, I know, is an insult to poets), the man in charge of such decision-making told his interviewer how he informed the President of China, Xi Jinping (who was, he pointed out, enjoying the cake), that he just dropped the 59 missiles on . . . IRAQ! The interviewer had to correct him! "Syria?" she questioned. Oh, yeah, Syria. Who knew how complicated keeping track of foreign adversaries is?

I'm sorry, Readers, I'm losing it now. And I'm not alone. We are in deep-shit trouble. This man is a fucking idiot, and I think you all know it. If you voted for him, admit your error and join the resistance! He WILL be taken down sooner or later, and the sooner it happens, the greater our chances of avoiding WWIII.

I know it's the weekend, and I know I said I would lighten up, so I will leave it here. On Easter Eve, let me just add the last verse of Dylan's song:

But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Love on the Weekend

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/8Kp75llRF78

It's a Friday, we finally made it
I can't believe I get to see your face
You've been working and I've been waiting
To pick you up and take you from this place

Love on the weekend
Like only we can
I'm coming up and I'm loving every minute of it

You be the deejay, I'll be the driver
You put your feet up in the getaway car
I'm flying fast like a wanted man
I want you, baby, like you can't understand

~  John Mayer

Okay, this was a heavy week, blog-wise. Time to lighten up! This new one from John Mayer fits the bill. Released last November, the song teases a new album coming soon. Mayer has been touring with Dead & Company and has not released anything on his own in nearly three years. I got to see him play with Dead & Company on a large screen pay-per-view, and he was excellent. But now he's back to his original M.O.

Various reviews of this song refer to it as "a guitar-pop gem," "a mellow soft-rock tune," "all warmth and wanderlust," and "a simple pop song." Um, these are not compliments. But that's because Mayer is capable of so much more. And I suppose there's a sense of "give the people what they want" going on here. Everybody loves a little love song. And here it is.

I've been retired for years, so every day is a weekend, right? Well, no. It is amazing how programmed we can be. I can be content on my own Monday through Friday, but if it's a weekend and I don't have a plan, I get the blues. So silly! But lucky for me, I do have somebody to love on the weekend. And by the time this post appears this afternoon, I will be "loving every minute of it." The weekend will include a happy hour or two, some live music, late breakfasts, frisbee with the dogs, ice cream, maybe a boat ride, and just the sweet comfort of being loved.

I'm looking for a little love
I'm looking for a little love, oh yeah
Love on the weekend

Holy Shit

Listen while you read:  http://dai.ly/x3mk77j

Ancient holy wars
Dead religions, holocausts
New regimes, old ideas
That's now myth, that's now real

Original sin, genetic fate
Revolutions, spinning plates
It's important to stay informed
The commentary to comment on

Oh, and no one ever really knows you and life is brief
So I've heard, but what's that gotta do with this black hole in me?

Age-old gender roles
Infotainment, capital
Golden bows and mercury
Bohemian nightmare, dust bowl chic

This documentary's lost on me
Satirical news, free energy
Mobile lifestyle, loveless sex
Independence, happiness

~  Father John Misty (Josh Tillman)

When Father John Misty gave his dramatic performance of this song on The Late Show in January 2016, Stephen Colbert did not introduce the song by name. I hope I have not offended anyone on this, Holy Thursday, by not bleeping out the title of the post. It's just a word. I bet you've even said it once or twice yourself. So strange how society selects what obscenities to be outraged by.

Before he became Father John Misty, Josh Tillman was the drummer for Fleet Foxes, and that's how I first became aware of him and his music. In 2012, after a four-year run with the Foxes, Tillman reinvented himself, something he seems to do often. His 2015 release, I Love You, Honeybear, on which you can find "Holy Shit," was met with critical acclaim, which appears to also be the case with his recent release, Pure Comedy.

As for "Holy Shit," Paste Magazine calls it "a scathing look at everything wrong with society today and a genuine wonderment as to why all of that matters." Although the song was released before last year's Presidential election, Misty remains troubled by our society, our culture, and our priorities. I cannot argue with him on that. I think many of us are aware of that "black hole" inside us. And Misty makes no bones about his shock and despair in this new political climate. At a post-election concert in Camden NJ, he lectured the audience before walking off the stage after a twenty-minute performance, clearly distraught about the election results. As Shane Ryan of Paste says, "We need somebody to poke us and prod us, even if it pisses us off." Complacency is not okay.

