Feeling a bit of a fool lately. Those that have followed this blog know that I enjoy interpreting lyrics. Often an old song from my past will offer new meaning in my present. Other times it's just life memories of when I first listened to the song. Some of you have commented on how this new meaning/connection of an old song has happened to you.
He came from somewhere back in her long ago
The sentimental fool don't see
Tryin' hard to recreate
What had yet to be created once in her life
She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale
Never coming near what he wanted to say
Only to realize it never really was
Yeah you can't recreate something that was never created.
I recently read the following in a news report: “Elected officials are also turning book banning into another wedge issue in the culture wars.”
The word “war” gets diluted by being used for situations that are not a war. The “cola wars” or local “gas wars” are examples.
I do wonder why some people appear ready to fight in these culture wars. I met a man who was about 5 years older than me at a neighbor's house last weekend. It didn’t take long for him to start his recruiting talk for his side of the culture war. I had mentioned having visited Arizona just before the pandemic. He threw out some negative comments about immigrants in Arizona. I can’t imagine that’s the only thing he could say about Arizona. I suggested we talk about less political things. I recall saying, “while I don’t know much about flowers I would rather talk about the nice flowers here.” We eventually left the war behind in our conversation.
Was my reaction different because he was on the other side than me in this so-called war? Maybe I would have joined in by criticizing the former Liar-in-Chief if his comment had matched my view.
War is not the answer. The culture war is not a real war but promoting it does agitate people and can result in tragic events such as the Jan. 6 2021 attack on Congress.
NBC news reported a scary story of how militia groups are using local emergencies in California to recruit people and get good PR. The NBC story's link.
“..the public largely set aside political differences and rallied in support of the nation’s major institutions, as well as its political leadership. In October 2001, 60% of adults expressed trust in the federal government – a level not reached in the previous three decades, nor approached in the two decades since then.”
I’m not saying we should remain quiet about what we see as wrong. We should dial down the anger. Peacefully demonstrate. Let's try to have a civil discussion.
I chose to avoid engaging with this culture warrior. I’m glad I didn’t bother to confront a guy with views I considered extreme rightwing. I’m fairly certain he picked up that our views differed. We don’t need to shout. I might mention him to my neighbor in the future because I’ve known my neighbor for many years. He is not a warrior. However he might have different views than me. I don’t recall ever talking politics with him.
Take a deep breath, feel like I’m chokin’
Everything is broken.
Ok, not everything is broken. But there are too many things broken.
A real deadly war is going on as I write this. I suspect most Ukrainians would not call our cultural issues a war.
Now typically every grocery store has milk and honey, so do we already live in the land of milk and honey? Also, do any of you know of a popular meal that combines milk and honey?
As you probably know the phrase comes from the Bible, so maybe the translation got messed up.
Tower Bridge towering over the others.
Moving on to the land of fish and chips, I'll share my wasted thinking about measurement standards.
I'm interested to get your opinion. What if The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 had really taken hold and Americans gave up miles for kilometers?
But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
Those words about walking are the chorus lines from "I'm Gonna Be" by the Scottish rock duo, The Proclaimers. Substitute miles with kilometers and it just doesn't work.
But I would walk five hundred kilometers
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand kilometers
To fall down at your door
Those of you who think in metric terms know that 500 kilometers of length is shorter than 500 miles.
With that fact in mind, I conclude that if you walked a kilometer in my shoes you still wouldn't have walked a mile in my shoes. Of course, I'm not giving up my shoes but I have some old slippers that you can have for free. Walk a mile in my old slippers.
Civility comes from the word civis, which in Latin means "citizen".
The last few days of post-election counting and dishonest White House statements reminded me of the Black Knight scene in the “Holy Grail” movie.
King Arthur: Look you stupid bastard, you’ve got no arms left.
Black knight: Yes I have.
King Arthur: Look!
Black knight: Just a flesh wound.
Trump doesn’t need to lose his limbs, just concede and keep quiet.
