Recalling another anniversary (my life is full of ’em!), this one being my retirement from the U.S. Air Force in November, 1995. I was stationed at Onizuka Air Station in Sunnyvale, California. This song, “Cumbersome,” by Seven Mary Three, was a popular tune of the time. To paraphrase the lyrics, I’d enjoyed my military career and had some success, but it had become cumbersome.
Saturday’s Theme Music
From late in that magical decade referred to as the nineteen seventies comes this song.
But wait, was the nineteen seventies magical? I suppose it depends on how old you were, and where, right? If you’re a fortunate person, you experience one decade as magical in your life. The seventies are it for me. Moved to Ohio, met my wife, moved to West Virginia, graduated high school, joined the military, relocated to Ohio, bought a Camaro, married, served in the Philippines, sold the Camaro, bought a Porsche and drove across most of America, lived in Texas, quit the military, went back to West Virginia, bought a restaurant, quit the restaurant, lost the Porsche to fire, re-enlisted in the military, went back to Texas and bought a Firebird. It was action backed, and fun.
This song, “Don’t Bring Me Down,” by E.L.O. was part of the musical atmosphere. I find it fun to sing as I walk around, especially all those no, no, no, no passages, and “Grooss,” which I sing as Bruce, as most people do.
Here it is, from nineteen seventy-nine. Things weren’t simpler, just different.
Friday’s Theme Music
Care for a little cream for your Friday coffee?
Robert Johnson’s masterpiece, “Crossroads” (or “Cross Roads Blues”) has been covered by many. I like the Cream version because it was the first one I heard when I was young. It’s hard to overcome that first love. More metaphysically, it’s a song that captures so much of life’s essence, IMO. We think, after making a journey, that we’ve gone somewhere. And we have, but then, we found ourselves at another crossroad. Decisions are made, moods are felt, directions are chosen, prayers are offered, and help is sought.
So here you are, on Friday, with a “Crossroads” about what to do, where to go, and maybe, who to be.
Thursday’s Theme Music
So much has been written about this song and its lyrics. After it became a hit in America, our local newspaper, The Pittsburgh Press (or maybe it was the Post-Gazette) had an article with the song’s words in it. My sister, two years younger than me, told me that she’d memorize the lyrics. She seemed proud of doing that. The lyricist himself, Don McLean, has avoided analyzing the lyrics. He says they’re poetry. I recall McLean once said something like, the artist should put it out there and then keep a dignified silence when others ask what the song is about.
I but into that. People often uncover their own meanings in books, stories, movies, songs, and poetry. I like that, that people can take words, sounds, and images, anchor them to their lives and events, and affix unique interpretations to them.
Here it is, “American Pie,” from nineteen seventy-one. It’s a piece of Americana.
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Here we are, start of another month, again. And you think, wow, November, what happened to twenty seventeen and all my plans? Or you’ve leaped full into that November novel writing thing, and now you’re suffering paralysis of the goal —
Or what-the-hell weariness from living through another shooting or two, another terrorist act, another day of revelations and accusations –
Or you’re facing Wednesday. Hump day, yo? Day after Halloween. Maybe you suffer from a Halloween hangover from sugar or drinks.
Whatever your pain or metaphorical bullets causing you to bleed, you need an uplifting song, one that will strengthen your determination. I streamed “Believer,” by Imagine Dragons to lift me. I mean, think of these words:
First things first
I’mma say all the words inside my head
I’m fired up and tired of the way that things have been, oh ooh
The way that things have been, oh ooh
h/t azlyrics.com
Come on, believer. Take the pain, fear, and weariness and move yourself out of the mundane moribund morass. Believe.
Monday’s Theme Song
Having a beer last Wednesday night with friends, we toasted Fats Domino. With his death as our hinge, we talked about old rock, old pop, and old beer (PBR, Hamm’s, Rolling Rock, and Iron City, among them). Conversation veered to Buddy Holly and Richie Valens’ deaths, along with the other two band members that night. We couldn’t remember who’d given up their seat. The net was consulted; Waylon Jennings was the answer.
