Eclectic Views

    
The Song is You is a radio show on which the celebrity of the week chooses
a few songs, and is interviewed about why the songs are personally
important.
  

    
Off the top of my head...

"The Long and Winding Road" and
"Dear Prudence"
  

    
Ok; tell us why.
  

    
For me, one would be the second movement of Beethoven's ninth.  I certainly
heard it enough times, since it was the lead out music for the TV news when
I was a kid.

I was never even a mediocre musician, let alone a composer.  But somehow
that piece taught me an important principle in design:  Start with a theme,
make it clear at the very beginning.  Add to it a bit.  Hand it off to a
larger or smaller element.  Make the smaller elements use it in a way.
Make the larger elements use it in a way that works for whatever it is that
they do as well.  Having done that, use a little bit of punctuation,
carefully.  Let the theme go a little different, and then bring it back.
When done, make sure that the the big things and the little things are all
on the same track.  Then wrap them up all together; done.

I don't work with notes or music, but I try to do that kind of thing in
what I do.
  

    
>> "The Long and Winding Road" and
>> "Dear Prudence"
> Ok; tell us why.

Together they pretty well describe my search for a soulmate.
  

    
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard. 
Why? Well, you'd have to meet my brother, circa 1980.  We just thought
it fit too many situations.

Lately, I've like the sentiments (and although I don't look like my
father), I strongly relate to the feelings in "Who I Am."
lyrics hidden in the next post.
  

    <hidden>
  

    
Kaatskill Serenade and Summer Wages, because they remind me how
bright dreams and possibilities are when one is young.  After a
while sentimentality doesn't seem so silly.
  

    
Maybe B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone."

Lucille starts out saying "It is bad. It has always been bad in just
this way, and it will never change. But look, it is bad in this way
too; and if it weren't bad in that way, it would be bad in this other
way. And look, over here are a whole lot of ways of feeling bad that no
one has ever actually felt, just waiting for due occasion. It is all
bad, but it is rich and interesting and complicated, and there is no
end to it."

And then B.B. starts in crying and bellowing, and he runs the same
kinds of changes, and you can hear in the back of his voice how good it
feels to catch sorrow exactly and nail it to the air. And there are
people in there with him, all in some way part of each other, because
you can do that in music, and they are doing it too. 

And why does that matter to me? I suppose because it reminds me that
feeling bad or feeling good come and go because they are a sideshow;
the main attraction is what is happening there in that song.
  

    
(Lucille is also saying "She was no good for you baby. She didn't
understand you. I understand, honey, and I'm here. You don't need
anyone but me." But that's a sideshow, too.)
  

    
It'd have to be something sung by Etta James.  or Janis Joplin.  and
now I'm not going to be able to think about much of anything else for a
while.
  

    
The song I thought of speaks to then never-grownup side of my 
life.  It also speaks to my strong and strange sense of service.
It's an old old fave:

 Cat Stevens:  Oh Very Young.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_eUnxDE8YY
(the still shots montaged into this little video are pedestrian, but 
it is fun to see the snips of the short, live performance.)

> Oh very young
> What will you leave us this time?
> You're only dancing on this earth for a short while
> And though your dreams may toss and turn you now
> They will vanish away like your dad's best jeans
> Denim blue fading up to the sky
> And though you want them to last forever
> You know they never will
> You know they never will
> And the patches make the goodbye harder still
> 
> Oh very young
> What will you leave us this time?
> There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
> And if you want this world to see a better day
> Will you carry the words of love with you?
> Will you ride the great white bird into heaven?
> And though you want to last forever
> You know you never will
> You know you never will
> And the goodbye makes the journey harder still

I am never sure how this plays to others -- to me the sweetness of it 
is in the "you know they never will" and "You know you never will"...  
last for ever, ride in triumph into heaven.  

But you still must remember the promise of your daddy's best genes and 
the words of love to carry... you still have to make a choice of what 
to leave.  And there's still never going to be a better chance to 
change your mind. 

Yeah, it speaks to me.  
  

    
Truckin', Grateful Dead.
  

    
How is it (we are here)?  Moody Blues, A question of balance.
If you could see my book selection in my library at home, you would
understand.

"How is it we are here, on this path we walk,
In this world of pointless fear, filled with empty talk,
Descending from the apes as scientist-priests all think,
Will they save us in the end, we're trembling on the brink.

Men's mighty mine-machines digging in the ground,
Stealing rare minerals where they can be found.
Concrete caves with iron doors, bury it again,
While a starving frightened world fills the sea with grain.

Her love is like a fire burning inside,
Her love is so much higher it can't be denied,
She sends us her glory, it's always been there,
Her love's all around us, it's there for you and me to share.

Men's mighty mine-machines digging in the ground,
Stealing rare minerals where they can be found.
Concrete caves with iron doors, bury it again,
While a starving frightened world fills the sea with grain.

How is it we are here
How is it we are here
How is it we are here"
  

    

I remember when I was a very little girl, our house caught on fire. I'll
never forget the look on my father's face as he gathered me up in his arms
and raced through the burning building out to the pavement. I stood there
shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world go up in flames. And
when it was all over I said to myself, "Is that all there is to a fire?"

Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends,
then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is ...

And when I was 12 years old, my father took me to a circus, the greatest 
show on earth. There were clowns and elephants and dancing bears. And a 
beautiful lady in pink tights flew high above our heads. And so I sat 
there watching the marvelous spectacle. I had the feeling that something 
was missing. I don't know what, but when it was over, I said to myself, 
"is that all there is to a circus?" 

Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends,
then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is ...

Then I fell in love, head over heels in love, with the most wonderful boy 
in the world. We would take long walks by the river or just sit for hours 
gazing into each other's eyes. We were so very much in love. Then one day 
he went away and I thought I'd die, but I didn't, and when I didn't I said 
to myself, "is that all there is to love?"

Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends,
then let's keep dancing ...

I know what you must be saying to yourselves, if that's the way she feels 
about it why doesn't she just end it all? Oh, no, not me. I'm in no hurry 
for that final disappointment, for I know just as well as I'm standing 
here talking to you, when that final moment comes and I'm breathing my 
last breath, I'll be saying to myself:

Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends,
then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is.

   ******************************


That's "Is That All There Is?" by Leiber & Stoller, and popularized by 
Peggy Lee. I love the lyric because so much of life's expectations don't 
match up to the reality, which is pale in comparison to what I'd imagined 
*could* be. 

In the end, enjoying yourself with your friends is about the best thing. 
  

    
My mom loved that song (especially, sadly, the 'break out the booze' 
line), but I didn't understand it.  Now I do.
  

    

I don't always feel like "Is That All There Is?" of course. Somedays I feel
like "Lazybones" ("When you go fishin', I bet you was wishin', fish don't
grab at your li-iiine..."). I have a remarkable capacity to sit still and do
nothing for a very long time. There are days I'm a Brick House, and others
I think I'm the bus in "The Wheels on the bus go round and round."

There sure are a lot of me's in here with me.