Taken from email sent today by Joe Biden:
In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.
With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.
It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, FOUR years Stole many a man's soul and faith
Yes, I've been watching the RNC coverage combined with some listening to lyrics of my favorite songs.
(please note most all my posts are non political but certainly not this one)
According to Wikipedia Thugs from the Thuggee cult
The Republican strategists attempts to polish up mean Mr. Mustard’s image enough to reassure swing voters that he is OK enough was on full display. In other words, asking for sympathy for the devil (more about the devil part later).
The week before I watched the DNC coverage. I watched both on the PBS channel. I enjoy the commentary. I used the mute button more with the RNC coverage.
So Trump got his name in fireworks over the Washington monument. That should be enough. Resign now it's not going get better Donny John. Oh, spelled out in fire, the devil? Oh never mine.
As I checking the lyrics to the Rolling Stone's hit song, I came across this line:
And I laid traps for troubadours Who get killed before they reached Bombay
I had no clue to what this referenced. Thanks to a bit of clicking on the internet I found it most likely refers to the Thuggee cult in India's past. Some historians believe the British exaggerated the problem to justify some harsh laws in India. I don't know, but it had me thinking of the thugs associated with mean Mr. Mustard. I included the Thugs picture I found on wikipedia.
The devil in the details - a favorite phrase but since I don’t really believe in the religious concept of the devil, I’m using the term more as slang. I do love deviled eggs.
Here at A Few Clowns Short we don't speak French. I don't really know much of it. I learned long ago that a direct one-to-one translation is not always possible. C'est la vie means that's life but the English title (and found in the lyrics) of the song offered at the bottom of the post is you never can tell. Both translations are very similar. Maybe I'm pushing it a bit but I would add whatever to the meaning of c'est la vie.
French fingers
I'll give you the Bob Seger version of the C'est La Vie lyrics. Below is Bruce Springsteen's performance of this song about the teenage romance and marriage of Pierre and the lovely mademoiselle. There's an old cherry red car in the song. We saw this pink Cadillac in a parking lot years ago. (yeah I know there's a good song title Pink Cadillac)
The clip is a little long but I really enjoyed the warmup to the song. The song was a possibly a request. Bruce really shows his band leader abilities. Oh of the horns, I thought the sax was the best.
It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished 'em well
You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle
And now the young monsieur and madam have rung the chapel bell
C'est la vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
They finished off an apartment with a two-room Roebuck sale
The coolerator was jammed with TV dinners and ginger ale
And when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well
C'est la vie say the old folks it goes to show you never can tell
They had a hi-fi phono, boy did they let it blast
Seven hundred little records, all blues, rock, rhythm, and jazz
But when the sun went down, the volume went down as well
C'est la vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
They bought a souped-up jitney, it was a cherry red '53
And drove it down to New Orleans to celebrate their anniversary
It was there where Pierre was wedded to the lovely mademoiselle
C'est la vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell
Extraterrestrial - of or from outside the earth or its atmosphere.
Pardon me while I back up. (danger! old man backing up give me some room)
Long ago, I went to Catholic grade school. It might have provided the foundation of my moderately successfully life. Or maybe I would have been better off without its influence. I’ll never know. Nobody will ever know. Those “if you could go back blah blah” games are just games. Thought games are good but they alone don’t provide solid evidence.
After 6th grade I transferred over to the public school system. Now slide the timeline to 1982. The movie E.T. was a big hit. Our family watched it a few times. No connection to my early grade school came to my mind while watching. You might recall the movie showed an extraterrestrial visit from the perspective of children. (adults often fail to get it right) Our children really enjoyed the movie at the time.
I found this in a description of the E.T. movie, “E.T. is a sci-fi adventure that captures that strange moment in youth when the world is a place of mysterious possibilities…”. Ok, but for me mysterious possibilities have arisen in my mind for my entire life. It’s not just for kids.
