Singing along to the radio with your teens in the car can be hazardous. Let me just leave it at this - the lyrics are not "Go Charlotte, it's your birthday."
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What Did You Say? Episode 3
Do you know the song "American Woman?" Made popular in the 70s by The Guess Who and remade a few years ago by Lenny Kravitz, "American Woman" is a playful is not thought provoking romp through some classic rock. It is important, however, not to mishear the lyrics.
My son, tells the story on himself as hearing the words "American Woman" as "A Naked Woman." Insert that into the lyrics and you might understand why a pubescent male was so confused by the song.
Do you know the song "American Woman?" Made popular in the 70s by The Guess Who and remade a few years ago by Lenny Kravitz, "American Woman" is a playful is not thought provoking romp through some classic rock. It is important, however, not to mishear the lyrics.
My son, tells the story on himself as hearing the words "American Woman" as "A Naked Woman." Insert that into the lyrics and you might understand why a pubescent male was so confused by the song.
Laughing About What We THOUGHT We Heard - Episode 1
My son (now 21) tells the story of a car ride with his mom and older sister when he was a young teen. The song playing was "Jump, Jive an Wail" sung by Brain Setzer.
He rode in the back in disbelief as he witnessed his sister and mother 'seat dancing' and singing enthusiastically the song. His problem, he learned later, was that he had the chorus line wrong. What we know as "jump, jive" he heard as "drunk drive." See the lyrics below as he heard them.
Baby, baby it looks like it's gonna hail
Baby, baby it' looks like it's gonna hail
You better come inside
Let me teach you how to drive and wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail away!
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale
Mama's in the backyard learning how to drive and wail
(chorus)
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male
One good thing about him
He knows how to drive and wail
Jack and jill went up the hill to get a pail
Jack and jill went up the hill to get a pail
Jill stayed up, she wants to learn how to drive and wail
(chorus)
Funny stuff!
My son (now 21) tells the story of a car ride with his mom and older sister when he was a young teen. The song playing was "Jump, Jive an Wail" sung by Brain Setzer.
He rode in the back in disbelief as he witnessed his sister and mother 'seat dancing' and singing enthusiastically the song. His problem, he learned later, was that he had the chorus line wrong. What we know as "jump, jive" he heard as "drunk drive." See the lyrics below as he heard them.
Baby, baby it looks like it's gonna hail
Baby, baby it' looks like it's gonna hail
You better come inside
Let me teach you how to drive and wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail
You gotta drunk drive, and then you wail away!
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale
Mama's in the backyard learning how to drive and wail
(chorus)
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male
One good thing about him
He knows how to drive and wail
Jack and jill went up the hill to get a pail
Jack and jill went up the hill to get a pail
Jill stayed up, she wants to learn how to drive and wail
(chorus)
Funny stuff!
I often write about the value of human to human contact - real, in person, eye gazing into eye, breath mingling conversation. Do yourself a favor and listen to this song. Listen carefully and enjoy some of the best writing that this amazing duo, Simon and Garfunkle ever put together.
What is the real difference between solitude and loneliness if not a spiritual matter?
Cutting to the chase, I sometimes find myself alone and enjoying the simple peace and independence that such time allows: reading, writing, listening to music, or riding the currents of thoughts and dreams. This is a type of alone time I truly cherish - I think of this when I use the word solitude.
Then there are times when I'm uncomfortably alone. Times when my thoughts and emotions run chaotic and intense, times when tumultuous tides seem to push me about from one feeling to another - and my natural reaction is to try to change the way I feel from the outside. These are dangerous times. Strangely enough, I am as likely to have these moments of loneliness when I am in a crowd of people as when I am alone. Loneliness seems to come from internal unmet needs, a sense - real or perceived - of lack, of want.
There are also moments when, as I live my life and learn the patterns of relationships and inward realities - that my loneliness will turn to solitude.
Recently, I came across this song by Suzanne Vega that captures part of this experience beautifully. I do like her poetic lyrics.
Cutting to the chase, I sometimes find myself alone and enjoying the simple peace and independence that such time allows: reading, writing, listening to music, or riding the currents of thoughts and dreams. This is a type of alone time I truly cherish - I think of this when I use the word solitude.
Then there are times when I'm uncomfortably alone. Times when my thoughts and emotions run chaotic and intense, times when tumultuous tides seem to push me about from one feeling to another - and my natural reaction is to try to change the way I feel from the outside. These are dangerous times. Strangely enough, I am as likely to have these moments of loneliness when I am in a crowd of people as when I am alone. Loneliness seems to come from internal unmet needs, a sense - real or perceived - of lack, of want.
There are also moments when, as I live my life and learn the patterns of relationships and inward realities - that my loneliness will turn to solitude.
Recently, I came across this song by Suzanne Vega that captures part of this experience beautifully. I do like her poetic lyrics.
Digital Disengagement
I'm confessing upfront that I don't know where this experiment will lead, but I do know that I must do it.
I have been spending too much time engaged with the Internet lately. Between my work (Digital Marketing Agency) and my personal 'play' in the realms of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Four Square, I have been constantly engaged with the digital world. I enjoy all of the connections that this interactive world allows. I have people who I know and value only via the web and others who share with me in the flesh-and-blood world and enhance that sharing via the virtual world. I enjoy the pace of interactions, the laughter, the positive massages and the extension of myself that Digital allows me.
