I love Kentucky. I love Kentuckians. One of the joys of my job is visiting our stores around the state. My routes often take the most scenic country roads with way more brush than bustle.
Today’s 8-hour jaunt to Glasgow, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown and Bardstown was tailor made for my I-Pod, which I let “shuffle.” The digital DJ’s chance selections are just cool. I mean, come on—Bach, then Beatles; James Brown then James Taylor.
Beyond the offbeat juxtaposition of songs, today’s mix was coincidentally fraught with meaning and memories. It started with Dionne Warwick’s wailing “I’ll never fall in love again.” Well, after my nearly completed divorce, I may or may not, but I can tell you this: I’d rather NOT “fall” in love. Never was a term more aptly put! Love should be a state that is RISEN to, not a hellhole in which to fall.
Then, another 60’s standout, the Fifth Dimension’s Save the Country…”Come on people, come on children, come on down to the glory river… We can build a dream with love…I can’t study war no more. Save the people, save the children, Save the country--NOW!”
Marilyn McCoo on Love’s Lines Angles and Rhymes is simply incomparable. All the recent so-called divas couldn’t hold the mike for her, Dionne, Aretha and their ilk, not even close.
To further add credence to my belief that the 60’s saw the peak of musicality the next song was Blood Sweat and Tears’ version of God Bless the Child…”Them that’s got shall get, them that’s not shall lose, so the Bible says, and it still is news.” With today’s disparity between the wealthiest and the poorest greater than it has ever been Billie Holiday’s words ring so true.
Yet as if to prevent my falling into deep despair the Beach Boys reminded me, “Don’t Worry Baby!” There is no better perfectionist than Brian Wilson. He came mentally undone while working on Pet Sounds, critically regarded as THE best album of all time. Brian’s massive solo effort (the group was touring while Brian, with some help from lyricist Tony Asher, toiled day and night on it) actually inspired the Beatle’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, considered one or two along with Pet Sounds. (PS, McCartney’s favorite song is God Only Knows, and remember, the Beatles had a huge cast to work out their masterpieces).
Next came one of my favorites, America, doing the obscure, Here…”I am thinking about the days we led ourselves astray in more than many ways. Here within the time we spend wonderin’ what we meant by living all those years…” How timely for me as I’ve been considering some major changes in my life as a result of asking this same question.
“Coventry Carol” was a wonderful hint of the holiday season to come, just a little teaser of the ‘Most Wonderful Time of the Year!”
I then switched to the radio in time to hear John Robert’s Senate Confirmation hearings on NPR. He was discussing the two views of the 2nd Amendment’s right to bear arms: circuits have held it either as an individual right or a collective one. Personally, I believe individuals have the right to their guns. While I would prefer a world with no weapons, this is a utopian ideal that we will be working towards for many years to come.
As if to confirm my opinion the very next song had the Beatle’s remind me that indeed “Happiness is a Warm Gun.” And Dooley Wilson continued this theme with his prescription for happiness: just “Knock On Wood” (from the Casablanca soundtrack). I kid you not, in just this order!
Chicago re-called my youthful idealism with “We Can Make It Happen, We Can Change the World” in Dialogue: Part Two. Following that was Lexington’s own Marvin Gaye singing “Right On!” Right on, Marvin, rest in peace brother.
James Brown echoed with Soul Power, then K.C. and the Sunshine Band “I’m Your Boogie Man,” John Denver, Bach, then another favorite, Crosby Stills Nash—not sure if Young was on this one—“Find the Cost of Freedom—buried in the ground…mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down.”
So many questions do I have. Collective compassion versus individual responsibility. The beauty of freedom versus the blight of excess. The “invisible hand” versus the gamed system. Can I make a difference? Can anyone?
Hope is found on the last song of the trip, from the all time best album, the afore-mentioned Pet Sounds, “I KNOW THERE’S AN ANSWER.” Thanks, Brian. I love you, man.
Rfd 9/14/05
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