SONG OF THE WEEK – HIGHWAYMAN

“You don’t have a soul.  You are a soul.  You have a body.”

We start with a famous quotation – one that I received in an email just a few days ago1 – which is often attributed to C. S. Lewis.  It appears, though, that Lewis never publicly wrote or said those words.  He probably did not even believe them.2

Here in the 21st Century, a time when what was once considered frivolous New Age thought has subtly infiltrated even traditional religious institutions, the quotation seems a reasonable concept that a spiritually inclined person might believe.  However, it is certainly not the traditional Christian belief.

Christians have long believed that the body – indeed, all the material world – is the loving creation of God.  Humans are seen as “enfleshed spirits,” with the body being much more than a machine that can be cast aside and traded in for a new one when it wears out.  The Apostle’s Creed, which is from the 4th Century, affirms a belief in “the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.  Amen.”  That view is still the accepted dogma and is probably the main reason that most Christians reject the idea of reincarnation.

Still, the thought that we are immortal souls with a temporary body has long resonated with some Christians.  A training manual for the YMCA, published in 1900 (the year C. S.  Lewis celebrated his second birthday), states, “Men often say, ‘I have a soul.’  That is not the highest truth.  We must learn to say, ‘I am a soul, and I have a body.'”3

The basic idea is much older.  In fact, one of the basic tenets of the so-called “Gnostic heresy” of the 1st and 2nd Centuries was that the spirit, or soul, is more important than the body.

For those who believe in reincarnation, the idea is even older and very easy to accept.  For example, in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna reminds us that “as a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”4

Underlying all of these expressions is the belief that there is something eternal within each of us, and probably within every living thing.  It is from that perspective that we finally get to the new Song of the Week, “Highwayman,” by the Highwaymen.

“Highwayman” was originally a reflection on reincarnation by noted songwriter Jimmy Webb.  Webb is the writer of a string of hits beginning in the mid-1960s  – songs like “Up, Up and Away”; “Wichita Lineman”; “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”; and many more, including, of course, “MacArthur Park.”5 Clearly, Webb knows how to pen a popular tune; though most of his songs, to quote Oscar the Grouch, are just “not my cup of mud.”

Webb has discussed the composing of “Highwayman” in several interviews.  It seems that in 1977 he was in London for a recording session and spent a long evening partying with singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson.  When he finally got to sleep, he had a vivid dream in which he was running down a dirt road, carrying a brace of pistols and being pursued by police.  The dream awakened him, so he got up and wrote the first verse of the song.

He wasn’t sure where the song was going, but in thinking about what he had written he realized the highwayman, who had been hanged, had not really died; but had moved on to his next life.  Webb then wrote three more verses describing incarnations as a sailor who died at sea, a workman killed while constructing Hoover Dam and an astronaut who will “fly a starship across the universe divide.”

Webb recorded “Highwayman” for his 1977 album, El Mirage.  I don’t know whether he accepted the idea of reincarnation or was just creating another of his hit songs.  His father was a Baptist minister who worked in rural Oklahoma and Texas, so he certainly did not learn about reincarnation while he was growing up.  Still, with Webb singing each of the verses, the song clearly told of consecutive incarnations of an eternal soul.

Webb then offered the song to other singers – some of whom, like Glen Campbell, recorded it; while others, like Waylon Jennings, chose not to6.

A few years later, Jennings was working on a “country super group” project with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash.  It was suggested that “Highwayman” would be good for them because each of the song’s four verses could be sung by a different member of the quartet, and the title “Highwayman” seemed appropriate to their reputations.

They recorded it.  The single became the Number 1 Country song in nation in May, 1985, and remained on the charts for some 20 weeks.  The song fit them so well that they named their “super group” the Highwaymen.

Their recording adds nuances to the song that did not exist in previous versions.  In part, that was because Nelson, Kristofferson, Jennings and Cash are all better vocalists than Jimmy Webb.  More importantly, having a separate person sing each verse permits more diverse interpretations.  Do the verses actually recite incarnations of a single soul, or are there four souls who are now together in Eternity?  Are the seemingly separate souls actually one Unity that includes us all?

