A couple of things have gotten me to thinking about home and what home really is. There are plenty of definitions from, "Home is where you hang your hat" to "Home is where they have to take you in when nobody else will.". Like most things in real life, cute and witty sayings are pretty superficial.
I'm fifty-nine years of age now and I've never had a place where I felt "at home". I had a variety of homes in my childhood and a greaer variety of homes since adulthood. Those have all bust been places where I stayed until the next place came along.
I have been in the house where I live now for fifteen years. That is over twice as long as I ever lived in one single place in my life. Prior to this place the longest I was ever in one place was six years. Then only a couple of times. There has always been one reason or another for moving on. However, I think my moving on days have passed me by and where I live now will be my "home" until I no longer have any need of a home any where.
None of the many places I've lived has ever felt like "home" to me. They are just a house, a mobile home, an apartment where I live at any given time. So, what is there about all these places that has kept me from feeling "at home' there? I guess the first thing one would need to do would be to define "home".
Home is not a physical place, no house, not trailer, no apartment is "home". "Home" is a feeling. It is a feeling of comfort, of belonging, of loving and being loved. Perhaps a feeling of being understood, being welcomed at all times and this could be the finest mansion or the meanest hovel. Home is definitely not a place.
During my formative years we moved around quite a bit and I never fit in any of the places we lived if there were people around. I was always and outsider to my peers whom I shared little to nothing with except being the same chronological age.
Being in school was always stressful to me. Being an outcast does that to a person. Being "at home" was really not any better as I was a chicken's wishbone caught in an endless tug of war between my parents. Even with them I felt like an outcast for one reason or another. Though they both confided in me they would some day leave the other and "take me away" and it would then be just "me and them". For me, living with both parents was trial enough but being forced to live with only one of them would have been worse. Much worse.
These circumstances lead me to spending as much time as possible away from my house. At least that was a different time and I was free to wander the woods by myself whenever I wanted. And, I wanted an awful lot. The forests of Eastern Kentucky were where I felt the most peace in my life. I was far away from the other kids who never liked me anyhow and my parents who aggraved hell out of me for several reasons. I ate there and slept there but any other time I preferred not to be there.
Without going into unnecessary detail I can say even after my teen years I really never felt at home whereever I happened to live. I was noticing today on the way to work and looking over the mostly flat South Carolina countryside and feeling how alien it all looked to me even though I've lived here for twenty seven years now.
Over the years I've often wondered what it would have been like to grow up in a "normal" family filled with love and respect for everyone. Perhaps it is the alienation from my early years that does not allow me to be comfortable any where and to feel "at home" any where. The things that happen to us in our pre-teen and teen years have a profound effect on the rest of our lives. Even when we realize that we still cannot change it as it has become a part of who we are.
I lived in Kentucky for thirty two years and I don't fit in there and have never felt at home there. I've lived here in South Carolina a further twenty seven years with those same feelings. And, as I get older, I think I'm growing more and more reluctant to step outside my little cocoon no matter how mcuh I want to at times. Maybe I just need new medications. But, I find my ability to feel anything at all is fading over time. Love, lust, anger, hate, fear or even interest in a lot of things is quickly becoming beyond me.
I once envied those who felt comfortable in their own skins and seemed to fit in with family and friends. Now I don't even feel that. Yet, in my own purely academic way, I do wonder what it would be like to have a home.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
The First in My Series on Stupid Commercials on TV
It is brief. Does not take a long time to point out idiocies in a TV commercial. Today is Folger's Coffee. First, we see a woman having a cup of coffee in her kitchen when the phone rings. It is her husband calling (just how lazy have we become?) from the tent in the back yard.
Then we see her walking down the steps from the back deck with the cell phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Next she gets to the tent and all of a sudden she has no cell phone and TWO cups of coffee.
Ok, I suppose she could have stuck the phone in her pocket but she darned sure did not have an extra cup of hot coffee stuck in there. Where did it come from?
"The best part of waking up is Folgers in your (mysteriously appearing from nowhere) cup".
Then we see her walking down the steps from the back deck with the cell phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Next she gets to the tent and all of a sudden she has no cell phone and TWO cups of coffee.
