Don’t waste time. Open to the divine sublime.
Thoughts intervene. Ignore them to achieve the dream.
The jewel is buried in the Heart. The journey awaits. It is never too late to start.
Travel on a Perilous Mission into the Unknown Carrying the Fate of the World on Your Shoulders.
Back in the days when recording artists released singles, “We Can Work It Out” made its debut in 1965. The Beatle’s manager, Brian Epstein, felt that the other song on the record, “Day Tripper,” was more commercial and so, should be the lead song. Typically, the lead song of a single is recorded on the top side (A side) and the other song (B side) goes beneath it. Since both songs became hits, the record turned out to be the first double “A” single ever recorded.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song with Paul writing the optimistic verses and John writing the more pessimistic chorus, in this case, the bridge.
The song sprang from a disagreement Paul had with his then-girlfriend, actress Jane Asher. Jane and her mother, Margaret, had a powerful impact on Paul’s life. The couple stayed together for five years from 1963 to 1968.
Here’s my cover.
If you’ve been following this blog, then you know I’m a huge fan of Cat Stevens. He produced some of the most iconic and unique music of the 1960s and ’70s. Shortly thereafter, Stevens’ sincere spiritual search led to his conversion to Islam, a surprise to many, including myself. For several decades after his transformation, Stevens, now known as Jusuf Islam, remained musically inert.
During his most productive years, Stevens gave over his immense musical talent to the study and preaching of Islam. Although Stevens says, in his own words, “I’m only trying to help,” I can’t help thinking that the world lost out on a treasure trove of inspiring, educational, and entertaining music
To be fair, I guess I’m just expressing my sour grapes. Everyone has the right to do whatever he or she wants with their life. Stevens believes his conversion to Islam “was meant to be.” It may very well be because Stevens has done a lot for the Arabic world. And he has stayed with his persuasion for almost fifty years. Kudos to Cat…er…Yusuf.
“Hard Headed Woman” celebrates an empowering and life-affirming love. The artist envisions an enriching and fulfilling relationship in which each partner contributes to the other’s growth and happiness. The song reminds us of the importance of finding someone who complements and strengthens us rather than a companion who fits a pre-determined, superficial mold.
Here’s my cover.
“Day Is Done” is a simple song about a clandestine relationship. Since very little has been written about the song, it is difficult to pinpoint its exact meaning. It could be about two married adults having an illicit affair. The lyrics and tone, however, indicate a relationship between two adolescents forbidden by parents or society.
The drawings on the album cover of “Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings,” where the song is one of the tracks, tend to support the theory of a prohibited young love.
In “Day is Done,” Prine has written a charming little song with universal implications. Many of his songs deal with the intricacies of human relationships and are laced with Prine’s subtle sense of humor. Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings was John’s fourteenth album. Released in 1995, it is another example of the artist’s exploration of the human condition.
From humble beginnings, John Prine came a long way in his fifty-year career. He won Grammy Awards and was posthumously inducted into the Country and Folk Music Hall of Fame. What struck me, however, is this early recollection of his career. It is taken directly from Prine’s official website:
“Prine still remembers the first three songs he performed on any stage: Sam Stone, Hello in There, and Paradise. With humility, he recalls, “I sang those three songs and people just sat there and looked at me. I thought, ‘Wow, those are really bad.’ They wouldn’t even applaud.”
Things changed dramatically when a young journalist named Roger Ebert dropped into a Chicago folk club for a beer while John was on stage. Ebert wrote a glowing review of Prine’s performance in the Chicago Sun-Times which essentially launched John’s career.
Here’s my cover of “Day Is Done.”
John Prine began his professional career as a mailman in Illinois. He went on to become one of America’s most beloved singers and songwriters. If you are a fan of Folk and Country Music, then you know John Prine. His music was a blend of humorous lyrics about love, life, current events, and songs recounting melancholy tales from his life. Prine was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death in 2020 from complications of COVID-19.
“I Remember Everything” was the last song John wrote. Published posthumously, it’s a simple yet moving song looking back on a life well-lived.
Prine may have had a premonition that his life was coming to an end. If that is the case, then “I Remember Everything” is John’s epitaph, which he characteristically wrote himself. Here’s my cover.
Bob Dylan wrote and recorded the original version of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” but The Byrds’ electrified folk-rock version shot it to #1 on both the US and UK charts. The song hadn’t been released when The Byrds learned it from a demo Dylan gave to their manager, Jim Dickson.
Dylan released Tambourine Man in March 1965 on his Bringing It All Back Home album.
What is “Mr. Tambourine Man” about? On the surface, this tambourine man is a wandering musician whose music has captured Dylan under its spell. The song is considered by many to be about drug experiences, with lines like “Take me for a trip upon your magic swirling ship” and “Take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind.” Phrases like these suggest a marijuana or LSD trip. Dylan is famously close-lipped about explaining his songs, but in his 1985 Biograph compilation album, he revealed that “Mr. Tambourine Man” is not about drugs. Instead, he said the song was inspired by a backup folk musician named Bruce Langhorne, who played a large tambourine in one of Dylan’s recording sessions.