The video shows us four riders, reminiscent of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  The image is reinforced about 35 or 40 seconds into the video, when the highwayman is being hanged at the end of the first verse.  Through a doorway, a rider on a pale horse appears and then moves away.  Does that represent Revelation 6:8, which says:  “And I looked, and behold, a pale horse!  And its rider’s name was death, and Hades followed him”?

I will close with another quotation, this one from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

“We are one, after all, you and I, together we suffer, together exist, and forever will recreate each other.”

Continue reading “SONG OF THE WEEK – HIGHWAYMAN”

SONG OF THE WEEK – THAT’S ANOTHER STORY

Earlier this evening a guy named Hugh, who is in his 70s, showed me a pocket watch case that had belonged to his great-grandfather and been passed down to him.  That case was special because there exist no pictures of his great-grandfather, no letters or other writings from him and no other memorabilia.  So all Hugh knows about his ancestor is that the man must have owned a pocket watch.

Thinking about my ancestors, my father came of age during the Great Depression.  He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps.  He joined the Marines and was stationed at Pearl Harbor on that infamous day, December 7, 1941.  He fought at Guadalcanal and elsewhere in the South Pacific before contracting malaria.  He worked for years as a railway postal clerk.  He loved coaching youth baseball, and did that until he was about 80 years old

My mother was valedictorian of her high school class. She was one of the first Women Marines.  She was named Arvada, Colorado’s “Woman of the Year” because of her charitable activities.  She ran several successful businesses after she had pretty much raised her family.

My paternal grandparents came to this country from France, with their children, shortly before World War I.  They eventually settled in Western Illinois, where my grandfather was a railroad mechanic.

My maternal grandparents came West from Mississippi in a covered wagon.  The wagon broke down in East Texas, so they stayed there and spent the rest of their lives farming.

One or more of my great-grandparents may have owned a pocket watch.  I don’t know.  Hugh has more knowledge of one of his great-grandfathers than I do of any any of mine.

My mother passed away five years ago this week.  My father only lived about three months after that.  Back about seven or eight years ago, I asked my parents if they would write down some things they thought were important in their lives; but they said they didn’t want to take the time to write.

Next, I bought them a small digital audio recorder and suggested that they simply talk about those things because someday their grandchildren or great-grandchildren would wonder about them.  They did record for about 15 minutes, but then put the machine in a drawer and never took it out again.

My own life has not been very exciting, but one of the reasons I wrote my 65 Years in 65 Days series of blogs a couple of years ago was to have at least some record that I passed through this world, in case one of my great-grandchildren may want proof somewhere down the road.

I know, of course, that the 50,000+ words that I wrote are just as limited in their ability to convey to some future descendant what my life may have been like as are the 15 minutes of talking my parents recorded or Hugh’s great-grandfather’s watch case.  I can see why my parents were hesitant to try to tell something about their lives.  Except when used by a rare master, words are generally inadequate to describe a life.  What anyone’s life really meant is another story that maybe you don’t need to know right now; another story none of us quite know how to tell.

“That’s Another Story” is also the title of a song from the first album by a group called Lothar and the Hand People.  They only recorded two albums, releasing one in 1968 and the second in 1969.  Although the group did not have much commercial success, they were quite influential in the way they melded rock, or even country and Baroque, with electronic music.

The group formed here in Colorado, and played regularly at such venues as the Exodus in Denver and the Mad Dog in Aspen during the mid-1960s.  In the late 1960s, they moved to New York and were part of the experimental music scene in that city.  The personnel changed a bit over time, but for most of its existence the band members were Paul Conly, John Emelin, Rusty Ford, Tom Flye, Kim King and a Theremin named Lothar.

For those who don’t know, a Theremin is an electronic instrument that is played by moving one’s hands near two vertical metal antennas.  The musician does not actually touch the instrument; but since his or her hand movements are what produce the sounds, it was natural for Lothar, who had no hands, to think of the humans in the band as “hand people.”  The Theremin is the instrument that plays out the “vibrations” in the Beach Boy’s “Good Vibrations.”

Lothar and the Hand People’s music also incorporated Moog synthesizers and more traditional instruments like guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion and harmonica.  I could go on about the group and its music, however I think it is time to move on to another story.