Yesterday, I’m standing on my deck enjoying the nice day. I started wondering (I highly recommend wondering in nice weather) what life would be like for an extraterrestrial visiting earth. I have no indication that I’m from beyond earth, but I still wonder. Then a few scrambled thoughts came together in an odd way. My collection of thoughts had me saying, hmm I need to post this odd idea.
Jesus was an extraterrestrial by definition.
Depending on your background my conclusion may be shocking, blasphemy or meh.
If in fact I have a guardian angel assigned to me, I'll need to remember to ask about my idea.
Should I have titled this post “Close Encounters of the Blog Kind”?
Even a dull stick in the eye hurts more than I want to know. But what about eyes in song titles? There are plenty of them.
it moose be done
My old ears have listen to many songs about these eyes. These eyes have also watched many video music clips of eye related songs.
I'm not including These Eyes. Instead I'll start my eye list with a more recent song by Coldplay, Green Eyes.
I can't complain, I eat well enough. Of course, we know you can be hungry for more than food. I don't have Hungry Eyes but I do remember the dancing movie that made the song a hit.
My listening of eye songs lead me to this great titled song written and sung be Willie Nelson, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain.
There are many good songs with references to the emotional impact of looking into an other's eyes. The song that can get my eyes a little watery is Eric Clapton's My Father's Eyes.
Hopefully all the eye song listening will help to remind me to get my eyes checked soon (Doctor My Eyes?). I might be low on insight but want to keep my sight focused.
I’ll gladly proclaim I’ve never watched Game of Thrones. I never plan on watching it either. While I enjoy some science fiction, I think (maybe I’m wrong) this popular cable series was more fantasy than science fiction.
I only mention that over-hyped series to compare it to the stuff I do watch. My wife and I mostly watch PBS shows. Some might say it’s an age related thing, but I would say if age has anything influence, it’s the added wisdom that comes with age.
I was working on a post about our digital life and the complications of storing the volumes of digital pictures streaming around our daily lives. That post turned into more of a rant. I like technology. The cutting edge tech of the 1980’s and 1990’s has gone dull now. It provided me a good career. Why should I rant about later advances that can be traced back to the stuff of my former career?
Why rant about a first world problem?
Back to the shows I watch. I recently rewatched a NOVA program (Arctic Ghost Ship) about the Franklin arctic expedition of the mid 1800’s. A few years ago researchers found one the expeditions ships on the arctic sea floor.
While the NOVA program provides plenty of knowledge and topics to think about. I’ll focus on just one. One of the key pieces of information leading to finding the sunken ship came from Inuit oral history.
Storytelling is certainly a human tradition. Our western culture proceeded down the written path that can be connected over centuries to our digital world. I’m just amazed that the facts passed along over multiple generations of Inuits through storytelling could be a critical factor in finding a long lost ship.
Maybe if I was an Inuit I would not be surprised at all.
What historical facts will future generations discover about our life today through the digital footprints we leave? Will the information be so accessible that people will not even find it interesting? Will the future culture be more interested in the next fantasy series on our ever changing cable services?
Changes in our technology can create generational gaps. It seems the storytelling of oral histories binds the generations of those cultures together. The Intuit community now has the internet and many other modern technology. I hope it doesn't ruin their beneficial oral history tradition.
I hope you do. At least, I hope some of my musings are amusing.
Yesterday the New England Patriots went up against everyone in America and lost. Patriots and Eagles are a good mix-up of American symbols.
public art in a nearby town
Could the following two odd things I've noticed be harbingers of our lives in the near future?
1) I recently discovered the existence the International Asteroid Warning Network. This is both scary and reassuring. Scary because one day the sky could be falling and life as we know it will be screwed. Reassuring because at least some smart people with advance equipment are working together to give us warning. Also possibly with enough warning and global cooperation we could minimize the impact.
2) In late January there were Nutella riots in France.
I love hazel nuts and I've tasted Nutella. Meh. What food would be worth fighting over? Ok, maybe if a killer asteroid is scheduled to hit soon I might put extra effort in stocking up on beer and wine. It was reported that "In at least three cases, police were called after customers came to blows in the frenzy for Nutella." WOW, imagine getting hit in the head (or nuts) with a jar of Nutella.