"Tillman has severe depression and anxiety and currently self-medicates with micro-doses of LSD," according to Wikipedia. For a fascinating look at the mind of Father John Misty, read the March 30, 2017 interview by Dorian Lynskey in The Guardian. (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/30/father-john-misty-josh-tillman-pure-comedy-interview)
The man is a tortured genius.

Oh, and love is just an institution based on human frailty
What's your paradise gotta do with Adam and Eve?
Maybe love is just an economy based on resource scarcity
But what I fail to see is what that's gotta do with you and me

Head On (Hold On To Your Heart)

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/kI1PWcTe0W4

There's a knock at your door
You don't even recognize the stranger
It's you from before
Tryin' to warn you about all the dangers
There's a hole in your head
At least that's what everybody's guessing
It's why you're always misread
It's why you sleep but you never feel rested
You never get your rest in

Hold on to your heart
Hold it high above flood waters
Hold on to your heart
Never let nobody drag it under
Hold on to your heart
Even when your body's bitter
Hold on to your heart
Never let nobody take it over
Ever take it over, ever take it over from you

~  Powell, Medders, Hunt (for Man Man)

I don't know much about this Philadelphia "experimental band," Man Man, but I like this song a lot. It appears on their 2013 release On Oni Pond. In one of those serendipitous moments when I was trying to come up with a song for a friend's birthday, "Head On" came on the radio. I immediately knew that I'd found my song.

So this one is for my dear friend Bill who has a heart as big as the moon. Keep holding on to it, Bill.

If you are a regular follower of this blog, you will recall that I visited Bill in North Carolina last month after not having seen him in several years. We had a great visit, a lot of storytelling, laughing, and a bit of crying. Bill has been diagnosed with ALS and is dealing with the limitations that disease has placed upon him. In one of the first stories he told on my visit, Bill recalled a time when he and I were consulting the Ouija board and asked it when we would die. (How brave and careless we were then!) Ouija told him that he would live to be 69. Bill turns 68 today.

I am grateful that I do not remember what Ouija told me about my own mortality.

There's a call on the phone
You don't even recognize the number
It's an old episode of trying to put the lightening 
On the monster of the life you have led that is always a mess
Are you dreaming of death?
Are there ghosts in your chest?
Are you always so restless? Yes, you are
Is that hard?

Of course it's hard. But Bill faces it with the same childlike giggle and eye-winking humor that I have always expected from him. But one cannot be fooled by his demeanor. Underneath that innocence is a wealth of experience, good and bad, and a hell of a lot of wisdom. I can never forget the two maxims that Bill offered to me when we were teens. One was this: "That's drag racing. You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out." (Never mind if you recall that one being about baseball. If Bill says it's drag racing, it's drag racing.) My guess is that Bill is just waiting for the skies to clear.

The other one? "No matter where you go, there you are." I don't know where Bill is going . . . or when, despite the Ouija's prediction . . . but I know that he will be in good company! For today, I want to celebrate 68 years of one of the best human beings I've ever known.

Happy Birthday, Bill! And hold on to your beautiful heart for awhile longer. XO

Black & White

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/tAew5UOQXkY

See myself in black and white
It isn't done, it isn't right
See it there before my eyes
It's a sorry song, a sorry sight

You sunk your teeth, you're in me deep
I couldn't sing, I couldn't sleep
Beat your chest with both your hands
For all I was, for all I am, all I am

. . . 

Well, I can bite my lips, I can chew my hair
But I'm still stone heavy and unprepared
Like an empty chair, I was always there

Black and white, it isn't right
To hold me down and bleed me dry
Cut the ties that keep me up all night
Or make me see myself in black and white

~  The Staves

I watched a documentary titled Austin to Boston on Netflix the other night. It covers a road trip taken in 2015 by a group of performers that took part in the SXSW festival. Ben Howard, Nathaniel Rateliff, Bear's Den, and The Staves . . . all artists that I've enjoyed listening to. They piled into five VW camper vans and headed north on a two-week adventure, performing along the way under the common name Communion. I liked the film a lot and recommend it.  Well done, Marcus Heany.