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SONG OF THE WEEK – PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON

This week, we are going with just a song and no social commentary.  “Puff the Magic Dragon” has become a classic children’s song – enjoyed by adults, as well – and almost everyone knows the words.  Even my year and a half-old grandson, Ryder, knows the words.

Some evil people will tell you that the song is full of drug references, but that is not true.  It is, as I said, a children’s song – about a dragon.  I remember being at a Peter, Paul and Mary concert back in 1965.  When the group started the introduction to “Puff,” I heard someone nearby say, “This song is about pot.”  By coincidence, at just that moment, the performers quit playing and Peter Yarrow said, “This is a children’s song about a dragon.  It is not about drugs.  When I decide to write a song about drugs, I’ll tell you.”  then they started playing again, and sang the song.

As I understand the genesis of “Puff,” back in 1958 or 1959, Peter Yarrow was attending college at Cornell.  His roommate had a friend named Leonard Lipton who had recently read Ogden Nash’s poem, “The Tale of Custard the Dragon.”  (You can read it by clicking here.)   Inspired by that poem, and while visiting at Yarrow’s residence, Lipton made up his own poem about a dragon named Puff, and typed it out on Yarrow’s typewriter.  When he went home, the poem remained on the typewriter.

Peter Yarrow joined Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers to form Peter, Paul and Mary in 1961.  Now, Peter had seen that poem on his typewriter a few years earlier.  He was impressed and modified it to make a song – the one we all know.

In 1962, Peter, Paul and Mary released two popular records, “Lemon Tree” and “If I Had a Hammer.”  They decided to start 1963 (a great year for them, with two hit albums and three Top 10 singles), by releasing “Puff” in January.  Before that happened, Peter did contact Leonard Lipton to tell him about the song, and to give him credit as its co-writer.  Consequently, Lipton has received half of the royalties ever since.

Leonard Lipton seems like an interesting guy.  He has published four books, has produced some 25 independent films and holds about 70 patents, many dealing with processes for 3D film making.  In an interview I read, he says he is not much of a Peter, Paul and May fan.  I assume he appreciates the royalties, nevertheless.

We are not here to talk about Leonard Lipton, though.  This is about Puff.  As I said earlier, everyone already knows the words to Puff, so the version chosen here for Song of the Week is an instrumental – a Hawaiian slack key guitar rendition.

As you know, the song tells us that Puff frolicked in a land called Honnah Lee.  I can’t tell you where to find that on a map, but on the North Shore of the island of Kauai there is a nice little town called Hanalei that sits right next to Hanalei Bay, near the mouth of the Hanalei River.  Cathy and I visited there last September, and it is beautiful.

While there, we attended a concert by a slack key guitar player named Doug McMaster, accompanied by his wife, Sandy, on ukulele.  During the concert’s intermission, we were looking at the McMasters’ CDs, and I noticed one titled In a Land Called Hanalei.  I remarked that this could be Puff’s real home.  Sandy overheard me and asked if I would like to hear Doug play “Puff.”  I said, “Sure.”

At the beginning of the second half of the concert, Sandy told a story about Doug sitting on the beach, playing for passing tourists and locals (and probably chickens since this was Kauai).  Among those listening was a girl about 8 or 9 years old, vacationing with her parents.  She asked Doug to play “Puff”; but he said it was not part of his repertoire.  The girl accepted that excuse and went off to enjoy the beach.  The next year, the same girl, a year older, was again on the North Shore with her family, and Doug was again playing on the beach.  She asked Doug if he had learned “Puff” yet.  He admitted he had not, but told her that if she would come back the next day, he would play it for her.  He worked out his arrangement at home that night, and kept his promise to the girl the very next day.

I wrote a little bit about Doug and Sandy in a comment to a post last year.  You can learn more about them, and purchase some of their excellent music, at their website, mcmasterslackkey.com.

I don’t have a video for this song.  Instead, here is the audio, with a picture of Hanalei Bay:

Hanalei Bay

 

Continue reading “SONG OF THE WEEK – PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON”

SONG OF THE WEEK – THE BALLAD OF HIGH NOON (DO NOT FORSAKE ME)

High Noon (1952), a classic American Western movie, was one of the first films selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry by the Library of Congress.  It tells the story of Will Kane (Gary Cooper), who, as the long-time marshal of Hadleyville in the New Mexico Territory, had cleaned up what was once a wild and lawless town, making it a place where decent people could live and raise a family.  As the film opens, Kane has just married Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), a pacifist Quaker, and has turned in his badge so he and Amy can start a new life keeping a store somewhere.