My work involves some measure of interaction on the web, as well. Yet, when I really analyze my work-related time (and I have this week), very little other than email and research is critical to my goals vocationally.
I do enjoy the digital world and its constantly changing and ever teaching environment keeps me stimulated and growing, but I am paying a price.
Here's the rub. I've noticed some changes in my life - more my experience and enjoyment of life - that just won't do. I will not go into the details here, but will generalize my concern thus: I am not a natural child of the digital world and to continue to process and engage at such an intense and constant level is tiring and is changing the way I think, process and most importantly the way I care for myself.
So, here's my confession. I will be backing away from the Internet. If you are a regular reader here, you will likely not notice a difference in my blogging frequency. Blogging, as I practice it, is less about frantic, quick thought and more about thinking, writing, and creating. I'll not stop blogging. I am backing off of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in terms of frequency of interactions. The same is true with my non-work related email interactions.
I will be blocking time (some of the 86,400 seconds of every day) for non-digital engagement, and limiting my online time with a timer. My commitment is to the next 21 days. Already, this weekend as refreshed my spirit as I have only spent 3 hours online and left my iPhone sitting by itself for hours at a time. I have spent the newly reclaimed time: hiking, reading, listening (just sitting and listening) to music and song lyrics, playing with my dogs, and talking face-to-face with family and friends. I like it.
Wish me success.
Photo taken October 2008, Appalachian Trail Hike
Winter Music saved My Life
When I was a young adult, music saved my life in many dimensions. perhaps we can all say that music has saved our life, our sanity, our being at some point or another, and that is what I am saying. Today I am celebrating the music that educated me on the possibility to appreciate music as it occurs naturally in nature.
The Paul Winter Consort, founded in 1967 and lead by Paul Winter is an assembly of musicians with strong influences of Jazz and Blues. The group's work is still very much alive and won Grammys as recently as 2005, 2007. I first heard The Paul Winter Consort when he played at Wofford College in 1978 following the release of their album Common Ground. I still have the vinyl album with the group's autographs...somewhere.
The striking thing then and now about the music lead by Paul Winter is the incorporation of animal sounds, recorded in nature, into their music. I was able to hear the true music of the wolf and the whale and experience the gentle continuance of their song through the haunting rifts of saxophone and lumbering rhythms of percussion. It was through Winter's music that I began to develop an affinity with the planet and those with whom I share it.
If you can stop for a moment today, do yourself a favor and turn out the lights, turn up the sound and let this group take you on a journey into your very own world - lead by the voices of nature and the music of masterful musicians.
Wolf Eyes
Lullaby of Mother Whale
When I was a young adult, music saved my life in many dimensions. perhaps we can all say that music has saved our life, our sanity, our being at some point or another, and that is what I am saying. Today I am celebrating the music that educated me on the possibility to appreciate music as it occurs naturally in nature.
The Paul Winter Consort, founded in 1967 and lead by Paul Winter is an assembly of musicians with strong influences of Jazz and Blues. The group's work is still very much alive and won Grammys as recently as 2005, 2007. I first heard The Paul Winter Consort when he played at Wofford College in 1978 following the release of their album Common Ground. I still have the vinyl album with the group's autographs...somewhere.
The striking thing then and now about the music lead by Paul Winter is the incorporation of animal sounds, recorded in nature, into their music. I was able to hear the true music of the wolf and the whale and experience the gentle continuance of their song through the haunting rifts of saxophone and lumbering rhythms of percussion. It was through Winter's music that I began to develop an affinity with the planet and those with whom I share it.
If you can stop for a moment today, do yourself a favor and turn out the lights, turn up the sound and let this group take you on a journey into your very own world - lead by the voices of nature and the music of masterful musicians.
Wolf Eyes
Lullaby of Mother Whale
Meet Tom Rush
From the cramped space of my college dorm room and the defined limits of my young adult life, the voice of Tom Rush, gentle and filled with melancholy, touches my mind, my soul and reminds me that there are those who capture life in ballads and tunes hauntingly impassioned.
Tom Rush has both lyrics and music that are of a time gone by. Heck, even for the years of his popularity, he was singing stories and a style from the days of cowboy ballads and hobo songs.
Look him up. Take a trip on some of his lyrics, or just sit back and have your heart rocked lovingly by Maggie from "Ladies Love Outlaws."
String Quartet
It is a mess at first
The bow strikes and glides across a single string and back again
The note wobbles for a moment
Then settles to a steady call
Joined then by the rocking and striated rhythms
Of another set of strings
And another
Then another
The tatters of sound assemble
Like clouds and squalls
Of a sea storm
Then silence before the storm
Slowly comes the rain
The thunder
The wind
Singing softly its message
We are awash in a sea
Of harmonies and melodies
Here it is useless to navigate
This storm will take us where it wills
Surrender is always
The best option
When accosted
By beauty
The painter stands apart from the painting
The poet lays aside the parchment
The sculptor steps back from the statue
Each, in turns applies craft upon an object
Releasing it, complete and whole
They remain.
Where then, do we find the line separating the dancer from the dance?
Body, spirit and movement are at once creator and creation
The dance exists only with and only in a moment of movement
And in its incessant demand to be, the dance will – always does –
Consume the dancer leaving
Him draped across the floor
Her broken over the chair
Leaving them worn thin in each other’s arms
Only able to gasp a memory of remembering
The dance, only shadows of their life
Gone
Is the dance
As the dance continues upon
Another
one, two, three…