The Staves is an English folk-rock trio of sisters, known for their gorgeous harmonies. "Black & White," released on If I Was in 2015, is, I think, the first Staves song I heard.  I admit to having grown a bit tired of it, but if The Staves are new to you, it's a good sample of their harmonies and their power. (I am still hoping that, in my next life, I can sing.)

Like an empty chair, I was always there. Now that's the kind of line I like! I mean, you have to stop and think about it, don't you? If there's a chair in a room and nobody sits in it, is it still a chair? Ha! And if she's "always there," why doesn't she just sit down? Problem solved.

And the concept of black and white is so compelling. Some of you remember when television was in black and white. I can still recall the first time I saw color TV (at someone else's house). It was a baseball game, and the grass was green. I don't remember who was playing, but I can still see the green field. The Wizard of Oz? I think I was an adult before I even knew that the movie is in black and white until Dorothy lands in Oz.

When I was a little one, never getting enough of Merrie Melody cartoons, I was fascinated and terrified by a cartoon that featured a little pig who was literally a pig. I mean, he was a pig who loved to pig out, always stealing food from his brother and sister pigs. In the cartoon, he falls asleep and has a nightmare that he is strapped to a mechanical chair and force-fed food until he is ready to burst. Of course, you think that when he wakes up from the dream, he will stop being so piggish. No! There was no lesson learned! Cartoons could get away with stuff like that back in the day!

Anyway, my point in retelling that cartoon is that I watched it in black and white. Last year, I tracked it down on the Internet and was beyond stunned that it was in color! It was so disconcerting. It was as if I had to go back and rewrite my entire childhood! I cannot clearly articulate the effect this reality had on me. Sometimes black and white IS right!

Anyway, here's a pic of little cartoon-loving me. In black and white, of course.

Time in a Bottle

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/mhL36vP_lv4

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day 'til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do once you find them
I've looked around long enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you

~  Jim Croce

This one is for my dear friend Amy, whose husband, John, died four years ago today. "Time in a Bottle" was sung at a celebration of John's life and pretty much sums up how Amy feels about her loss. I think most of you can identify with the song, too. Such is the complexity of this life.

Traveling back decades to retrieve this song, I was struck again by the ironies inherent in its release. Croce says that the lyrics came to him when his wife, Ingrid, told him that she was pregnant. Their son, Adrian, was born in 1971. The song was released on Croce's successful 1972 album, You Don't Mess Around with Jim. But it wasn't until it was featured in a made-for-TV movie that it garnered more attention. And around the same time, in September 1973, Jim Croce died in a plane crash at age 30. The song was released as a single after his death and eventually hit #1 on the charts.

And what about Adrian? He is featured in the video that accompanies the linked song. Adrian became a singer / songwriter in his own right, going by the name A. J. Croce. Life has a way of apologizing for its fickle disregard of our attachments.

In a conversation with Amy yesterday, she commented that now, four years later, her emotions are no longer "raw." But there is always that "dull ache." Yes. I think she described that accurately. Very few of us navigate this life without that dull ache, and of course, we experience it in varying degrees. It is worth contemplating why pain and sorrow are offered so abundantly in this human experience. I suppose the only way to counter the pain is to look for the joy. Amy has recently become a grandmother again, this time to a baby girl. And there's her joy.

We cannot save time in a bottle. Days will not last forever. Words cannot make wishes come true. The best we can do is savor the joy that we find. It may be harder to find on some days than others, but it can also find us. Be open to it. And offer some up to someone else.

Where did you find joy today? And what joy did you give to someone else? If you can answer both of those questions, you're doing okay.

100 Days, 100 Nights

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/8ouI5KcyHfE

100 days, 100 nights to know a man's heart
100 days, 100 nights to know a man's heart
And a little more before he knows his own

You know a man can play the part of a saint just so long
For a day comes when his true, when his true self unfolds
Yes, it does

He may be mellow, he may be kind
Treat you good all the time
But there's something just beyond what he's told

~  Bosco Mann (Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings)

Sharon Jones died last November at age 60. "100 Days, 100 Nights," released in 2007, is arguably her most famous song. I selected it because today marks my 100th post on this blog. I'm patting myself on the back while pondering the realization that I have only 264 more to go. Hey, if I could fall in love with something and write about it every single day of the year (2015), I can surely find 364 songs to write about. Right? Hey, if you keep reading, I'll keep writing.