That surprised us. As Chris put it, “I wouldn’t have guessed Waylon Jennings in two thousand guesses.” No, we didn’t know that Waylon had played with the Crickets.
Anyway, I ended up inflicted with nostalgia. I awoke today with “Luckenbach, Texas,” streaming through my mind, “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love),” to acknowledge its full title. It’s a song about being remembering a simpler life, and the dissatisfaction that success can sometimes bring.
Stream along with me, if you know it. Fake it, if you don’t.
Saturday’s Theme Music
Fall has claimed us. Leaves have turned. Many have rained down, filling gutters and carpeting lawns and sidewalks. So I turn to “Dancing Days” by Led Zeppelin. I have firm reasoning, oh, yes, I do. Although the vegetation is going along with the timeline, we have glorious sunshine. A cold front has taken command. Nights are cold, but the sky is clear, and that sunshine pushes our temperatures up into the mid seventies. We might even touch eighty.
So dancing days are here again. It may be fall, but it feels like summer afternoons. Maybe it’s just a state of mind.
Friday’s Theme Music
Out of the morass of the morning’s thinking and feelings streams Bob Dylan and “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” The lyrics always said to me, somebody will be unhappy, no matter what you do. Someone will find fault and throw stones at you and your efforts. So what the hell, chill, and get stoned. You’re going to be stoned anyway.
Besides those words, I like the original recording’s rowdy, rambunctious tone. I couldn’t find that anywhere, and offer this live version instead.
So come on, “Everybody must get stoned.”
Thursday’s Theme Song
Drifting further back along the memory stream today, back to nineteen seventy-two, I stumble over one of my favorite artists, a person named David Bowie.
Bowie’s song, “Changes,” came out when I was in high school. My most vivid memory, though, was talking about the song during my first permanent duty assignment in nineteen seventy-five, three years later. I was with the 2750ABW at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Permanent meant that I was assigned to the place, and would be there for a while. I was a command post emergency actions controller for the base and HQ Logistics Command. Three of us were on duty at a time, for twelve or eight hour shifts.
One night, I was on duty with Dale and Sistrunk. Studying, as we were often doing, I was singing the song to myself. “What is that you’re singing?” one asked. I explained what it was, and who performed it. They knew Bowie, but not that song, which surprised me. It was a youth’s surprise. I thought we all inhabited the same universe in America, where we all listened to rock music. But Sistrunk didn’t listen to music in his car or at home, and Dale preferred light jazz. I didn’t know the light jazz performers he enjoyed, and was amused, thinking of him as dated, when he shared their names.
That’s why “Changes” is perfect for that memory, and this time. As years passed, windows opened on myself, but they still remained small and few. I stayed in my personal garrison, spying on others, wondering what they think of me, as I thought of them. I think about the child I was, and then the man I was, and now, the person that I became, and wonder who I’ll be next.
Bowie’s lyrics capture the sentiment. “Every time I thought I’d got it made, it seemed the taste was not so sweet. So I turned myself to face me, but I’ve never caught a glimpse of how the others must see the faker. I’m much too fast to take that test.”
We think of the universe, world, and its inhabitants in terms of static existences, but really, we have snapshots of moments that we consider permanent. Almost everything is always changing. We’re just not fast enough to comprehend it.
As a bonus, it was Rick Wakeman on the piano in “Changes.” Wakeman was already known for his session work on many albums, but had formed Yes with others, another group I greatly enjoyed.
Wednesday Theme Music
Continuing with the theme of the nineteen eighties as a time that I believed happened, and that I either vicariously, virtually, or actually experienced, I thought I’d go with a song that speaks to our times. No, it’s not Pink Floyd with “Money.” A good suggestion, but it’s the wrong period. For these times, when principles continue their long fade, and people endorse personalities, I started streaming Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality.”
I sell the things you need to be
I’m the smiling face on your TV
I’m the cult of personality
I exploit you, still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three
I’m the cult of personality