Ok, I suppose she could have stuck the phone in her pocket but she darned sure did not have an extra cup of hot coffee stuck in there. Where did it come from?
"The best part of waking up is Folgers in your (mysteriously appearing from nowhere) cup".
Friday, May 10, 2013
I've Always Said...
... some people are just too stupid to live.
There is a LOT of hate in this world and most of it is for stupid things. White people hate people who are not white. People who are not white hate white people and others who are not white but are not "black enough" or not "Muslim enough" or not whatever you think YOU are. Those are all BAD reasons to hate a fellow human.
Now days its popular to hate people who don't have the same gender identity you choose to ascribe to them based on genitalia Let me inform you all that is D-U-M-B. Don't waste your time hating people who have different countries of origin, practice different religions, have a different level of pigmentation, view sexuality through a different looking glass than you. Hate STUPID people. Don't BE a STUPID PERSON.
If you were born in the good old US of A and had the privilege of attending a school here for at least the number of years until you were sixteen and had the option of choosing to be stupid you have NO reason to be mangling your own language. You have NO reason to NOT know where different countries lie in the world. You have NO reason to blame anyone else for your own shortcomings. YOU have had the opportunity to succeed that millions of people in this world risk their lives to have and never get.
South Carolina is full of STUPID PEOPLE. They just elected to Congress an admitted cheater who used state funds to visit his South American mistress. Who was recently caught trespassing on his ex-wife's private property, who has ZERO redeeming traits. Why did they elect him? He is a Republican and in this state they'd elect Adolf Hitler if he ran on the Republican ticket.
I admit I generally consider Republicans to be genetically defective but South Carolina Republicans fail the test to be even marginally aware of the world around them. Oh, by the way, South Carolina STILL flies the Confederate Battle Flag on Statehouse grounds. How does a state so damn backward get away with flying a symbol of hatred and rebellion against the United States on the Statehouse grounds? Because people are too stupid to live.
Stop hating people for SILLY reasons. You can't help what the pigmentation of your skin is (unless you are pale and trying to deliberately die of skin cancer). Unfortunately, your parents probably choose your religion and most people are too weak to decide their own way. You can't help where you were born. But, by <insert mythical deity here> you can CHOOSE to educate yourself and stop being stupid.
If you don't know the difference between "there", "their", "they're" or "infer" and "imply" or you casually use "your" when "you're" is appropriate and you are American born you have WASTED the opportunity given you to be educated. Ever wonder why you NEVER get called in for that job interview? Employers do not hire STUPID people by choice. Well, except McDonalds' and they love stupid people. Both in front of and behind the cash register.
There are opportunities out there. Take advantage of them. Use adult continuing education, read books, don't take FOX News or MSNBC or CNN's word for anything. LOOK IT UP!!!! See for yourselves what is going on.
And for <insert imaginary deity here> LEARN TO EFFIN' DRIVE!!!!!
Have a nice day. :-)
There is a LOT of hate in this world and most of it is for stupid things. White people hate people who are not white. People who are not white hate white people and others who are not white but are not "black enough" or not "Muslim enough" or not whatever you think YOU are. Those are all BAD reasons to hate a fellow human.
Now days its popular to hate people who don't have the same gender identity you choose to ascribe to them based on genitalia Let me inform you all that is D-U-M-B. Don't waste your time hating people who have different countries of origin, practice different religions, have a different level of pigmentation, view sexuality through a different looking glass than you. Hate STUPID people. Don't BE a STUPID PERSON.
If you were born in the good old US of A and had the privilege of attending a school here for at least the number of years until you were sixteen and had the option of choosing to be stupid you have NO reason to be mangling your own language. You have NO reason to NOT know where different countries lie in the world. You have NO reason to blame anyone else for your own shortcomings. YOU have had the opportunity to succeed that millions of people in this world risk their lives to have and never get.
South Carolina is full of STUPID PEOPLE. They just elected to Congress an admitted cheater who used state funds to visit his South American mistress. Who was recently caught trespassing on his ex-wife's private property, who has ZERO redeeming traits. Why did they elect him? He is a Republican and in this state they'd elect Adolf Hitler if he ran on the Republican ticket.