Reviewing old posts on my blog aids my recollection of past events. Years ago I traveled with my uncle to Chillicothe MO., the home of sliced bread, but I failed to have a sandwich there.
I enjoy an idiom but not an idiot. (thinking French Nutella buyers)
Often I’ll beat around the bush which ends with me barking up the wrong tree.
If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Hopefully I didn’t bite off more than I could chew with this post but at the drop of a hat, the ball is in your court. No pennies needed, the comment section is open now.
Wishing you the best of whatever holiday you celebrate. If you celebrate with kindness and love then your activity should benefit the world around your celebration. Spread the joy.
Many unique ways to celebrate
Don't need a big tree but try for bigger than this
Hopefully family and friends will join you in creating warm fun memories. Here's a heart warming ad from the UK.
So how bad has it gotten? The news coverage of our politics has gotten so bad that,
trumpet players have taken up the cornet.
Don’t leave. I’m NOT going to write anything more on that sad subject.
extra charge for this guy's pedi
Instead let’s discuss fantasy characters and maybe a myth or two. Regular readers of A Few Clowns Short know the myth topic is seldom covered here. Really I don’t have the time to cover all the odd ideas that cross my synapses daily. Most of those odd ideas could be turned into a decent myth. I wrote about myths way back in 2011. (link )
Much like that 2011 post and many others for that matter, this post came about in a convoluted manner. Do you care? If no, then skip ahead.
I have in-laws who subscribed to the New Yorker (they would like the one liner at the top of this post). They started moving around frequently and decided to send the magazine to our house. They typically read it online anyway. You may know/experienced the high quality of writing in the New Yorker. I suspect some people may get it just for the cartoons.
I found this piece titled, “Fantastic Beasts and How to Rank Them” in Nov. 6 issue very thought provoking. (link )
I must say the first thing that caught my attention was at the very top of the page - Dept. of Speculation.
Wow that’s exactly what I need here. I would certainly appoint myself as the first head of the department. Call myself Chief of Speculation. Enough about my organizational plans.
The author, Kathryn Schulz, writes,
“One of the strangest things about the human mind is that it can reason about unreasonable things.”
The article centers around the workings of “willing suspension of disbelief”. I learned that idea goes back to the 1790’s. Even if you don’t belief in Spiderman or Wonder Woman you can still get very involved in their stories. How does this suspension of disbelief work? Ms. Schulz offers up various ideas about this ranging from the creature's biological makeup (size of Big Foot) to the physical nature of their powers (transformation of a vampire).
Within her discussion on judging the plausibility of fantastical beings there is a suggested game for your next party. Create a list of supernatural/mythical beings and ask your guests to rank their plausibility. I plan to try this and expect some interesting conversations. Now if it is a Christmas party, I suggest not including Santa or his elves.
Here’s my list:
Wonder Woman
Mermaid
Big Foot
Extraterrestrials visiting earth
Angels
Zombies
Vampires
Werewolves
Flying fire breathing dragons
Ghosts (do you agree an angel is not a ghost?)
Remember you do not need to actually believe in these creatures just rank them. If you are wondering, I rank mermaid as most plausible and flying dragons as least.
I agree with what she writes toward the end:
“Yet, in the end, what’s most remarkable is not that our fantasies contain so much reality; it is that our reality contains so much fantasy.”
And
“Better, perhaps, to know that what we feel in our happiest moments has some truth to it: life is magical.”
Unrelated to this speculation exercise - I found a TED talk that Kathryn Schulz gave on the importance of embracing our own fallibility. It was given in 2011 and still applies now as it did then. Maybe more so. Worth watching.
Everytime I look at you
I don’t understand
Why you let the things you did
Get so out of hand
You'd have managed better
if you'd had it planned.