Just at that time, word comes that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a desperate outlaw Kane had brought to justice, had been released from prison on a “legal technicality,” and will arrive on the train in one hour intent on killing Kane for revenge.  Miller will not be alone, though.  His brother and two other members of his gang are already at the station awaiting the train.1

Initially, Kane listens to the pleas of his new wife and leaves town with her.  Before they get too far, though, Kane decides he must go back.  He argues that Miller will keep chasing him until he can seek revenge, and that the people of Hadleyville are in danger because the new marshal will not be in town and on the job until the next day.

Back in town, he begins asking the local citizens for assistance so they can present a united front against Miller and his henchmen.  No one will help him, though.  They all have some excuse:  I’m a coward.  You never came to our church service.  If you leave, Miller will go, too.  I wanted to be the new marshal, but you wouldn’t endorse me for the position.  Any altercation will be bad for the town’s image.  I’m just too old.

Amy is not supportive, either.  She tells Kane that if he does not leave with her immediately, she will leave without him, taking the same train out of town that is bringing Miller in.

Kane must decide what action to take in these most difficult circumstances.  He ultimately chooses to face all four of the outlaws alone.

The plot is pretty straightforward, everything happening in virtually real time over a period of little more than one hour.  The underlying themes of the film are much more complicated, however.

The screenplay was written by Carl Foreman, who had been a member of the Communist Party a decade or so earlier until he became disillusioned and quit.  While he was working on this screenplay, he was summoned before Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Senate committee and the House Unamerican Activities Committee, was blacklisted by Hollywood and had to move to England in order to continue writing.  High Noon is seen by some as an allegory of the Communist witch hunt and a criticism of the establishment intellectuals who would not stand up for those who were being persecuted.

The film’s director, Fred Zinnemann, was a Polish Jew who had lived in Germany before immigrating to the United States in the 1930s.  Both of his parents lost their lives in the Holocaust.  With that background, the film is also seen as an allegory of those who were complicit in the violence of the Fascist regimes before and during World War II.

One of the most common adjectives used to describe the movie is “existential.”  Kane is clearly a human being caught up in an existential crisis.  It has been compared to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (or, I might add, the Firesign Theater’s Waiting for the Electrician).  The significant difference is that Godot and the electrician are never going to come.  For Kane, on the other hand, the clock is ticking down for Miller’s entrance.

I chose the theme song from this film as Song of the Week because there has been so much news lately about excessive use of force by police officers.  Within the past few days, two people here in Colorado have died while in police custody, a police officer in Ohio was indicted for murder because of an on-duty shooting, a great deal of attention has focused on a Black woman who died in Texas after being arrested for a minor offense – and the list could go on and on.

I was reminded of a conversation I had with a veteran police officer – an intelligent, brave, perceptive and respected gentleman I will simply call “Pat.”  This was back a few years when I was practicing law and Pat was involved in an Age Discrimination case.  He told me that as a police officer, he faced existential crises every day.  When he arrived at the scene of some incident, he told me, he realized that if he got out of his car he would more than likely have to fight with someone.  If he stayed in his car, he could wait for backup that would make his actions less risky, but could permit the difficult situation to which he had been called to get out of hand, possibly resulting in injury or death to one or more people.  Or, Pat said, he could simply drive away.

I don’t know enough about any of the situations that have recently been in the news to be able to say who is right or wrong.  Certainly, there are some police officers who overreact or are bullies or racists who should not be wearing a badge.  Other times, as Pat or Gary Cooper could tell us, tragedies can result when decent people face decisions that bring the meaning or value of life into question.

Returning to this week’s Song, the music for “The Ballad of High Noon” was written by Dmitri Tiomkin and the lyrics by Ned Washington.  It was an innovative song in several ways.  Before High Noon, it was unusual for Western movies to even have a theme song.  This was not only a good song but a narrative précis of the plot and characters – all in less than two and a half minutes.  It was also a theme, parts of which were repeated throughout the film, to aid in building suspense and moving the action to its exciting conclusion.

