Moonlight and magnolias, starlight in your hair
All the world a dream come true
Did it really happen? Was I really there?
Was I really there with you?
We lived our little drama, we kissed in a field of white
And stars fell on Alabama that night
I can't forget the glamour, your eyes held a tender light
And stars fell on Alabama last night
I never planned in my imagination
A situation so heavenly
A fairyland that no one else could enter
And in the center, just you and me, dear
My heart beat like a hammer
My arms wound around you tight
And stars fell on Alabama last night
. . .
~ Frank Perkins & Mitchell Parish (1934)
Did it really happen? I'm speaking, of course, of Doug Jones' win over Roy Moore for the Alabama Senate seat in Tuesday's special election. I'm not sure which is the greater emotion in the land . . . joy or relief. And it does not escape me that we live in a time when we can feel grateful that there will not be a known pedophile in Congress. My plan for today's post had been to find a song about shooting stars in celebration of the Geminid meteor showers. How fortunate to find a song that celebrates both the stars and Alabama at the same time! Although it was Guy Lombardo who made the song famous, I chose a Jimmy Buffett version because . . . . well, because I'm feeling as giddy as a Parrothead! Jimmy's version appears on 1981's Coconut Telegraph.
In November 1833, there was a spectacular occurrence of the Leonid meteor showers in Alabama (and other parts of the country) in which there were estimated to be 30,000 meteors an hour! (Compare that to last night's predicted 120 meteors an hour!) Needless to say, many people freaked out, thinking it was the end of the world. One hundred years later, a book of essays about the event was published, and then Perkins and Parish wrote their song.
The Geminids are named for the constellation Gemini. I will let you do your own googling to further understand the phenomenon of meteor showers. But the event produces "fireballs," which are meteors brighter than magnitude -4, the same magnitude as the planet Venus! And the shooting stars are known to travel at a speed of 79,000 mph! This is all just amazing, isn't it? Not unlike a Democrat winning a Senate seat in Alabama.
I was awake before dawn this morning, hoping for a sighting, despite a low of 44 degrees here in South Florida. (At least that's twice as warm as back home in New Jersey!) Unfortunately, too much artificial light ruined my chances. I did see a plane make its way across the sky, which my imagination turned into a star. And I made a wish. As Jiminy Cricket crooned to us all those years ago:
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dreams
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Perhaps you can guess what I wished for. It begins with "im" and ends with "ment." And there may be a peach in the middle.
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