(more lyrics I skipped)
Don’t get me wrong, don’t get me wrong
Don’t get me wrong, only want to know,
Only want to know, only want to know,
Donald Trump, Donald Trump
Who are you? What have you sacrificed?
Donald Trump, superstar
Do you think you’re what they say you are?
(if you manage to avoid the news, please note our country’s administration is less than a month old and things have gotten out of hand. Not a good start)
Maybe I’ve caught a case of headline stress disorder. Lately the news has been derailing my train of thought. What is going on with my postings? In the past I’ve avoided politics and religion which I don’t believe mix well together. Now I write this post.
First off I’m NOT seriously equating DT with JC. I'm just picking out some lines from these lyrics and reinterpreting.Let me explain. I was thinking about this fake news garbage and then read a disturbing conspiracy theory (I might get back to it in a later post). As I pondered weird stupid theories/stories, I remembered a post I did back in 2011 titled, Aliens coming tonight.
After I awoke hours later, the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar washes up in my brain. So I go to youtube and watch a clip of the hit song with lyrics. I like two of the songs in the set but I started listening to the other ones on my quest.
(short true side story - while I was looking up this rock opera, I accidently typed an extra ‘p’ and got “Jesus supperstar”. I think that fits since Jesus did have the most famous supper of all time.)
I guess my current worldview has become distorted because I’m relating these lyrics from a rock opera to today’s White House. The weird thing is as I looked over other songs from this rock opera I found more lyrics relating to today. The Brit, Sir Tim Rice, wrote these lyrics in 1970. Did he accidentally predict the future?
I offer you this selection of lyrics from a 3 different songs:
What’s the buzz?
Tell me what’s happening.
Why should you want to know?
-
Sleep and I shall soothe you
Calm you and anoint you
Myrrh for your hot forehead
Then you’ll feel everything’s alright
-
We dare not leave him to his own devices
His half-witted fans will get out of control
But how can we stop him
His glamour increases
By leaps every minute
Finally from the song, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”, I find these words:
Should I bring him down
Should I scream and shout
Should I speak of love
Let my feelings out
I never thought I’d come to this
What’s it all about
If you have any answers to “what’s it all about?” please tell me in the comments.
For many years I was proud to say that I had neversteppedfoot in an IKEA store. There are several in our general area. I forgot to record the date but months ago I did visit a nearby one and walked around it for awhile. One of our daughters and her husband were there to buy something. I guess they felt the need to assemble something.
I do recall their free paper tape rulers. Great idea for a furniture store. I took a few home.
Did you happen to see the news story on IKEA in Shanghai? (BTW, do people still use the phrase, “got Shanghai’d”)
According to this story (link) elderly are shopping for more than DIY furniture at the Shanghai IKEA store. They are shopping for love. From the article:
“...most of the regulars were seeking light flirtation rather than a hot dog or a glass of lingonberry cordial, management has grown tired of allowing their restaurant to be used as a makeshift singles club.”
This reminds me of when I and a group friends would be thrown out of restaurants because of overstaying our small order of maybe three sodas. We thought three soft drinks should be worth three hours of hanging out.
The best buy - I’m not referring to the store. No I mean the idea. I understand getting a good price, a good deal. I just don’t worry or spend much time trying to achieve the best possible buy. I think the best buy will probably come at a time way off in the future. You know when nobody is buying whatever it was that you fretted over trying to get the best buy. Here’s a question - how far will you drive to save five cents on a gallon of gas?
Oh since you have read this far down, it's your lucky day. You qualify to follow the following link and read my opinion of pillows. IMHO a better post than this one. check it out it's free - pillow talk
There's a feeling I get when I look to the youtube,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In those videos I have seen strange things through the clips,
And the voices of those who comment weirdly.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.
What is really making me wonder is the meme I stumbled on (stumbling on youtube doesn’t hurt my bones unlike my other stumbling) during a recent youtube excursion.
So what was the meme that caused this bustle in the hedgerow?
Don’t be alarmed now. It’s really just an very odd thing in my opinion.