I admit I generally consider Republicans to be genetically defective but South Carolina Republicans fail the test to be even marginally aware of the world around them. Oh, by the way, South Carolina STILL flies the Confederate Battle Flag on Statehouse grounds. How does a state so damn backward get away with flying a symbol of hatred and rebellion against the United States on the Statehouse grounds? Because people are too stupid to live.
Stop hating people for SILLY reasons. You can't help what the pigmentation of your skin is (unless you are pale and trying to deliberately die of skin cancer). Unfortunately, your parents probably choose your religion and most people are too weak to decide their own way. You can't help where you were born. But, by <insert mythical deity here> you can CHOOSE to educate yourself and stop being stupid.
If you don't know the difference between "there", "their", "they're" or "infer" and "imply" or you casually use "your" when "you're" is appropriate and you are American born you have WASTED the opportunity given you to be educated. Ever wonder why you NEVER get called in for that job interview? Employers do not hire STUPID people by choice. Well, except McDonalds' and they love stupid people. Both in front of and behind the cash register.
There are opportunities out there. Take advantage of them. Use adult continuing education, read books, don't take FOX News or MSNBC or CNN's word for anything. LOOK IT UP!!!! See for yourselves what is going on.
And for <insert imaginary deity here> LEARN TO EFFIN' DRIVE!!!!!
Have a nice day. :-)
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Grandparents and Parents
There is an old saying, "Grandchildren are a parent's revenge". We grandparents get to spoil them rotten then send them home with their parents and let them deal with the damage. *wink* My daughter put up a post on Facebook about the old TV show, "Hee Haw". For whomever might be reading this, "Hee Haw" was a variety show that featured country music and country humor. She was saying how it reminded her of watching it with her papaw (my dad). Since then I've been thinking of the differences between parents and grandparents.
In this case my parents and I never had the best of relationships. Due to genetics and environment I preferred to spend as much time away from them as possible. That is not very unusual for teens but it lasted in my life until after they were both gone. My mother passed away when I was twenty and my father when I was thirty-eight. So, my mother never knew my children but my father was a every-day part of their lives. It reminds me of the Bill Cosby routine about how his parents treated his children. My dad was a different person where my children were concerned than he was with me.
Makes me wonder about my own grandparents. Now, in this odd case, my maternal and paternal grandfathers were brothers. I never knew any of my father's family as they were pretty much all dead and gone before I was born. But, my mother's parents were there from my first memories. I wonder how different they were as grandparents than they were in raising their own children. They have both been gone for a good number of years as are my parents so there is no one to ask about that. I can say that both my parents and my grandparents were severely over protective in entirely different ways.
My parents feared that anyone my age I associated with would somehow corrupt their little darling. Heaven help us all if that had happened as I have been pretty much corrupted all by myself without bad influences to blame it on. But, I did find a love of reading because I was alone so much and that was all I had to do. That has been the greatest blessing of my life as books have taken me places in the past, present and future I would never have experienced without them. I can't imagine how boring life would be without books. Be that as it may... the over protectiveness of my grandparents was of a different variety.
My parents allowed me to roam the hills all on my own since I was around five years old. I can't imagine that happening today but it was pretty much the norm when and where I was raised. My grandparents, on the other hand, kept me close to home and chose not to allow me to be out in any kind of "bad" weather.
I lived with them during the week when I was in the first grade and attended Preston's Gap school. It was a one-room school for grades one through eight. I'm trying to decide a realistic length of the walk I had to and from school. It definitely was not ten miles and uphill in both directions. I'm going to say it was a good mile. We went by foot path from my grandparent's house to the joining of the main creek with a small branch where I'd meet up with a few of my cousins. Thence through a field (and through a barn) by foot path to where the road came back out of the creek. We could follow it a good ways then turn off across the little field where one of my older cousins always planted soybeans for his cattle.
We had to cross the creek there and did so on a "bridge". This was a tree that had been felled and spanned the creek when it landed. Then the limbs were chopped off. This was mostly the only kind of means of crossing a creek other than wading. It had no hand rails and nobody bothered to make a flat surface to walk on. It was just a tree (called a "foot log") used to get from over here to over there.
