Run for the Roses

Listen while you read: Run for the Roses

Born in the valley and raised in the trees
Of western Kentucky on wobbly knees
With Mama beside you to help you along
You'll soon be growing up strong

All the long, lazy mornings in pastures of green
The sun on your withers, the wind in your mane
Could never prepare you for what lies ahead
The run for the roses so red

And it's run for the roses as fast as you can
Your fate is delivered, your moment's at hand
It's the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance
And it's high time you joined in the dance

From sire to sire, it's born in the blood
The fire of a mare and the strength of a stud
It's breeding and it's training and it's something unknown
That drives you and carries you home

And it's run for the roses as fast as you can
Your fate is delivered, your moment's at hand
It's the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance
And it's high time you joined in the dance

~  Dan Fogelberg

It's Kentucky Derby Day! Grab yourself a mint julep and place your bet!

Dan Fogelberg died almost ten years ago, and I'm still pretty sad about it. He was 56. I got to see him play an acoustic set back in the mid-70s at the Capital Theatre in Passaic NJ, and I can still remember that show. Seriously, for someone my age who's been to a number of concerts to remember a specific one means it was impressive. "Run for the Roses" was released on 1981's The Innocent Age, and truly, this song speaks to a loss of innocence. It's not too hard to hear the song as metaphor for coming-of-age.

Fogelberg premiered the song the night before the Derby in 1981, mourning the fact that he'd never attended the event. I do hope he got to do so in the following years.

When my family was young and intact, we would place our bets on our favorites running in the Derby. I always selected my horses based on how much I liked their names. Because I knew no other way to do so. My experience with horses was taking my oldest daughter to horseback-riding lessons when she was a pre-teen. I think there were a couple of times when my choice, based solely on the horse's name, actually won! Yes! Pour me another mint julep!

The Run for the Roses will begin at 6:34 tonight at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. I am placing my bet on Lookin at Lee with 28 - 1 odds. Following that loser, I'll bet on Hence (22 - 1), Irish War Cry (13 - 2) and Practical Joke (16 -1).  Do I expect to win? No. But I get a mint julep anyway.

So it's high time you joined in the dance. Place your bet! It's the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance. What have you got to lose?

Hope You're Feeling Better

Listen while you read: Hope You're Feeling Better

Is that you? Your eyes slowly fading?
Is that you? Your mind full of tears?
Is that you? Searching for a good time?
Is that you? Waiting for all these years?

And I hope you're feeling better
Yes, I hope you're feeling good
Yes, I hope you're feeling better

Is that you? Look across the ocean
Is that you? Thinkin' nothin' is really there?
Is that you? Waiting for the sunshine?
Is that you? When all you see is glare?

And I hope you're feeling better
Yes, I hope you're feeling good
Yes, I hope you're feeling better

~  Gregg Rolie (Santana)

Yes, I hope you're feeling better . . . and that you don't have any preexisting conditions. And if you're searching for a good time, you must know that today is Cinco de Mayo! (If, on the other hand, your eyes are slowly fading, I guess you've been aware of the day for a few hours now.) Salud!

"Hope You're Feeling Better" appears on the 1970 release Abraxas, just one year after Santana's game-changing appearance at the Woodstock Festival. If you've seen the video of their performance of Soul Sacrifice at Woodstock, you will recall the amazing drum solo by Michael Shrieve. It was rumored at the time that Shrieve was only 17, but the truth is that he was 20. So in the video linked above, recorded at Tanglewood  in August 1970, he was 21. Still a kid. Watch at 3:20 when he loses a drumstick and grabs another, never losing the rhythm.

And then there's Carlos Santana. Consistently rated as one of the best rock guitarists, he can mesmerize his audience. I am hoping to experience that again when he plays Bethel Woods (site of the Woodstock Festival) this August. Carlos Santana was born in Jalisco, Mexico, but moved with his family to California during his early teens. He learned violin and guitar from his father, who played in a mariachi band. I'm glad there wasn't a wall in place when Carlos came to America.

So, from what I understand, Cinco de Mayo, although recognized in Mexico as the day of the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862), is not celebrated to the extent that it is here in the United States. Leave it to the Americans to find any excuse to imbibe and pig out! So grab yourself a Corona and a bag of Tostitos and kick up your heels.