The video gamer subculture created a meme using the beginning of the Yes song, “Roundabout”. (for your listening pleasure which you might need after this reading displeasure, you'll find the song clip below)
Are you as confused as I am? Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven has do wah diddy to do with the Yes song. They might only be related in my mind’s playlist. Led Zeppelin just filled their song with great phrases so it often pops up in my thoughts. (Note last year I discontinued all my telepathic services so maybe this doesn’t confuse you at all)
Even though I know better, while I was listening to the “Roundabout” clip I browsed the comments (it is a very long song). If you find my blog posting odd, then you should read youtube comments sometime. They are a whole level worse than fakebook comments.
You'll find about 20,000 comments on this clip. That seems odd and many of them are very recent. The song came out in 1971.
I noticed references to “GTA”, “JoJo”, and "To Be Continued” in many of those comment threads. Hmm, what odd things are these?
So with time on my hands and fingers on the keyboard I went searching. GTA is Grand Theft Auto which in my opinion is one of the worst games for impressionable teens (why they flocked to it?).
When the badass player steals a car in GTA the radio plays a radio station. Now there are tens of stations loaded in the GTA cars. The song “Roundabout” is played on one of those stations.
JoJo and To Be Continued are related to the same Japanese anime, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Apparently in that series they play the intro to this song, freeze the scene and flash, “To Be Continued”. Fans took to their smartphones and started creating clips of some odd action about to happen. They added this intro music then shared their “creative” clips on the various video sharing services. It became a meme for others not me. I’ll admit I found a few were America’s-Funniest-Videos funny.
I find all this meme stuff very bizarre. All of this reminded me of another song, “Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma” but I’m not going off on that tangent today.
This post might just ruin a great classic James Bond film.
Before I jump into comparing and conjecturing about a celebrity candidate, I want to be clear about my intention here. This is not a persuasive post. (once I wrote a persuasive type post about Sheryl Crow) I’m not recommending anything for anyone. I love puns but I’m no pundit. I have my opinions and you have yours. Now this post could certainly be considered political. I rather think of it as political satire.
diversity in your crayon box is desirable
Back in my crazy thrilling teen years (many thrills but mostly spills) my favorite movies were James Bond flicks. A cool and smart spy who would say witty lines and drive a fast well defended car. You could quickly get gadget envy learning how 007 was equipped.
During a bit of youtube watching I came across a clip from “Goldfinger” where 007 is about to be sliced in two by a hot laser.
(here’s a link if interested)
Then I noticed something, possibly something that has gone unnoticed until now (good for Lisleman’s Broken News feed) - Donald Trump is a the doppelganger of Goldfinger. I would say evil twin but I’m sure which one is evil. Now a comparison of a politician to a fictional character is not new. Remember the “Dark Vader” vice president we had in the early 2000’s?
unique hair styles attract
While not a perfect matching set, Goldfinger and Donaldhave a similar look and here are a few other similarities:
They both were successful business tycoons running global companies.
They were both low rate actors.
They both enjoyed golf.
They probably both have the same balding pattern but you can’t tell with Donald due to his weird hair style.
Both had private jets. (bonus points for the name of Goldfinger’s pilot)
The trait that really matched them up in my mind - obsession with gold! In the following clip you'll learn that Donald's jet has gold plated seat belts.
Goldfinger had a heart of gold and a kiss of death. Donald has plenty of gold things.
I am not a show off. Somewhere between big ego and low self esteem there is a successful balance. Maybe I got it right a few times.
However in this song I’m about to over analyze, I am suspicious of why the term flaunt is used. My speculation could be over the top and too much under the table. Of course please share your opinion in the comment section.
No one should flaunt flatulation. I’m not sure what made me write that. It has nothing to do with the song. I guess I was thinking of ‘f’ words.
Another post, another Tom Jones song. Back before I carried a smartphone (as if that marks an era?) I did a post about a Tom Jones song, Delilah.
