Monthly Archives: September 2024

What A Dream I Had…

A man waits in the shadows…

I held your hand…

Slow down, you move too fast…life, I love you…

and the shadows wash the room…cast in our indifference…and you read your Emily Dickenson, and I my Robert Frost…

Home, where love lies waiting silently for me…

Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine…

It’s poetry set to music – the voice of an age of war and protest, the voice of life seeking fulfillment. It tugs at my soul, asking questions of life and meaning. Do I sleep, unaware of the clarion call? Of course, I do. Do I move through my days too fast/quickly? Certainly. Haunting lyrics, in the best sense. Gentle, tuneful, beautiful: the union of voice, meter, key, and word. The same could be said of almost any album Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel created. I chose this one because I sang most of these songs in high school chorus.

What a wonderful introduction to existential questions and a glimpse of what is sacred and usually overlooked. I’m quite convinced that it’s one of the reasons I asked the questions that guided much of my seeking God’s face in those around me.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme, Simon and Garfunkel, Columbia ia Records, October 10, 1966.

On the Road – Again

I was five years old when it was released in 1969, too young to realize its genius. And way too young to know how difficult it is to create something beautiful, meaningful, or tuneful when disagreements threaten friendships and working relationships both. The four of them went on to do more, but there was no reunion tour. The sum was greater than the measure of its parts – brilliant parts though they were.

It makes me wonder what beauty might come out of other difficult things…

What is your favorite from the Fab Four?

Abbey Road, The Beatles, Released September 26, 1969, Apple Records

Spellbinding

The range of musical genres on one album, her vocal quality, and how the whole thing hangs together make this one of my favorites. Jazz, blues, musical theater, and pop come together in a way that highlights the unique quality of each – and puts on full display the ability of the artist to move from one genre to another. Nina Simone’s I Put A Spell On You is what a life well lived sounds like – varied, heartfelt, and full of every emotion.

While I was familiar with two of the songs on this album, I was well into my thirties before I listened to the whole thing. I’m inclined to think that was a good thing; my twenty year old self wouldn’t have appreciated the spirit of this album. Some things require a bit of age and life experience to appreciate…

I Put a Spell on You, Nina Simone, recorded in 1964 and 1965, released by Philips Records in 1965

What album do you think requires a little age to appreciate?

(Etta James’s At Last! was a close second to this one…)

Holiday in the Air

It was in every one of my relatives’ homes, a constant in otherwise very diverse record collections. It’s one of the first albums that comes up in the Christmas Apple playlists. Bing’s versions of White Christmas and Silent Night nestle among more contemporary tunes and artists in malls and restaurants throughout the holiday season.

The album is a mix of Christmas hymns and secular holiday songs; I’ve known every word of every song for well over fifty years – something I can’t say about many albums. Each time I listen to it, some memory of past holidays surfaces – my aunt making fruit compote, my grandfather drinking tea out of his saucer, going outside after decorating the tree to see it twinkle in my grandmother’s bay window, decorating a tree with friends in my Dover apartment. It is an auditory touchstone.

Is it the only or best Christmas album I own? No. Is it the most important as far as what it has added to my approach to the Nativity? Yes. It has been part of the soundtrack of my life as far back as I can remember, and I suspect it will continue to be so – even if and when memory fails.

Wish You Were Comfortably Numb…

There is no pain. Do you think you can tell heaven from hell? All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall. Pink Floyd lyrics are amazing, but add the music and they are mesmerizing. Existential angst and a peek at the darkness that lives inside every human heart shoot through the music and I greet them. Their presence within me is released, if only for the few minutes between opening chords and final notes. They are true to life, a truth that sitcoms and Hallmark movies do their best to deny or cover up.

But they aren’t the only truths, nor the deepest ones. They aren’t the final word, nor are they the ultimate narrative of a life well and deeply lived. In the end, it’s love and a benediction that close the book of life. Amen.

Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd – on the top ten:

Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd