Notes From Neal

After writing yesterdays’ post, Time, I am reminded of the song, Sunrise Sunset from the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

(Tevye)
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?

(Golde)
I don’t remember growing older
When did they?

(Tevye)
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he get to be so tall?

(Golde)
Wasn’t it yesterday
When they were small?

(Men)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

(Women)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

OK. It’s the start of Derby Week. I’m supposed to have “expert picks” for this race on The First Saturday in May. I’m mean, I am a horse racing fan. So I should have Derby Picks.

To appease my dear readers for the next several days, let me offer up this Rolling Stones video of their song, Dead Flowers instead.

And I promise, later on in the week. Derby Picks.

Now, back to you Chet…or Quinella Queen. David?

I Make the Money, You Get the Glory is written and performed by Kathleen Edwards, a Canadian songwriter. I love the lyrics. Here is the chorus:

You’re cool and cred like Fogerty
I’m Elvis Presley in the 70’s
You’re Chateauneuf, I’m Yellow Label
You’re the buffet I’m just the table
I’m a Ford Tempo you’re a Maserati
You’re the Great One, I’m Marty McSorley
You’re the Concorde, I’m economy
I make the dough but you get the glory

Would you like to hear this tune? Here’s the link where it can be played on Songza. Or you can take a look at the video below, apparently made by someone in the front rows at one of her concerts.

Dedicated to my daughter, Sarah. Since a young girl, she found her passion in dance. For her, life is a dance of beauty, grace, style, and passion.

Jackson Browne has always moved me with his music and song writing. One of my favorite albums is Late for the Sky, and the song on that album, For a Dancer. The song is one of hope, yet sung with much sadness.

Here are the lyrics:

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don’t remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must have thought you’d always be around
Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you’re nowhere to be found

I don’t know what happens when people die
Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It’s like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
That I can’t sing
I can’t help listening
And I can’t help feeling stupid standing ’round
Crying as they ease you down
’cause I know that you’d rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(there’s nothing you can do about it anyway)

Just do the steps that you’ve been shown
By everyone you’ve ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another’s steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you’ll do alone

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don’t let the uncertainty turn you around
(the world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound

Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you’ll never know

– Jackson Browne

I’ll end with a video of Jackson Browne performing this song, apparently recorded back in 1976:

Below is a listing of the Top 25 songs played on my iPod. As you can tell, I enjoy a lot of those oldies and goodies from the 60s and 70s. Since I frequently work alone as a software consultant, I have the luxury of listening to music of my choice all day long.

Of all these, today at least, my favorite of the bunch is Warm Ways (5), which to me, is simply a “warming” type song. The Eagles tune, Ol’ 55, written by Tom Waits would be a close second. Music has a way of linking me to memories, usually pleasant ones. Ol’ 55 reminds me of my days following graduate school at West Virginia University, driving home to Ohio from Morgantown at six in the morning.

And it’s six in the morning, gave me no warning; I had to be on my way.
Well there’s trucks all a-passing me, and the lights are all flashing,
I’m on my way home from your place.
– Tom Waits

What songs bring back good memories for you? What kind of music do you enjoy? Feel welcome to add you comments below.

Please excuse me for being redundant, full well knowing that I’ve asked these questions before. But indulge me, dear reader, as these questions, originally asked by Don McClean in American Pie, are truly of significance.

So here goes:

1. Did you write the book of love,
   And do you have faith in God above,
   If the Bible tells you so?
2. Do you believe in rock ’n roll,
3. Can music save your mortal soul,
4. And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Please respond below. Be sure to number your responses to correspond to the questions posed above.

Thank you.

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie.

A friend of mine sent me this link to a web site that plays oldies in the form of a jukebox.

Playa Coli has any number of tunes, selectable by year, from 1950-1982 or so. For instance, right now I’m listening to Let’s Go by The Routers from 1962. I seriously doubt I’ve heard that song since 1962 either.

For each year, you can view a list of the top hits for that year. Here’s a list of the Top Ten out of the Top 50 for 1960.

1. Cathy’s Clown, Everly Brothers
2. He’ll Have To Go, Jim Reeves
3. Theme From “A Summer Place”, Percy Faith
4. It’s Now Or Never, Elvis Presley
5. Teen Angel, Mark Dinning
6. I’m Sorry, Brenda Lee
7. Running Bear, Johnny Preston
8. Handy Man, Jimmy Jones
9. Stuck On You, Elvis Presley
10. The Twist, Chubby Checker
11. Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool, Connie Francis
12. Alley-Oop, Hollywood Argyles
13. Greenfields, Brothers Four
14. What In The World’s Come Over You, Jack Scott
15. El Paso, Marty Robbins
16. Wild One, Bobby Rydell
17. My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own, Connie Francis
18. Sweet Nothin’s, Brenda Lee
19. Only The Lonely, Roy Orbison
20. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini, Brian Hyland

Each year, on Martin Luther King Day, Cincinnati marks the occasion with a day of events. This year, the activities included a march, a service at Music Hall, several high school basketball games, and a community-wide celebration of the works of a man who acted for freedom and justice in this country of ours.

I sing (baritone) with a chorus called Voices of Freedom, who, on this day, lifted our 100+ voices as a major part of that service at Music Hall. Our songs are of community, peace, and freedom, many of the sources for our music being spirituals and other songs of joy and freedom. The music reaches somewhere deep inside me, inspiring me to celebrate my humanness and my connection with all those around me. I sing these songs with passion, love, and joy.

After the concert today, several of us went out for lunch, enjoying the opportunity to spend time together and enjoy good conversation. As you might imagine on this day, the talk moved towards social change, peace, and so forth. At some point, maybe it was after that first glass of wine and halfway through the soup, we talked about the peace movement, the Year 1968–when Dr. King was assassinated along with Bobby Kennedy, our communities were rioting, the Tet Offensive took place, and I graduated high school. I mentioned that in subsequent years I was actively involved with the peace movement in Cincinnati as a committee member on several anti-war planning teams, a marshal on many peace marches through the streets of The Queen City, and actively involved in peace-oriented groups on the University of Cincinnati campus.

It took little transition, well, at least with this group, to get from the Movement during the Vietnam War times to speaking out against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. What was I doing now? How was I involved?

I am not involved in the same way as I was almost 40 years ago. My beliefs are quite similar, but my actions quite different.

My comment, on this Martin Luther King Day was that I believe that what I can do is sing for change. That by bringing music of peace, commitment, and change to this community, I could do my part. As I mentioned, I’ve done my share of marching.

Through music and the passion it inspires, we can reach others. Motivating and encouraging them to transcend the day-to-day. With song, we can reach inside our own hearts and touch the hearts of those around us, moving them to do the right thing.

What do you think? Does music resonate within you and inspire you? Am I full of truth or full of baloney? Or somewhere in between? Is singing for change, as I characterize it, a valid method for bringing change to this nation so desperately in need of healing?

It doesn’t get much better than this. A bluegrass band performing West Virginia, written by Hazel Dickens. The band is called Grassahol, a bluegrass band from the Columbus, Ohio area.

Enjoy the music and the scenes from The Mountain State.

“And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make.”
— “The End” by The Beatles on Abbey Road

“Any kind of love without passion
That ain’t no kind of lovin’ at all, well”
— “After the Thrill is Gone” by The Eagles