The most popular version of the song was done by Frankie Laine; but that was not the original version.  To make it a better popular song, the lyrics in Laine’s adaptation were changed slightly so that they did not refer directly to the characters of High Noon.  The original version from the soundtrack was performed by country music legend, and one of the original “singing cowboys,” Tex Ritter.  Here is how Tex sang the song:

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SONG OF THE WEEK – ANNA SUN

For readers who are in a hurry, let me state the lesson that should be taken from this post right here in the first sentence:  Entropy is real.

Technically, entropy is a measure of the ways in which a thermodynamic system may be arranged.  It is essentially the only law of physics that depends on time moving ever forward.  According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, a closed system will become more random and less ordered over time.  The term has taken on a less formal meaning and, in common usage, implies that everything becomes less orderly if left to its own devices.

Performing simple tasks of household maintenance, as I have been doing over the past few days, certainly brings principle home1.  A severe hail storm last year left some tiny dents in our vinyl siding and some mold had started growing in those dents on the North side of the house.  As I was cleaning that, I noticed a window or two needed painting.  Of course, if you neglect the painting the wood will rot.  I also noticed some cracks in a concrete and cinder block planter.  Cracks, you know, have a tendency to widen and lengthen and spread if they are not repaired.

Consequently, I picked “Anna Sun” by Walk the Moon because it begins, “Screen falling off the door, door hanging off the hinges” and the most memorable part of the chorus is “What do you know?  This house is falling apart/What can I say?  This house is falling apart.”

Those lyrics would lead one to believe that the song, indeed, tells us of entropy.  I think it does, but the band probably does not think that.  Walk the Moon is a four-man indie rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio.  Lead singer Nicholas Petricca, and at least some of the other members, attended Kenyon College, which is a small, prestigious liberal arts school.  Anna Sun is an associate professor of Sociology and Asian Studies at Kenyon2.  The song was named after her, though she did not have any of the band members in her classes.  Some of them were in a philosophy class taught by her husband, another Kenyon professor.

Petricca has said that the song is “about college, about maintaining that little bit of being a kid.  Don’t be afraid to play.”  Indeed, the lyrics reference the South parking Lot and the West Mezzanine and other things that mean almost nothing to those of us who have never been to Kenyon.  From the video produced by the band, it is apparent that they are essentially talking about a party for graduation or the end of a school year.

So how does entropy fit in?  Let’s start with “a little bit of being a kid.”  By the time any human being reaches middle age, he or she knows that the human body is a prime example of entropy in action.  If you don’t watch your diet, engage in reasonable exercise, get enough sleep and generally lead a healthy lifestyle, tissues and organs and systems will rapidly deteriorate.  Even the twenty-something kids in Walk the Moon write, “My feet are still sore, my back is on the fringes.”

Also consider the college students attending the year-end party.  Over the following months and years, those men and women will move across the country and around the world.  There are many of us who now think of a best friend from college or high school as “some guy I used to know.”  A focused effort to keep in touch with old friends can counteract the more easily achieved result of losing touch.  However, entropy is real.

Think, too, about the areas of study that brought the students to Kenyon in the first place.  How many of them with a degree in Art History are going to end up taking a job with a catering company.  The specialized knowledge they now have will be all but forgotten unless they make some effort to continue to study and apply what has been learned.

The whole concept of knowledge and the workings of the human mind are subject to an insidious form of entropy.  Unless we humans continue to think, to do crossword puzzles, to play the quizzes on funtrivia.com, to keep learning, we open ourselves to various forms of dementia as we age.

I could go on and talk about entropy in our spiritual pursuits, in or families, in rotting trees, in landslides . . ..  I think you understand already, though.  Entropy is real and it takes a focused effort and an infusion of energy to keep it in check.

There is energy in “Anna Sun.”  In 2011, it was named “Song of the Summer” by Esquire, MTV and Seventeen.  It has a good beat and the kids can dance to it.

Continue reading “SONG OF THE WEEK – ANNA SUN”

SONG OF THE WEEK – DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY

Some songs are just meant to be fun.

