Don’t forgot to stand up and st-t-t-t-r-r-r-r-r-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-tch everything once in a while. Feels good, doesn’t it, my pet?
Today’s Theme Music
I woke up with this song in my mind so I went with it.
It was written before I was born but it’s a pop standard, and has been used in movies. Lots of famous people covered it, and even some later groups, like The Cure. I know it from my mother playing it. I primarily grew up in the towns, townships and suburbs surrounding Pittsburgh. This was the 1960s. Hi-fi stereo was the iPad of the day and vinyl was emperor.
Mom listened to many records on her hi-fi stereo console and I became familiar with many artists through her enjoyment. This song was one of her favorites. I always enjoyed these lines:
“And if you should survive to 105,
Look at all you’ll derive out of being alive!
And here is the best part, you have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart.”
(n/t to Lyricsmode.com)
That’s what I awoke to in my mental jukebox today. Don’t know why. I slept well and had interesting but common dreams.
Here is Frank Sinatra with ‘Young At Heart’. He didn’t write the song but it was his hit, and it seems most associated with him. Enjoy. Cheers
Today’s Theme Music
Today is Whoosh Back Wednesday, because when I get into my time machine, it makes a sort of whooshing sound, and this is Wednesday where I’m sitting.
Many of us in the United States are remarking that we live in perilous, divisive times. I claim that such times have existed before, although enduring this one seems heartbreaking almost every day. Websites, voters, blogs, pundits and editorials damn one candidate as a sexist, racist lying buffoon while others declare another one as a lying murderer. These are the major party candidates, and there are pockets around the country where each party believes the other’s candidate has absolutely no chance. Meanwhile, two other parties and their candidates prowl the stages’ edges, trying to break into the passion play, but staying mostly ignored except as possible spoilers.
But remember 1968 in America? Riots took place in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and other places. Anti-war demonstrations flared across the United States. Sometimes violence exploded. And then the country came together and elected Richard Nixon, re-electing him by a huge margin in 1972, only to see him impeached and gone before September, 1974….
Well, back in 1968, one musical group sang a song pleading for peace and harmony. Lyrics like these keep it germane to today’s conversations:
There is a long hair that doesn’t like the short hair
For bein’ such a rich one that will not help the poor one
And different strokes for different folks
Here is Sly and the Family Stone, with ‘Everyday People’, with ‘Dance to the Music’ as a bonus.
A Writing Cat’s Advice
If you stay still and watch carefully, my pet, you’ll see things that others will never know.
Today’s Theme Music
Stevie Nicks has lived an interesting life and presented memorable music. I have many favorites out of her catalogue. Her music usually has a story behind its creation.
The story behind this one is what makes it one of my favorites. Newly married, she and her husband were driving somewhere when Prince’s ‘Little Red Corvette’ came on. Stevie really enjoyed it. Humming it, she began coming up with her own song and actually went into the studio and did a demo that night, even though this was her honeymoon. Then she called Prince and told him about the song and how his song inspired it. He came over and helped her finish it.
That story of inspiration firing her creativity resonates with me. The final touch is Prince’s unattributed (on the album) assistance. Here’s ‘Stand Back’.
Clearing
This makes you wonder…what is THAT book? Has any book you’ve read or edited so moved you?
The catalyst was a book I was translating, referred to by my friends simply as that book, since I don’t divulge the titles of jobs I hate. Luckily, although not all the books I’ve translated so far have always captured my heart and imagination, most have made a tolerable if not pleasant day’s work. But, after a few pages, I began to hate that book with every fibre of my being. I hated the plot, I hated the characters so much that I kept hoping against hope that they’d meet a swift, painless demise over the page. I prayed for a deus ex machina to kick that book out of my life with a bend that would make David Beckham envious. As the weeks dragged by and no supernatural force came to deliver me from it, that book slithered deeper and deeper under my skin and began spreading its venom through my…
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A Writing Cat’s Advice
Never under-estimate the power of good grooming, my pet.
Today’s Theme Music
I have Sirius XM in my car. I don’t pay for it. It came with six months free when I bought the car almost two years ago. They want me to pay for it, so they send me deals to entice me to return. The deal is usually two free weeks but they often leave it on.
When I have the deal, I take advantage. That changes my listening patterns. My wife and I enjoy the blues, so we put it on BB King’s Bluesville and leave it there for days.
I end up missing the current music. One of the more recent hits I enjoy is The Weeknd’s ‘In the Night’. It has something of a Michael Jackson sound to it from one of his periods.
Since it’s the weekend, here it The Weeknd, in the morning, with ‘In the Night’.
A Writing Cat’s Advice
When a storm comes calling, remain calm, stay alert, and find a place to tuck your tail in and wait it out, my pet.
Today’s Theme Music
I don’t have much to offer today. Hurricane Matthew destructive power skews my thoughts from light-hearted tones to worry, concern and compassion for others. There’s little I can offer from the upper side of the left coast, except the words from The Killers, “If you can, hold on.”
Michael Seidel, writer 