Then we followed the path by the creek down to the old fence and up the hollow until we had to climb through the fence and cross another field to the school which sat above the old county road that was in complete disrepair and was not used. I only speak, now, of this walk as it pertains to my grandparents. I do not know how many days I really ever attended school that year and how many days I missed.
I missed a lot of days because my grandparents would not let me go to school if it was raining or snowing or it "looked" like it might rain or snow. Instead I stayed home and played in the house or yard. I climbed the apple trees and did "skin the cat" on one of the limbs of the Quince tree. A quince is a kind of fruit I was told but I never saw one. I suppose it needed two trees to bear fruit and there was only one. I don't know but that is what I'm guessing.
"Skinning the Cat" was an acrobatic maneuver where one grasped the limb (in this case) with both hands and brought one's feet and legs up to pass between the arms so one flipped all the way over. I don't see the fun in that so much these days but back then I could do that for hours.
I don't know how many days of that school year I missed but they were considerable. Still, I made "straight A's" except for one B in "Effort". That was pretty much the story of my educational life. I made the grades but I never really applied myself. That foundation was established early.
All this makes me wonder how my own grandchildren will see me after I'm gone from their lives. Due to my own failings I don't see them as much as I'd like and as I should so I suppose I'll only be a vague memory. Some strange man "we had to go visit" for a few hours from time to time and could not wait to go home". That would be my own fault as I'm still pretty much a hermit and do not deal well with people.
But, now, I wish I had taken more interest in my grandparents as they were interesting people and has a lot of interesting life experiences. My grandmother was a mid-wife and delivered most of her grandchildren and a good portion of her great grandchildren. My grandfather was and herb doctor and made concoctions for everything. I'd love to have the knowledge of plants their medicinal uses he had. But, at the time that stuff did not seem important. I wonder if I know anything my grandchildren will wish they had paid attention to while I was here.
In this case my parents and I never had the best of relationships. Due to genetics and environment I preferred to spend as much time away from them as possible. That is not very unusual for teens but it lasted in my life until after they were both gone. My mother passed away when I was twenty and my father when I was thirty-eight. So, my mother never knew my children but my father was a every-day part of their lives. It reminds me of the Bill Cosby routine about how his parents treated his children. My dad was a different person where my children were concerned than he was with me.
Makes me wonder about my own grandparents. Now, in this odd case, my maternal and paternal grandfathers were brothers. I never knew any of my father's family as they were pretty much all dead and gone before I was born. But, my mother's parents were there from my first memories. I wonder how different they were as grandparents than they were in raising their own children. They have both been gone for a good number of years as are my parents so there is no one to ask about that. I can say that both my parents and my grandparents were severely over protective in entirely different ways.
My parents feared that anyone my age I associated with would somehow corrupt their little darling. Heaven help us all if that had happened as I have been pretty much corrupted all by myself without bad influences to blame it on. But, I did find a love of reading because I was alone so much and that was all I had to do. That has been the greatest blessing of my life as books have taken me places in the past, present and future I would never have experienced without them. I can't imagine how boring life would be without books. Be that as it may... the over protectiveness of my grandparents was of a different variety.
My parents allowed me to roam the hills all on my own since I was around five years old. I can't imagine that happening today but it was pretty much the norm when and where I was raised. My grandparents, on the other hand, kept me close to home and chose not to allow me to be out in any kind of "bad" weather.
I lived with them during the week when I was in the first grade and attended Preston's Gap school. It was a one-room school for grades one through eight. I'm trying to decide a realistic length of the walk I had to and from school. It definitely was not ten miles and uphill in both directions. I'm going to say it was a good mile. We went by foot path from my grandparent's house to the joining of the main creek with a small branch where I'd meet up with a few of my cousins. Thence through a field (and through a barn) by foot path to where the road came back out of the creek. We could follow it a good ways then turn off across the little field where one of my older cousins always planted soybeans for his cattle.
We had to cross the creek there and did so on a "bridge". This was a tree that had been felled and spanned the creek when it landed. Then the limbs were chopped off. This was mostly the only kind of means of crossing a creek other than wading. It had no hand rails and nobody bothered to make a flat surface to walk on. It was just a tree (called a "foot log") used to get from over here to over there.