To me, the song’s poetic images are like impressionist paintings. The melody is haunting and mesmerizing. The song stands alone as a true work of art. Here’s my version.
“Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”
These lyrics and the refrain popped into my head a few mornings ago. This sort of thing has been happening to me frequently these days: Long-forgotten songs resurfacing. It may be a function of the aging process, or it might be the universe talking to me. I kind of hope it’s the latter.
In the 1970s, a group called the Bryds covered a few Bob Dylan songs. They made songs like Mr. Tambourine Man and this one popular. The Bryds’ cover of Mr.Tambourine Man went to number one on the US charts, and their cover of My Back Pages went to thirty. I may have never listened to My Back Pages had it not been for The Byrds. By the way, Roger McGuinn and The Byrds are credited with starting the Folk Rock Revolution. And they inspired Bob Dylan to go electric.
In 1964, Dylan released his fourth album, “Another Side of Life.” Around this time, he began to distance himself from his earlier songs. He claimed his earlier work was not about politics. Instead, it was about universal themes and not individual political issues. In “My Back Pages,” Dylan lambasts himself for his authoritarianism and arrogance.
Moving forward, Dylan’s music focused more on individual consciousness and personal freedom. He is remembered more for his music from 1965-1970 than his earlier work.
To me, the lyrics at the top infer that we tend to think we know it all at a young age. I know that I did. As we age, we gain more wisdom and realize that we know less than we thought we did. This understanding opens us to learning more when we admit that we know little in comparison to what is out there. To be open to learning without imposing pre-existing ideas is to become more pliable and, therefore, young.
Here’s my cover of this powerful song.
Cat Stevens wrote and recorded quite a few hits at the Zenith of his career in the 1960s and 1970s. Stevens is an exceptionally talented artist. His songs began to climb the charts in his native England when he was only eighteen. There is a recurring theme in Stevens’ work about leaving home to go out into the world. In Stevens’ words:
“Wild World has to do with leaving, the sadness of leaving, and the anticipation of what lies beyond. There is a criticism sometimes of my music that it’s kind of naïve, but then again, that’s exactly why people like it. It goes back to the pure childish approach of seeing things almost for the first time.”
I’ve covered several of Stevens’ songs on this blog, including “On the Road to Find Out,” “Fill My Eyes,” and “The Wind.” I’m a huge fan. Stevens’ songs still inspire me some sixty years after their release. Here’s my cover of another popular CS song: “Wild World.”
After Steven Digman wrote “Anniversary Song,” he took it to Chris Biondo’s studio in Rockville, Maryland, to record it. At the time, Biondo was looking for material for Eva Cassidy to record. After Chris heard the song, he insisted on recording it with Eva. Digman had another singer in mind, but Biondo wouldn’t give up. After hearing Eva sing “Anniversary Song” on the phone, Digman agreed to let Cassidy record it. The rest, as they say, is history.
This is another song that popped into my head unexpectedly. At first, I decided not to blog about it. But the melody, like Chris Biondo, wouldn’t give up. I guess someone is trying to tell me something. Here’s my cover.
Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young wrote: “Teach Your Children.” The song appears on the group’s album, Deja Vue. The lyrics pertain to the difficult relationship Nash had with his father, who spent time in prison. Nash has talked about songwriting in these terms: “The idea is that you write something so personal that every single person on the planet can relate to it. Once it’s there, it unfolds outward, so that it applies to almost any situation.”
In another quote, Nash says, “When I wrote ‘Teach Your Children,’ we didn’t know what we were doing. It was like: ‘This sounds pretty fun. We can sing this! Let’s do it!’ And then, all of a sudden, people are singing it back to me forty years later.”
Graham Nash is a photographer as well as a great musician and songwriter. Soon after writing “Teach Your Children,” Nash visited an art gallery and saw two photographs hung side by side. The photographs clarified the meaning of the song for Nash. One photo, by Diane Arbus, is titled “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park.” The other is Arnold Newman’s portrait of German industrialist Alfried Krupp, the man who manufactured arms for World Wars I and II.
In a Songfacts interview, Nash told this story about the two photos: “I have never told any gallery owner how to hang my images. They know their space way better than me, and I’m always curious as to how they put images together. And in this particular show, the gallery put these two photos together. The photos made me realize that if we didn’t teach our children a better way of dealing with our fellow human beings, we were fucked. Humanity was in great danger.”
Now, this is me talking. I often feel that art comes from somewhere else. Let’s call it “The Great Beyond.” To me, a serious artist is a channeler of messages from The Beyond through the prism of his or her experiences and personality. These messages want to come through and be heard by a large audience. “Teach Your Children” is a good illustration of this idea. Here’s my cover.
