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Music on Mondays — When the night is cloudy
In September 1965, while living in Brigham City, Utah, my parents put me in the Thomas D. Dee Memorial Hospital in Ogden, Utah, about 20 miles away. I don’t know if they put me there voluntarily or whether the State of Utah took possession of me and placed me there because my parents could not control me. I was a serious juvenile delinquent — arson, breaking & entering, burglary, robbery, forgery. You name it, and except for rape and murder, I did it by the time I was 11.
At the time, The Dee, now called McKay-Dee Hospital Center, had one of the nation’s only behavioral health care programs for youth.
While I was in the Dee, I met Barbara Hunt, an 18-year-old woman from Bakersfield, California. She also was a ward of the hospital. Barbara befriended me and introduced me to The Beatles who had recently invaded America. Sounds bad, but it was a great invasion!
Throughout the years after my wise old grandmother adopted me in December 1965, I discovered that The Beatles had music which could meet the emotional needs for any mood I was in. Love? In My Life. Too much work? A Hard Day’s Night. A need to rock ‘n’ roll? Revolution, Helter Skelter. A need to sing? The Ballad of John and Yoko. On and on.
This past week after the Boston Bombings, I have been listening to a lot of Beatles. Since our Music on Mondays post two weeks ago involved The Beatles’ arch-rival, The Rolling Stones, Zoey the Cool Cat suggested we listen to some Beatles today. Here are my three favorite Beatles songs for when I’m a little down and depressed, when the world doesn’t seem quite right, when the most vile and evil people seem to take over, even if only for a while.
Help, I need somebody
Help, not just anybody
Help, you know I need someone, help
When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me
And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me
When I was younger so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me, get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, ooh
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Yeah there will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Ah let it be, yeah let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music,
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Yeah let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah let it be
Oh there will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be
There’s a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go I don’t know she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Why she had to go I don’t know she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
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Music on Mondays — Happy Birthday, Carly!
I have sang in various choruses and choirs throughout my life, starting in sixth grade. For Valentine’s Day 1973, our high school choir’s fundraiser was to serenade anyone for just $5 per song. We had soloists, duets, trios, quartets, women’s ensembles, and men’s ensembles roaming throughout the school singing to people.
Even the Principal, Mr. Jones, was not exempt as Billy Paul’s “Me and Mrs. Jones” was a radio staple at the time, and a couple of people (anonymous, of course) hired us to sing the song to Mr. Jones.
Another radio staple at the time was Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” and it turned out to be a popular song for couples who had just broken up. Considering that this was high school, I think “You’re So Vain” was our most popular song that Valentine’s Day.
I was and still am a huge Beatles fan, so I’m always checking out cover versions of their songs, and here’s a nice version of “Blackbird” by Carly Simon:
For comparison, here is The Beatles’ original version from 1967′s “The White Album” (more properly, “The Beatles”):
I never really liked Carly Simon at the time but she has grown on me over the years. Nostalgia? Today happens to be Carly Simon’s 67th birthday, so Happy Birthday, Carly!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — #8: She’s a rainbow
#8
She’s a rainbow
The Beatles are my #1 singing group of all time, so I’ve necessarily not been a big fan of The Rolling Stones. lol
However, once I got to college at Texas A&M University, I was introduced to more music than what the American radio stations presented to me. Now I also have World Music — The Music Journey right here at WordPress to help me expand my tastes in music.
I currently have 53,114 digital music files, exceeded only by my 73,071 photographs.
I started collecting music in 1965 when I got a reel-to-reel tape recorder and recorded music off the radio. For my sixteenth birthday, while all my friends were getting cars, I got a stereo and my first vinyl records: Black Sabbath Vol. 4, The White Album by The Beatles, All Things Must Pass by George Harrison, and Wings Wild Life by Paul McCartney.
I eventually had over 15,000 vinyl records which I sold to a record store in Austin, Texas, in 1993 when I moved to San Diego. That allowed me to start collecting CDs, eventually growing it to over 5,000 CDs, which I stripped and sold in 2007 when I moved yet again. Now I’m just a digital file person. I’ll make CDs for long road trips, or to listen to when I’m gardening or at the beach but that’s it. Once I listen to them, they get thrown away.
One of the groups that I caught up on, beginning in 2007, is The Rolling Stones. My favorite song of theirs is “She’s A Rainbow.” It took me forever to finally find out that this song was by The Rolling Stones, off of their fantastic album (and my favorite of theirs) “Their Satanic Majesties Request.” I have no idea what the lyrics mean; maybe they were just a decade or two ahead of their time in describing today’s young women with all their weird hair colors, jewelry, piercings, tattoos……….
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Music on Mondays — #6: You say it’s your birthday; it’s my birthday, too!
#6
You say it’s your birthday;
it’s my birthday, too!
Yesterday was my birthday.
They (and I have no idea who “they” are) say that if you put 30 people in a room, the odds are extraordinarly high that two of them will have the same birthday. It wasn’t until I went off to college at Texas A&M University that I started meeting people who had the same birthday as me, or close.
Today’s post is dedicated to the people I know who have birthdays within a week of mine:
-
Joe Kenny, March 6
Real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in Hinsdale, Illinois -
James Busby, March 7
Alpha Phi Omega fraternity brother at Texas A&M University -
Suesan Jenifer Therriault, March 8
Home inspector with JTHIS-Professional Home Inspection Team in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania -
Mark Sippel, March 9
Alpha Phi Omega fraternity brother at Texas A&M University -
Judy Klem, March 9
Home stager and owner of Transition Stage in Huntington, Connecticut -
Andy Udden, March 10
Alpha Phi Omega fraternity brother at Texas A&M University -
Bonnie Alverson, March 11
wife of Ray Alverson, Alpha Phi Omega fraternity brother at Texas Tech University. -
Donna Foerster, March 12
real estate agent with Rocky Mountain Real Estate Advisors in Parker, Colorado -
Gary Mitrovich, March 14
Author and owner of Maxwell’s House of Books in La Mesa, California -
Neal T. Scott (Jr.), March 15
Alpha Phi Omega fraternity brother from Sam Houston State University.
To celebrate our birthdays, I give you my favorite birthday song, which happens to be by my all-time favorite group of singers: The Beatles
“Birthday” was the first song on the first side of the second vinyl record on the album “The Beatles,” more popularly known as “The White Album.” It was written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney and recorded on September 18, 1968. Lennon, in an interview in Playboy in 1980, said of the song: “It was a piece of garbage.” In 1980, however, I don’t think Lennon liked anything by The Beatles. It was that kind of acrimonious breakup ten years earlier.
McCartney released a live version of “Birthday” in 1990 which made it to #29 on the British singles charts.
Musicians:
-
Paul McCartney – vocal, lead guitar, piano, handclaps
-
John Lennon – vocal, backing vocal, lead guitar, handclaps
-
George Harrison – six-string bass, handclaps
-
Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, handclaps
-
Pattie Harrison – backing vocal, handclaps
-
Yoko Ono – backing vocal, handclaps
-
Mal Evans – handclaps