After the look at Porsches and Ferraris in last week’s Song of the Week discussion, it seemed almost mandatory that I should move on to talk about Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.”  As you probably know, that is “a song of great social and political import” recorded only hours before Joplin’s death.  To the extent it was meant to be fun, it didn’t end up that way.

“Do Wah Diddy Diddy” was meant to be fun song, it turned out to be a fun song and now – more than half a century later – it is still fun.  I will talk about it, instead – because I’m a fun guy (at least that’s what the mushroom said).

“Do Wah Didddy Diddy” was written by the extremely successful husband and wife songwriting team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich.  From the time they met in 1959 until their divorce in 1965, Barry and Greenwich combined to write a string of hit songs, including “Tell Laura I Love Her,” “Be My Baby,” “Then He Kissed Me,” “Look of Love,” Christmas (Baby Please Be Home),” Leader of the Pack,” “Hanky Panky” and “Chapel of Love” (with some help from Phil Spector on that one).  They also discovered Neil Diamond and produced all of his early hit records.

Most of those songs are just good old straightforward rock/roll/pop with a good beat that the kids could dance to.  Few reached the poetic, nearly Shakespearean lyrical quality of a chorus like “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do,” but we must remember that Barry and Greenwich had also written “Da Doo Ron Ron,” a hit for the Crystals in 1963.  Phil Spector is also credited as a co-writer of “Da Do Ron Ron,” but Barry and Greenwich seem to have created “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” completely on their own.

After the recent success with the Crystals, they saw this composition as another vehicle for a girl group, so it was recorded by the Exciters, under the title “Do-Wah-Diddy,” also in 1963.  That record met with little success, but fortunately it was played just enough to be heard by a British group, Manfred Mann, which changed the lyrics from “there he was, just a-walking down the street” to “there she was just a-walking down the street”; and released it in 1964 under the title “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.”  The other “diddy” was for emphasis, I guess.  Those changes certainly worked out as the song became a Number One single in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

I remember during my junior year in high school, at the end of each cross country practice Eric Martinez would start singing this song and everyone on the team would join in the chorus.  Many years later, when my children were in their early years of elementary school, the song would come on the radio (oldies station) as we were driving somewhere and both of them would loudly sing along.  Now I have played it a couple of times for my 18-month old grandson, and he too likes to sing along.

The song is also memorable from the movie Stripes (1981).  Bill Murray and Harold Ramis begin singing the song while marching during their Army basic training, and it becomes a marching song for their company.

It is a fun song – about as much fun as one can have in less than 150 seconds.

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SONG OF THE WEEK – SILVER THREADS AND GOLDEN NEEDLES

My wife Cathy and I attended a wedding last weekend.  The bride was an elementary school teacher and the groom a former tax lawyer who quit his practice to open a chain of marijuana dispensaries.  As we drove into the parking lot at the wedding venue, we saw in the spots reserved for the bide and groom a Ferrari sports car and a Porsche SUV – which is a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of transportation.  I had no idea that grade school teachers are paid that well.

It was a very nice ceremony and reception, but a few things struck me as sort of strange.  For example, the officiant (it was not a very religious ceremony), thought it appropriate to include an old joke in his remarks.  It was the one about a woman who accompanied her husband to a medical appointment.  After the husband had been examined, the doctor asked to speak to his wife in private.  He told her that her husband’s condition was very precarious, and that virtually any stress could have disastrous consequences.  The doctor told her that she would have to care for her husband with great love and tenderness, cook him carefully planned meals, prevent him from doing strenuous household chores and generally “baby” him for several months.  The wife said she understood, and went to meet her husband in the waiting room.  As they were walking out to their car, the husband asked, “What did the doctor have to say?”  The wife replied, “He said you’re going to die.”

That was not what I expected to hear at a wedding.  The joke, combined with the cars I had seen coming in, made me think of the song “Silver Threads and Golden Needles,” which was written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds, and first recorded in 1956 by Wanda Jackson, the so-called “Queen of Rockabilly.”  It has since been performed and recorded many times by many musicians.  I even recall being at a Grateful Dead concert where Bob Weir sang the song.

