I am bit older than you. I sometimes go back to John Denver "Country Road..." when I need a break from the insanity that is TACO always fouls up (TAFU) .... USA.
"Country Road take me home" was appealing in summer 1971.
It's good to take time to listen to soothing music. I know my brain needs calming down after hearing a constant reporting of the horrors all around us. It's not healthy to be "hyped up" 24/7.
I was hoping that the recent (and necessary) "Twelve Days of Christmas" break would linger longer into the New Year, but no such luck. The first+ of the 52 weeks has only been a harsher continuation of last year, the slope of the trend steepening downwards. Not encouraging.
Suitable music for the times? I'd like to brush up on my high school French when Victor Laszlo leads the crowd at Rick's in singing the "Marseillaise" in the original lyrics. Also, though far, far from my musical tastes, I have succumbed to some ABBA songs, "Fernando" being one.
More ghoulishly, I'd be among the loudest in shouting, "Off with their heads!" if we succeed in getting that far.
True, Madeleine Lebeau ("Yvonne") cried real tears (died just ten years ago at 92), and Corinna Mura's (lady with the guitar) passion was genuine. Interesting bit of trivia, "Mura became the stepmother of Edward Gorey, renowned writer and illustrator [e.g., "Masterpiece Theater"], when she married his father, Edward Gorey Sr. This marriage occurred in 1936, when Edward Gorey was just 11 years old. Mura raised Gorey during his formative years, and their relationship influenced his later artistic work" [Wikipedia, Lambiek]. Surprising for me to find out, as Gorey's house, now museum, is less than five miles from where I live.
A few months ago, I was struck by the IRONY (my specialty) of fact that a commercial Pop Music station I listen to kept "Reach Out in the Darkness," by 'Friend and Lover,' heavily in the "rotation" (radio lingo). Do you recall the refrain? "I think it's so groovy now/That people are finally gettin' together..." Oh, that is sooooooo what's happening in Trumpmerica, huh?!? [I don't think the management of the radio station was trying to make a political statement. This song is simply a relic of the early 1970s (I think--could even be pre-1970) and so is fodder for Classic Rock stations.]
Oct. of 1967 it was Released Greg @ any rate I first heard it I remember as I was riding the Round-Up a Centrifugal force Ride on the Midway of our Brockton Fair in the Sixties. Classic. I saw many Sixties Acts there Live as well back then on their "Grandstand" A place that doesn't even exist anymore..., burned & torn down now for further "progress"
Thanks. I didn't bother to research release date on the internet. The US's atrocity against the people of Viet Nam was still escalating in 1967 and that's the year I found myself in the Army. Things would get darker still as Dr. King was murdered in April of the following year. But they've never been as dark in this country in my lifetime as they are right now.
Couldn't agree more. I have been trying to lay off my go-to podcasts on walks or hikes with my border collie. I think JT and his ilk from the 60s and 70s are way more therapeutic.
And if I'm isolated enough to not offend anyone with my vocalizing, all the better.
1970 was also a period of rage. I remember those days very well including the harsh reality of the Vietnam War. The shooting of the Kent State students took place in May. A student was shot by the police in Isla Vista, the student community for UCSB students. The 60s and 70s were a great period of Folk and protest music. A golden age it was not; it was the time of the Nixon years. Political assassinations took place between 68 and 72. We did have a better (more independent?) media and much better TV comedies. Who can forget the Smothers Brothers? But it is good to think of a better past even if it wasn’t that much better. Your reflections are certainly appreciated!
The music was better - the times certainly not. Maybe that's why listening to any of the music from that era should be done in a quiet place - where reflection puts the music into context of the times and one's memories of them.
I remember The Smothers Brothers too. For three years, they pushed the boundaries with socially relevant humor - and featured many of the best rock musicians of the era. They also put Pete Seeger on air - the first time in 17 years after he had been blacklisted.
I can't imagine a show like theirs on CBS (or any network) today.
You neglected to mention the blow-up between the Smothers and CBS management over Seeger wanting to sing "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" on the air, permission denied. Those were the days, indeed.
Thanks Bill - always like hearing the sweet baby James. Reflection and kindness come through silence and whispers. We need more of both.
I am bit older than you. I sometimes go back to John Denver "Country Road..." when I need a break from the insanity that is TACO always fouls up (TAFU) .... USA.
"Country Road take me home" was appealing in summer 1971.
With that is "Thank God I'm a country boy!"
I'd add Rhymes and Reason as a song with timeless lyrics. The message is as valid today as it was in 1969.