Arriba, abajo, al centro y adentro! (Up, down, towards the center, and down the hatch.) And tomorrow morning, I will hope you're feeling better.

Good Morning, Starshine

Listen while you read: Good Morning, Starshine

Good morning, Starshine, the earth says hello
You twinkle above us, you twinkle below
Good morning, Starshine, you lead us along
My love and me as we sing
Our early morning singing song

Giddy glup gloopy nubby gabby loopy la la la lo lo
Sabba subbi sabba nooby abba gabba le le lo lo
Tooby ooby walla nooby abba nabba
Early morning singing song

Good morning, Starshine, there's love in your skies
Reflecting the sunlight in my lover's eyes

Good morning, Starshine
So happy to be
My love and me as we sing
Our early morning singing song

~ Rado / Ragni (Hair)

Okay, if I did this right, you are listening to the 5th Dimension version of this song. If I did it differently, you are listening to Oliver's version. Either way, the song was part of that crazy hippie musical, Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, which debuted on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for four years with 1,750 performances. I was fortunate enough to see it on Broadway in the spring of 1969, thanks to a college professor who took three of his favorite students from a small college in Pennsylvania to NYC for some reason that completely escapes me now.

And why is it today's blogpost? Because it has a star in it, and it's Star Wars Day! May the Fourth Be With You!

As fickle as memory can be, I can still envision that controversial scene from the musical, the one where the actors had the option of removing their clothes and standing butt-naked for, like, 20 seconds. As far as I can tell, viewing that scene did not traumatize me. It seems to be a "ho-hum" now, but back in the day, it was, as I said, controversial. But we all survived.

I was not a fan of Star Wars, for no other reason than I must have been busy with something else at the time. Or I didn't have TV. I don't remember. But I have always been a fan of hippies! Peace, Love and Understanding. I wear Birkenstocks. I hug trees. I grow my own produce. I honor everyone I meet with the peace sign. I still have my patched and frayed bell-bottom hip-hugger blue jeans from 1969. Seriously, they could come back in style, right?

Giddy glup glooby nibby nabby noopy la la la lo lo.

Third of May / Odaigahara

Listen while you read:  Third of May

Light ended the night, but the song remained
And I was hiding by the stair, half here, half there, past the lashing rain
And as the sky(e) would petal white
Old innocent lies came to mind
As we stood, congregated, at the firing line

Night ended the fight, but the song remained
And so I headed to the wall, turned tail to call to the new domain
As if in the sight of sea, you're suddenly free, but it's all the same . . . 
Oh, but I can hear you, loud in the center
Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves?

Was I too slow?
Did you change overnight?
Second son, on the other line . . . 

~ Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes)

I taught "Creative Writing" for close to thirty years. I always disliked that title, as it seemed to imply that there's some other writing that is non-creative. Having said that, it was still a challenge to help my students understand that their creative pursuits might receive a better response if their meanings were accessible. Teenagers often like to wave the flag of "poetic license" as an excuse for a certain laziness in revising and creating better poetry. I had to walk a very fine line between trying to help them become better writers and accepting the inner voices that allowed them to write incomprehensible garbage about which they were very proud.

So in terms of Fleet Foxes' latest effort, I would make a big fuss over the excellent use of assonance and internal rhyme as well as the lines that poke the reader with profound internal contemplation, like Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves? At the same time, I'd be thinking, "What the hell are you trying to say here?"

Obviously, I had to choose "Third of May" for this post. It is the already-released single from the upcoming Crack-Up, scheduled for June 16, the first Fleet Foxes album in six years. Not-so-coincidentally, Helplessness Blues was released on May 3, 2011. May 3 is also the birthday of guitarist and founding member Skyler Skjelset. "Third of May" is Becknold's tribute to his friendship with Skjelset.

The song is the longest and most experimental number to come from Fleet Foxes, clocking in at almost nine minutes in length. Pitchfork traces the evolution of the song from "contemplation to melancholy to chaos to resolution." All in under nine minutes. If only real-life conflict could be resolved so quickly!

I know it sounds like I don't like this song. I do. If I seem overly-critical, it's because Becknold, were he in my writing class, would be one of my better students, and I would hold him to a very high standard. I would caution him against being too esoteric, and I would encourage him to be more mindful of his readers/listeners.