One of the best versions – or actually two of the best versions – is/are by Linda Ronstadt.  It was on her 1969 debut album and a different version was on her 1973 album, Don’t Cry Now.  That second version was released as a very popular single.  The version on this post is that from 1969, because that is the one I first heard her perform.

Linda Ronstadt needs no introduction.  She has been an amazing singer creating great music in many fields, including, rock, jazz, country, pop, Mexican, folk, etc.  She even sang the lead in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.  She was the most successful female singer of the 1970s, and her talent has been displayed on hundreds of records recorded over five decades.

Unfortunately, Linda Ronstadt is no longer able to sing.  In 2013 she disclosed that she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.  A consequence of that disease is that she does not have the muscle control necessary for singing.

I would like to express my sympathy for her.  Cathy’s father suffered from Parkinson’s for a dozen years or so before his death, and many of those years were very difficult for him.

I also have a longtime friend named Kathy who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease a few months ago.  She lives in another state, but I regularly send her long-distance Reiki, hoping that might be some help to her.

Let’s leave that topic for now and listen to Linda Ronstadt as she sang beautifully more than 45 years ago.

Continue reading “SONG OF THE WEEK – SILVER THREADS AND GOLDEN NEEDLES”

SONG OF THE WEEK – HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET SIXTEEN

July 6, 2015, is the 80th birthday of Lhamo Dondrub, whose religious name is Tenzin Gyatso, and is known to billions as the 14th Dalai Lama – at least based on our Western calendar; the birthday was celebrated a couple of weeks earlier under the Tibetan lunar calendar.  This completes the fifth complete cycle of Sweet Sixteen celebrations (16 x 5 = 80) for His Holiness, so I hope they have kept the party decorations in good shape back in Dharamsala.

Actually, the Dalai Lama will not be in Dharamsala for the festivities.  Instead, he is speaking in Anaheim, California on July 5 – when it will be the 6th in India, China and Tibet – and at the University of California Irvine on July 6, Pacific Daylight Time.  I hope he has time to visit Disneyland.  That seems like a good way to celebrate a person’s Sweet 16 birthday.

The Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935 in the tiny hamlet on Taktser, which had only 17 households.  It is now a part of the Chinese province of Qinghai, only about 25 miles from the provincial capital, Xining.  There have been reports that the Chinese government is tightening security in the area in anticipation of protests in conjunction with the Dalai Lama’s birthday.  I mention this because my son, Michael, is currently visiting Xining.  I assume, though, that he has no intention of protesting or doing anything else that Chinese police would perceive as threatening.

Astrologers tend to study temporal cycles such as those of Jupiter (11-12 years) and Saturn (29-30 years), but I am not aware of anyone who has previously studied the “Sweet 16 Cycle.”  Therefore, let us take a look at that cycle in the Dalai Lama’s life.

During the first 16-year cycle (1935-1951), the Dalai Lama-to-be was born, recognized and educated; he was installed as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, witnessed the Chinese invasion of his country and was recognized as the political leader of Tibet about four months after his 15th birthday.  His first 16 years were quite eventful – probably even more so than for most 16 year olds.

In his second 16-year cycle (1951-1967), the Dalai Lama initially tried to negotiate an agreement with Chinese, until halfway through the cycle he found it necessary to flee to India, in fear of his life, with a little help form the American CIA, and establish a government-in exile with some 80,000 of his closest friends and followers.  Through diplomatic intermediaries, he brought the plight of the Tibetan people to the attention of the United Nations, which adopted resolutions in 1959, 1961 and 1965 calling for China to respect the rights and dignities of the Tibetan people.

The third 16-year cycle (1967-1983) began badly as the Chinese Cultural Revolution, with its Red Guard, instituted repressive practices that caused the deaths of more than a million Tibetans.  In 1967, the Dalai Lama began a series of international trips to make the plight of his people known throughout the world.  He also prayed and meditated, along with followers around the world.  The worst of the atrocities against Tibet ended in 1979-1980, and the new Chinese government under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, formally criticized the actions of the Cultural Revolution in a 1983 report.