One of my all time fave. Concerts was seeing John Denver after I punched out of the Air Force Summer of 1977 @ SPAC in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Rockabye, sweet baby James.
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose ...I used to sing it to my baby James. Bittersweet memory.
It's good to take time to listen to soothing music. I know my brain needs calming down after hearing a constant reporting of the horrors all around us. It's not healthy to be "hyped up" 24/7.
I was hoping that the recent (and necessary) "Twelve Days of Christmas" break would linger longer into the New Year, but no such luck. The first+ of the 52 weeks has only been a harsher continuation of last year, the slope of the trend steepening downwards. Not encouraging.
Suitable music for the times? I'd like to brush up on my high school French when Victor Laszlo leads the crowd at Rick's in singing the "Marseillaise" in the original lyrics. Also, though far, far from my musical tastes, I have succumbed to some ABBA songs, "Fernando" being one.
More ghoulishly, I'd be among the loudest in shouting, "Off with their heads!" if we succeed in getting that far.
That scene in Casablanca is moving - made more so when realizing many of those singing weren't acting; they had fled Europe before the Nazis came.
True, Madeleine Lebeau ("Yvonne") cried real tears (died just ten years ago at 92), and Corinna Mura's (lady with the guitar) passion was genuine. Interesting bit of trivia, "Mura became the stepmother of Edward Gorey, renowned writer and illustrator [e.g., "Masterpiece Theater"], when she married his father, Edward Gorey Sr. This marriage occurred in 1936, when Edward Gorey was just 11 years old. Mura raised Gorey during his formative years, and their relationship influenced his later artistic work" [Wikipedia, Lambiek]. Surprising for me to find out, as Gorey's house, now museum, is less than five miles from where I live.
Thanks for that information.
A few months ago, I was struck by the IRONY (my specialty) of fact that a commercial Pop Music station I listen to kept "Reach Out in the Darkness," by 'Friend and Lover,' heavily in the "rotation" (radio lingo). Do you recall the refrain? "I think it's so groovy now/That people are finally gettin' together..." Oh, that is sooooooo what's happening in Trumpmerica, huh?!? [I don't think the management of the radio station was trying to make a political statement. This song is simply a relic of the early 1970s (I think--could even be pre-1970) and so is fodder for Classic Rock stations.]
Oct. of 1967 it was Released Greg @ any rate I first heard it I remember as I was riding the Round-Up a Centrifugal force Ride on the Midway of our Brockton Fair in the Sixties. Classic. I saw many Sixties Acts there Live as well back then on their "Grandstand" A place that doesn't even exist anymore..., burned & torn down now for further "progress"
Thanks. I didn't bother to research release date on the internet. The US's atrocity against the people of Viet Nam was still escalating in 1967 and that's the year I found myself in the Army. Things would get darker still as Dr. King was murdered in April of the following year. But they've never been as dark in this country in my lifetime as they are right now.
Couldn't agree more. I have been trying to lay off my go-to podcasts on walks or hikes with my border collie. I think JT and his ilk from the 60s and 70s are way more therapeutic.
And if I'm isolated enough to not offend anyone with my vocalizing, all the better.
1970 was also a period of rage. I remember those days very well including the harsh reality of the Vietnam War. The shooting of the Kent State students took place in May. A student was shot by the police in Isla Vista, the student community for UCSB students. The 60s and 70s were a great period of Folk and protest music. A golden age it was not; it was the time of the Nixon years. Political assassinations took place between 68 and 72. We did have a better (more independent?) media and much better TV comedies. Who can forget the Smothers Brothers? But it is good to think of a better past even if it wasn’t that much better. Your reflections are certainly appreciated!
The music was better - the times certainly not. Maybe that's why listening to any of the music from that era should be done in a quiet place - where reflection puts the music into context of the times and one's memories of them.
I remember The Smothers Brothers too. For three years, they pushed the boundaries with socially relevant humor - and featured many of the best rock musicians of the era. They also put Pete Seeger on air - the first time in 17 years after he had been blacklisted.
I can't imagine a show like theirs on CBS (or any network) today.
You neglected to mention the blow-up between the Smothers and CBS management over Seeger wanting to sing "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" on the air, permission denied. Those were the days, indeed.
Can you say which song has those lyrics in it?
It wasn't in any of the titles I scrolled on the video.
Can't listen to the whole concert right now...maybe later.
I remember listening to him regularly on the radio.
"Carolina in My Mind"
Of course--kind/mind.
Thanks.