I was a fool
Crime after crime to confess to
But I hold the fleet angel, she'll bless you
Hold fast to the wing. Hold fast to the wing

What?

Oh, and Odaigahara is a mountain in Japan.

Third of May 1808 Francisco Goya

Tuesday Afternoon

Listen while you read: Tuesday Afternoon

Tuesday afternoon
I'm just beginning to see
Now I'm on my way
It doesn't matter to me
Chasing the clouds away

Something calls to me
The trees are drawing me near
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh

I'm looking at myself, reflections of my mind
It's just the kind of day to leave myself behind
So gently swaying through the fairyland of love
If you'll just come with me and see the beauty of

Tuesday afternoon

~  Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues)

This is Justin Hayward's explanation for how "Tuesday Afternoon" came to be: "I sat down in a field, smoked a funny African cigarette, and that song just came out. It was a Tuesday afternoon."

And now, half a century later, The Moody Blues are doing a 50th Anniversary Tour of Days of Future Passed, the seminal album released in 1967 which includes the song. I was sorry to note that the band will be performing in the Northwest while I am still on the East Coast and performing on the East Coast while I am road-tripping in the Northwest! Damn!

Part of the British Invasion, The Moody Blues, as anyone my age may recall, released a hit single in 1965 called "Go Now." And then the band floundered. A change in the line-up, including the addition of Hayward, as well as Mike Pinder's newfound use of the mellotron (a kind of early-version synthesizer) put the band back in the charts with their new and different sound. Days of Future Passed heralded that resurgence.

A concept album, Days broke ground with some unique components. The backing of the London Festival Orchestra celebrated the fusion of rock and classical sounds, lending a sophisticated credibility to the breadth and range of rock music. And the album had a thematic cohesion with songs following the trajectory of a day (dawn, morning, lunchtime, sunset, twilight, and night). Perhaps the most known song on the album is "Nights in White Satin." Yep, you know that song, don't you?

"Tuesday Afternoon," which was originally titled "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday)" on the album, is still beautiful and emotive five decades later. It appears that Hayward was able to capture the ephemeral serenity that stoned moment offered him and preserve it for generations. And you don't have to be high to feel it.

I hope you enjoyed a few minutes of peaceful reflection while listening. Go ahead, listen again.

The Lusty Month of May

Listen while you read:  The Lusty Month of May

Tra la, it's May, the lusty month of May
That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray
Tra la, it's here, that shocking time of year
When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear

It's May, it's May, that gorgeous holiday
When every maiden prays that her lad will be a cad
It's mad, it's gay, alive, a lust display
Those dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks
Everyone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May

~  Frederick Loewe (Camelot)

Okay, don't shoot me. I am a rock and roller, not a Broadway musical guru. But I could not resist this one on the first day of May.  I always thought this was a bold song, especially since I first learned it in 1964 when I was 14. The following spring, my high school put on a production of Camelot, and I had a bit part as one of the "ladies." We got to wear gowns and pointed hats with flowing gauze tails. I was a freshman, dating Sir Dinadan, who was a senior. I may have controlled the lust in our relationship, but it was still a sweet time.

I have a vivid memory of a class trip to NYC when I was 17 to see the premiere of the Camelot movie. Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero. It was the best! And then I remember teaching excerpts from T.H. White's The Once and Future King at some point in the mid-nineties, and I attempted to show the Camelot film. My juniors moaned and groaned and nearly laughed me out of the room. So we settled on Richard Gere in The First Knight to get a flavor of the time period and the story of Lancelot and Guinevere.  I have to admit, it was a pretty good flick.

Anyway, it's May Day.  And there are many ways to look at this day. When I was a kid, on May 1, we picked dandelions and violets and placed them on the doorsteps of the old ladies who lived in the neighborhood. But "Mayday!" is also an international distress signal used by ships and aircraft, right? And apparently, Donald Trump has just proclaimed May 1 as "Loyalty Day." What? There is no way in hell that I am pledging loyalty to this administration!

It's May, the lusty month of May
That darling month when everyone throws self-control away
It's time to do a wretched thing or two
And try to make each precious day one you'll always rue

Go do some lusty stuff! Drink a bottle of wine or eat a half-gallon of Rocky Road or cross the street while the red hand is flashing you. Color outside the lines. Smoke a joint. Get laid. Just don't put any flowers on my doorstep.

Tra la!

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.