Tag: The Beatles

Thursday’s Theme Music

Light and shadows tangoed on the bedroom walls. The wind had come up and at 7:24 AM, the sun showed it. Working together, they had the trees dancing.

It’s Thursday, March 16, 2023. A Sunday pizza party is on for a few friends. One of them likes organizing this about every five to six months. Just a get-together to eat, chat, and see faces. Three couples, six faces.

It’s 42 degrees F at my Ashlandia place. Blue skies. Sunset will be at 7:16 this evening. Till then, the temperature will go up the numbers until finding 44 F.

Just finished reading a couple books — We Are Legion (We Are Bob), The Chalk Circle Man — and am starting The Thursday Murder Club and Full. Contacting contractors is in the to-do list for various house improvements and repairs, since it’s March and the weather should become acceptable for these things to be done, like painting the house and repairing a window. And isn’t it interesting that ‘contractor’ is one of those words that end in ‘-or’ instead of ‘er’?

The cats are out. They like the sunshine and warmer temps but dislike the wind. Neither are wind fans. I expect one to start beating on the door at any moment.

“Nowhere Man” by the Beatles (1965) is stuck in the morning mental music stream. I don’t know if The Neurons desposited them or some other agency. No clue as to the why it’s playing. I’ve used it as theme music before and wrote about it then so I’ll not re-state all that. Just seems to fit some mode today. Maybe I feel like I’m nine again on some level. I chose this video they took about doing the song and then perform it in a ‘live’ setting, comparing it to the notes ingrained in my head. I’ve always been intrigued by the differences between studio recordings and how the band play it live.

Some of the catalyst for “Nowhere Man” might be the text exchanges with Mom. I’m asking her about the inspiration for her children’s names and the story behind my own. Michael wasn’t first choice. Anyway, I’d known a few of those stories and was surprised that the story was different this time. Did I mis-remember or is she telling it differently? I go with the latter. Either way, it’s a little bummer that what I recall isn’t what I hear now, because one of us is changing their tale.

Here’s the music. Hope you enjoy it. I’m off to let the cats in and get coffee. Stay pos, and carpes Thursday. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Yes, it is a late theme music post. See, it’s Saturday, July 16, which means it’s her b-day. The year is 2022, for the record. We spent the day feting her in the Beaverton area. Then the vacation was wrapped up by the drive south to our home valley, just five hours and 286 miles.

We awoke in Beaverton to find it had rained overnight and was still doing a little spittin’ and droolin’. Coming at 5:49 AM, sunrise was withdrawn and distant. Temp settled on 19 C for a while under a blanket of mildly threatening clouds. They faded and the temperature climbed, striking 91 F as we forged south. Sunset at home was 8:45 PM.

Our jog down I5 ended the six-day journey away from home. Nine hundred miles were added to the odometer’s tot. As much as I enjoyed seeing our friends, exploring the Oregon coast, dining out, and venturing into bookstores and coffee shops, I’m happy to be home with my floofdies. They insisted on deep obeisance and lotsa kisses and belly rubs to prove that we were who we claimed to be. They were all, “Who are you?” at first. “Are thouest the oneths who betrayest usth? The humanth who loveth usth wouldst never deign to sneak away and leave us to dependeth upon another for food.” But they came around.

Music? Why, “Birthday”, aka the birthday song by the Fab Four, the lads from Liverpool, the Beatles, according to The Neurons. Can I argue with them? Of course not.

Well, the day is done. Coffee has been consumed. So was a lovely long lunch at Oswego Grill where our dessert were donut holes baked at the restaurant, rolled in cinnamon, and served with fresh caramel. Tasty. Probably fattening. We didn’t ask.

Stay positive and so on. Here’s the tune. Please, sing along. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

We’ve begun another Wednesday, the eighth one of 2022. Today is Feb 23, 2022. The night began retreating a few hours before the sun’s appearance at 6:56 AM. The sun’s arrival over the mountains hastened the change.

Did raise temperatures some. Was at 18 F and now it’s 33 F. We’ll get to 44 F before the sun leaves our sky at 5:53 PM and night rushes in again. Patches of snow remain on the ground.

‘Conversations’ with friends via email are about Russia and the Ukraine, COVID-19 and its variants, masks, restrictions, vaccinations, and history. Fill in the blanks. I imagine the same conversations going on around the world.

I have “Long Tall Sally” rattling around the morning mental music stream this morning. A friend is laid up after shoulder surgery replacement. His family is away. He’s jonesing for company and invited our beer group over. We’re all double-vaxxed and have followed precautions so it’s a plan. We’ll pick up beer and meet at his house. I have the Beatles’ version of LTS in the mental stream. I heard it most frequently as a child although I have familiarity of several versions I enjoy, including Little Richard’s original offering. I mean, the others are basically imitating Little Richard. The connection with seeing friends and having a beer with them is the refrain, “We’re gonna have some fun tonight.”

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosts when you can. I’m off for coffee. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Monday has popped in. Only plans to stay for a day.

Sunrise on this Feb. 7, 2022, came at 7:18 this morning. It was another fine exercise in bright sunshine and mountain blue sky. The impressive color values and clarity could have been featured in a beer commercial. Was 35 degrees F at sunrise but it’s 43 now and we’re under the impression that it will reach 65 before sunset at 5:33 PM. Of course, we were promised 70 yesterday. Only 64 was achieved, so don’t get yer hopes too high.

Today’s music comes from my wife’s exercise class. Conducted by Zoom by her friend operating from the local Family Y, she sets up her laptop on the dining room table and exercises in that room. The dining room is part of the ‘great room’ and that portion affords her the space to move freely about. This morning’s exercise music was a medley of Beatles covers. Well, I was in the adjacent kitchen, making breakfast when “Eleanor Rigby” came on. The morning mental music stream sucked the 1966 song right into its environments. Soon I was singing it as I fed the cats (with some mods to the lyrics for the activity at hand).

I fondly remember the song. It came out when I was ten and my elementary school music teacher had my class singing it as well as discussing its aspects of weddings and loneliness. Some schoolmates’ parents were appalled because *gasp* death and a funeral are mentioned in the song. *What kind of song is that for children?*

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, get the vax and jabs when you can, and have a cuppa coffee with me. Mine is black and fresh. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Welcome to Tuesday, December 28, 2021. It’s 28 degrees F out there, so wear your warmest sandals.

Sunrise came at 7:39 AM, showing that the snow is still out there. Had fifteen inches on the ground yesterday. We shoveled off the walk and driveway and removed the snow wall the plow had kindly built for us. This morning, all was covered by a fresh two inches. Everything was closed, canceled, or shut yesterday in our little town — well, everything except grocery stores, hospitals, and emergency services. They all functioned. It’ll get up to 36 F today, so we might get some relief if the weather system can move on the clouds and let the sun in. After sunset at 4:46 PM, the temperature is expected to drop locally to 19 degrees F. Yes, that’s chilly for us.

These snow levels are not consistent across the area. We’re in a valley. Houses are on the valley floor and up the mountain slopes. My house sits at about 1800 feet. Some friends higher than me reported that they had two feet of snow. Others who are lower in the valley received two to three inches. Up the Interstate twenty minutes where the valley is broad and wide, a buddy reported he had two inches. Three thousand feet higher than me, down the road ten minutes, they received sixty inches.

Weirdly, I have a song by the Beatles in the morning mental music stream. “I Feel Fine” came out in 1964. I remember neighbor girls playing a 45 RPM record of the song on a little pink and white portable phonograph on their back patio but that was a few years later, probably in 1966. I guess that because, while I was young, we’d moved to a new neighborhood then, our fourth one in five years. A lot of moves, houses, and schools, but it helps organize and structure my memories, if you know what I mean. I suspect the song is housed in the stream because my wife and I were talking about The Beatles with friends last week. My wife confesses that she didn’t like the Beatles. Never thought them that great. Which, shrug, is fine, because tastes are different, as are choices and circumstances. That’s life, which is another song now playing in my head (covered by Frank Sinatra), but we’ll go into that another day. I think “I Feel Fine” is in my head because I like that opening bit of feedback they incorporated. I’ve gone with a live version of the song so that feedback note is missing (ironic, right), but I enjoy flashing back to these live performances of groups and the changes between now and then so sharpy etched. Guess it feeds my nostalgia.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs and boosters as needed. Speaking of getting, I’m getting some coffee. Make it hot and black.

Here’s the tune. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

This. Is Wednesday. July 7, 2021.

Currently 75 degrees F. Said to be cooler today. 90 to 94. Today and tomorrow. Hope so. Officially hit 99 yesterday. My home system said it was 101.

Sunrise kicked off at 5:42 AM, a slow growth of light, rosy as pink rose petals at first, then clearing, sharpening, drawing shadows around everything’s backside. Sunset is anticipated at 8:49 PM, if all goes well.

Musically, I’m channeling the Beatles today. Tune is called “Get Back”. Was a 1969 hit for the lads. Billy Preston’s contribution on the keys always delights me. Fun to watch this video of that time, way back when. The hair! The clothes! The antics! The sound! Remember when you were young? Ah, yes, youth — wasted on the young.

Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask if needed, get the vax. And get back to where you once belonged. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Today is Thursday, February 25, 2021. Sunrise was at 6:53 AM and sunset comes at 5:56 PM. Sunset will soon be after 6 PM here in Ashland, 2021, which makes me happy. Of course, we’re barreling toward daylight savings time, that terrific day when we spring ahead one hour, losing one hour of sleep and one hour of late afternoon/evening sun. Yes, eventually, it catches up again, but I’d rather not endure it each year.

I was a child, emerging into my teenage years during the 1960s. That meant that the Beatles were the group I heard most. Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones…you know the list. The press was always atwitter over what any musical band was doing. That’s what pop culture is all about, innit? Movie stars had been dominating until then but the landscape was shifting.

Anyway, a song by the Beatles, “Hey Jude”, has captured the mental musical stream this morning, beginning to end. It’s one of those things — yeah, an earworm — where I believe that I must share it in order to save myself. Sorry.

This is a repeat. The song was selected as the day’s theme music back in 2016. At that time, I heard it on the store’s PA system. You know, stores like piping music in to create the right environment, set the shopping pace, distract shoppers, etc. On that day, “Hey Jude” was playing as I shopped. Most shoppers encountered were lipping the words or singing it to themselves. Imagination ran with it, creating a Broadway musical where we all come together in the aisles, singing and dancing. It would be an episode of “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist these days.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. Also, listen to this 1968 song. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

A classic song by The Beatles, “Revolution” (1968), crashed my mental stream this morning with the intensity of an asteroid hitting Earth.

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out

Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright
Alright, alright

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re all doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Yes, I’m not happy with D.C. status quo. Its BAU approach doesn’t address needs quickly enough. I want change but I don’t want destruction.

Meanwhile, reading of the assault on the capitol the other day and the aftermath, it’s Kabuki theater. While photos of identified Trump supporters spill over the news and social media, and they crow about what they’ve done, some who’ve identified and called out claim their innocence despite the overwhelming evidence that says other. They left behind a swath of evidence. Despite this, right-wing media and supporters have also attempted to blame antifa. The disconnects with reality would be hilarious except for the seriousness behind their willingness to casually trample democracy and abuse freedom. Going back to the song — and Trump — there are always claims, but where are the plans? Where is the thinking? And that extends to his base. There’s nothing concrete there, just vague notions of what they will ‘do’.

Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask. Enjoy life as you can. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Today’s choice is a 1969 love song by The Beatles. “Don’t Let Me Down” was written by John Lennon for Yoko Ono. It wasn’t a great hit for them on its release but has since acquired greater admiration and respect. It came to mind last night as the last song played on a documentary watched on Hulu, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years.

The song’s refrain fits these times. “Don’t let me down,” is sung as a strident request throughout the song. Seems right for now, as we depend upon one another to survive a pandemic. Do the right thing; don’t let me down. Likewise, here in the U.S., as elected Federal officials meet to confirm the 2020 presidential election results, we ask them to do the right thing. Abiede by the Constitution; don’t let me down.

Last, it’s a request to the new year, 2021. Hey, we’ve been through a lot in 2020. Rough year, you know? We’d like something more positive, please. Don’t let me down.

Stay positive, test negative. Wear a mask and get vaccinated. Don’t let us down.

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Raucous dreams consumed the night. Oh, yes, there was too a floof fight.

4:30 AM. In this corner, wearing long black and white fur and weighing in at sixteen pounds…Tucker.

In the other corner, by the kibble bowl, that eleven pound ginger blade who used to be called Meep!…Papi.

I know Tucker started it because it’s always Tucker. Little combat was involved because Papi is a shrieker. His first one bought us awake and out of bed in one leap, and it was done. I swear that we moved like ninjas…little aging, graying ninjas…

But it’s email that gives me today’s theme music. Money…financing…sales ending today…the calls for assistance and donations and contributions dominated the box in a depressing blitz. Pelosi claimed her email wasn’t about money but Biden openly asked. Amazon and Costco crowed, look at what everyone is buying. Animal shelters and rescue groups wanted cash. The USPS needs help…

Such an AM gut punch even before my brekkie and coffee. Making them was when the theme song came: “Money (That’s What I Want)“.

The Beatles had a big hit with it, but I was channeling The Flying Lizards’ 1979 cover with Deborah Evans-Stickland. The Beatles were nakedly raw and emotional in their money demands. The Flying Lizards brought a mocking, flat monotone to their appeal.

My email solicitations were across the gamut: fear — they’re winning, they’re winning, give me money to fight back — to logic — no, it was all fear, fear of what will happen if you don’t give or buy, because you will be losing.

Anyway, that’s my music choice for today. Please listen and send me money. And stay healthy. Wear a damn mask.

The end?

 

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