In twenty days, on April 29, we will mark 100 days of something else. All Presidents in recent history have been evaluated on their first 100 days. For eight decades, since FDR's Presidency, the first 100 days have been used to measure the successes and accomplishments of a President during his time of greatest power and influence. I am already considering songs for my April 29 post. Your suggestions are welcome.

Meanwhile, I have my own goals to accomplish. This blog is one of them. Enjoy your Sunday. I'm going to get to work on blogpost #101.

This Is Why We Fight

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/oLSOzcEQjiE

Come the war
Come the avarice
Come the war
Come hell

Come attrition
Come the reek of bones
Come attrition
Come hell

This is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake
And this is why
This is why we fight

When we die
We will die
With our arms unbound

. . . 

Come hell

~  Colin Meloy (The Decemberists)

I have had a love / hate relationship with The Decemberists (and in particular, Colin Meloy) since their debut in 2001. While I do appreciate many of their songs, I often find Meloy, the lyricist, a little too full of himself, especially when he thinks he can get away with rhyming "Miranda" and "veranda," as he does in "We Both Go Down Together." And he's such a drama queen! Of course, this is just my opinion, and it did not stop me from choosing this Decemberist song from their 2011 release The King Is Dead.

If you haven't already, you should probably watch the linked video to appreciate my commentary here. It's a cheesy take-off on Lord of the Flies, the 1954 William Golding allegorical novel which analyzes the age-old conflict of human vs. society. The video features a Jack-type character who claims leadership and power, a Ralph-like savior (credit due here: the character is female), and a Piggy-type weakling, complete with wire-rimmed glasses. Whether the play is intended to be a scene out of a "post-apocalyptic wasteland" or an innocent enactment of Capture the Flag played by kids with access to thrift shop costuming, answers do not come through any more clearly than they do in "This Is Why We Fight." Why do we fight, Colin? Did you intend to be evasive? Or is that just your default songwriting tactic?

When asked if the song was about the war in Iraq, Meloy gave this evasive answer: "I think of it more as a song for somebody who's up against great odds, whether political or social."

Needless to say, the song reappeared on my radar after the airstrikes in Syria. As a tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, peace-loving, bleeding-heart liberal hippie, I will never be able to wrap my head around "why we fight." And maybe Meloy is being deliberately coy, as there is no definitive answer to the question. Interesting that The Decemberists got their name from the 1825 Decemberist Revolt, an uprising in Imperial Russia that Meloy believes was an attempt at a Communist revolution. Russia.  It's always Russia.

Come hell.

Portions for Foxes

Listen while you read:  https://youtu.be/qtNV3pOqcjI

There's blood in my mouth 'cause I've been biting my tongue all week
I keep on talkin' trash, but I never say anything
And the talkin' leads to touchin'
And the touchin' leads to sex
And then there is no mystery left

And it's bad news
Baby, I'm bad news
I'm just bad news, bad news, bad news

I know I'm alone if I'm with or without you
But just bein' around you offers me another form of relief
When the loneliness leads to bad dreams
And the bad dreams lead me to callin' you
And I call you and say, "C'MERE!"

. . . 

'Cause you're just damage control
For a walking corpse like me -- like you

'Cause we'll all be portions for foxes
Yeah, we'll all be portions for foxes

~  Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett (Rilo Kiley)

IMHO, Jenny Lewis is not bad news.  Jenny Lewis is BADASS! Did you watch the video? I want to be Jenny Lewis in my next life. (Or Joni Mitchell.) There's blood in my mouth 'cause I've been biting my tongue all week is one of my favorite lines ever. "Portions for Foxes" appears on More Adventurous, Rilo Kiley's 2004 release.

But what's with those "portions for foxes," huh? Well, it's a biblical reference from Psalm 63. "They shall be hurled to the might of the sword and be portions for foxes." I cannot tell you who "they" are, because when I try to google/research the phrase, I end up on all sorts of uncomfortable websites. But it seems that "they" are destined to be slaughtered and eaten up as roadkill. Yuck. But when you consider that we all share a common destiny as dead meat, it's not all that shocking.

As far as "bad news" goes, there's way too much of that out there, isn't there? I'm trying hard to take a break from it all. Good music helps. And so do you. And you're bad news / I don't care, I like you / I like you.