Why why why Delilah, would I write about another Tom Jones song? I don’t know. The Delilah song and this one are interesting because our culture has changed attitudes regarding many of the topics sung about in these songs. Whatever, Delilah wouldn’t care since she was killed off in her song.
She’s a lady and I’m a sexist. That could be the long title for this song. Paul Anka wrote the song for Tom Jones.
Well, she's all you'd ever want
She's the kind I like to flaunt and take to dinner
(flaunt? another example of how our generation’s music made good use euphemisms)
(dinner is probably the only thing this lady gets out of this)
But she always knows her place
(knows her place - oh that’s non-starter)
She's got style, she's got grace, she's a winner
(he's a loser)
She's a lady
Oh, whoa, whoa, she's a lady
Talkin' about that little lady
(little lady - wow saying that today would get your ass kicked back to the 60’s or earlier)
And the lady is mine
(ok at this point I do believe he is talking about his cocker spaniel named “Lady”)
Well, she's never in the way
(yeah women are always getting in the way - my way that is)
Always something nice to say, and what a blessin'
(he’s got that right - a blessing she doesn’t deck him)
I can leave her on her own
(while he goes off and spends time with women who are less than ladies?)
Knowin' she's OK alone and there's no messin'
(she is alone and ok but what is he up to? double standards)
She's a lady
Oh, whoa, whoa, she's a lady
Talkin' about that little lady
And the lady is mine
(ownership makes for a great relationship?)
Well, she never asks very much
(good for her)
And I don't refuse her
Always treat her with respect
I never would abuse her
(Is that a pledge really necessary? Wouldn’t that just be understood?)
What she's got is hard to find
And I don't want to lose her
(buy her dog tags)
Help me build a mountain
From a little pile of clay, hey hey hey
(mountain of clay? I think he would be in a mountain of shit at this point in the song)
Well, she knows what I'm about
She can take what I dish out, and that's not easy
(oh yeah idiot, just keep dishing it out)
But she knows me through and through
And she knows just what to do and how to please me
(yeah it’s all about you)
She's a lady
Oh, whoa, whoa, she's a lady
Talkin' about that little lady
And the lady is mine
(just continues on with repeats of mostly whoa whoa’s. It was not unusual to find attitudes about women back then like this.)
Hmm, do you think there is any chance the lady's name was Delilah?
Hey if you have time for another clip, here’s a song that answers “She’s a Lady”. Lesley Gore had a sixties hit “You Don’t Own Me”. 18 year old Grace from Australia does a mean cover of the late Leslie Gore's hit.
I know some who get their jingle bells all twisted when they heard "Happy Holidays". I don't understand their disdain for the phrase. Oh sure I use "Merry Christmas" most often but if someone wish me a "Happy Hanukkah" (yeah I know it's over already this year but in 2016 is lines up with Christmas Eve) I would not be offended. If I was talking with the well wisher I might point out that I'm not Jewish. Happy Kwanzaa - I don't even know if that is the correct phrasing but I'll take it as a well wish.
Can't we just wish each other well regardless of religion? Imagine - I suspect John Lennon might say. Does a well wish need to be tried to a religion? Well most of us have wished someone Happy Birthday. I don't think there was any religious connection to those wishes. There is no war on Christmas. There is a changing world though. One of the changes is an expanding global connection of cultures. I very minor thing but I still remember learning the first time I was in Ireland that I should wish Happy Christmas not Merry Christmas. Apparently, the British (who influenced the Irish probably more than they wanted) consider "merry" as implying a bit of intoxication.
Really the best wishes are those said with respect and goodwill. It's not the words but the feeling expressed. So I wish you the best of whatever you celebrate.
My wife, Mary, heard about this display but all she would tell me was that we were going to take a short ride to see something. I was surprised. I didn't expect our destination had anything to do with Veteran's Day.
A hill of flags. It was windy today. Flags and wind do go together don't you think?
I believe we captured this hill
one of me at the bottom of the hill
It was nice to visit this before the official opening which I believe is tomorrow. Then there will be another ceremony on Veteran's Day. No crowd today.