In the fourth cycle (1983-1999), the Dalai Lama traveled extensively, bringing his message of compassion and quest to secure the rights of the Tibetan people to freedom-loving human beings all across the planet.  In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; and by the end of the century, the Clinton administration had made it a central objective of Sino-American relationships that the Chinese engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama to resolve outstanding political issues.

The work begun earlier by the Dalai Lama continued during his fifth Sweet Sixteen Cycle (1999-2015).  However, he also recognized that the traditional leadership positions of the one recognized as Dalai Lama had changed as the world modernized and the Chinese continued to destroy many aspects of Tibetan culture.  In 2011, he gave up his position as political leader of Tibet, stating, ““… the Tibetan people are the masters of Tibet, and not the religious leaders and kings and their heirs. Therefore, I always say that it is wrong for the religious leaders to hold political authority… Moreover, I will get more opportunity to speak strongly since I have implemented what I confidently and consistently emphasized – the separation of religion and politics.”

A few months later, the Dalai Lama gave us all a glimpse into what we may expect for the sixth Sweet Sixteen Cycle.  He must consider whether he will reincarnate.  As he put it:  “When I am about ninety I will consult the high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, and re-evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not.” He further said if the need for the institution is decided and “there is the need for the Fifteenth Dalai Lama to be recognized, responsibility for doing so will primarily rest on the concerned officers of the Dalai Lama’s Gaden Phodrang Trust.” The statement added, “Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China.”

Much of this review of cycles has focused  on political matters.  The Dalai Lama, of course, has been even more important as a spiritual leader.  On the occasion of his birthday, I thank him for the lessons he has given our world in compassion, non-violence, humility and the exemplary life that may be lived in accord with the Buddhist Middle Way.  Perhaps we should even thank the Chinese for forcing the Dalai Lama onto the world stage from the relative seclusion of his predecessors high in the Himalayas.

Before quitting, I will say just a few words about “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen.”  The singer, Neil Sedaka, is only four years younger than the Dalai Lama.  Sedaka was a Jewish boy of Polish/Russian/Turkish ancestry from New York City.  His musical talent was recognized at an early age, and he began classical piano training.  He was more interested in rock and roll, however, and recorded a string of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  He wrote the music for the songs he recorded, while the lyrics (such as they are) were written by Howard Greenfield. The Sedaka/Greenfield team also wrote hundreds of songs for other artists – some of which became huge hits (e.g., “Where the Boys Are,” “Venus in Blue Jeans,” and “Love Will Keep Us Together”).

With the “British invasion” and the changing musical taste of American teenagers, Sedaka’s commercial success came to a screeching halt in 1963.  He continued to be an excellent musician, though, and was chosen to represent the United States in the 1966 Tchaikovsky Classical Piano Competition in Moscow.  He was “disqualified,” however, because the Soviet bureaucracy had banned rock and roll music, and he was seen as a rock and roller.

Sedaka did come up with an interesting way to counteract the British invasion.  He moved to England, where had some commercial success in the early 1970s.  He is now back in the United States and tours and performs regularly, doing his old hits.

In recognition of the Dalai Lama’s 80 years on Earth, a tribute album featuring Sting, Kate Bush, Lorde, Of Monsters and Men, Bob Geldof1 and others, entitled The Art of Peace:  Songs for Tibet II, will be released on July 7.  That album does not include “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen – but you can listen to it here.2

Continue reading “SONG OF THE WEEK – HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET SIXTEEN”

AMERICAN HEALTH CARE

Recently, my wife and I spent a few days in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado.  As we were driving back home, just about the only radio station that would come in clearly was one broadcasting from Farmington, New Mexico.  I wish I had been listening more closely so I could be a little more accurate in what I am writing.

Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale

Anyway, the station broadcast a commercial for some medical healthcare providers.  Since I am not 100% certain who the advertiser was, I am gong to make up a name – Four Corners Medical Partners.  Although the name is fictitious, the rest of the story is true.  The commercial emphasized how the staff of the Medical Partners could assist with lifestyle changes to improve a patient’s health, as well as provide necessary medical care and treatment.

The tag line of the commercial, to the best of my recollection, was:

“Remember, your good health begins with you and ends with Four Corners Medical Partners.”

I am afraid that is too often the case in the insurance-driven, profit-focused medical system that is the norm in the U.S.A.