Then we followed the path by the creek down to the old fence and up the hollow until we had to climb through the fence and cross another field to the school which sat above the old county road that was in complete disrepair and was not used. I only speak, now, of this walk as it pertains to my grandparents. I do not know how many days I really ever attended school that year and how many days I missed.
I missed a lot of days because my grandparents would not let me go to school if it was raining or snowing or it "looked" like it might rain or snow. Instead I stayed home and played in the house or yard. I climbed the apple trees and did "skin the cat" on one of the limbs of the Quince tree. A quince is a kind of fruit I was told but I never saw one. I suppose it needed two trees to bear fruit and there was only one. I don't know but that is what I'm guessing.
"Skinning the Cat" was an acrobatic maneuver where one grasped the limb (in this case) with both hands and brought one's feet and legs up to pass between the arms so one flipped all the way over. I don't see the fun in that so much these days but back then I could do that for hours.
I don't know how many days of that school year I missed but they were considerable. Still, I made "straight A's" except for one B in "Effort". That was pretty much the story of my educational life. I made the grades but I never really applied myself. That foundation was established early.
All this makes me wonder how my own grandchildren will see me after I'm gone from their lives. Due to my own failings I don't see them as much as I'd like and as I should so I suppose I'll only be a vague memory. Some strange man "we had to go visit" for a few hours from time to time and could not wait to go home". That would be my own fault as I'm still pretty much a hermit and do not deal well with people.
But, now, I wish I had taken more interest in my grandparents as they were interesting people and has a lot of interesting life experiences. My grandmother was a mid-wife and delivered most of her grandchildren and a good portion of her great grandchildren. My grandfather was and herb doctor and made concoctions for everything. I'd love to have the knowledge of plants their medicinal uses he had. But, at the time that stuff did not seem important. I wonder if I know anything my grandchildren will wish they had paid attention to while I was here.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Continuing the Theme of Music
I along with a lot of my family have different tastes in music. May I flatter myself the one with the most eclectic tastes is I. From my exposure from the late 60' up to high school graduation in 1972 we really had only two stations that were powerful enough to listen to. One was WSIP in Paintsville which was 100% country and gospel and one out of Huntington, Wv, I don't know if it exists still but then it was Key 100 with the top forth. Heaven help anyone or anything that came between me and Casey Casum with his show.
We were a long way from the fights between blacks and whites. That was good for me as as all I knew was the name of the artist and whether I liked the song. Every week I'd go buy the latest magazine (who's name I don't remember) with all the lyrics to every top 40 song. I'd learn them all every week...."Hit Parade" that was its name. Still, this far on in life I remember so man song lyrics. And I've embraced so many song lyrics as I felt related to my self and my life. I may get into them later but here are some of the county/bluegrass gospel songs that were popular Then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X48_0_xthw0
This World is Not My Home
White Dove
Stanley Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vqcUNdaMUg
Mother used to sing this... I think. I remember sking my grandfather what was a rank stranger. He obviously did not know it as he told me it was someone you used to know but did not know now. Now it is just people you have never known at all.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vqcUNdaMUg
Man, I wish I could plan the banjos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h0dpiM9c0k
Will the Circle be Unbroken....
This one is one I find to be very PRENTOUS and HOLIER than THOU. Still, I"ve always liked it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgFCzz9wjJM
Then there are the songs from my mother I can only remember parts of but still mean a lot to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkhJLcwRfms
My Dad always loved these songs. He had all the Hee Haw Quartet albums and played the all the time he was not reading the bible. I always got the feeling he was searching for a loophole. But I did get uses to and love the music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S2qFjf3J2s
No matter what you think about religion these guys are worth listening to for the harmonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S2qFjf3J2s
George Jones.... Ole Possum had one of the best voices ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5PMTEORjqg
Ricky Skags ( I went to high school with him *brag*)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ujdxIzi_Y
I guess this is enough for the evening. I'm sure more is on the way. Being entirely nonreligious I still love a good, ole, gospel song.
We were a long way from the fights between blacks and whites. That was good for me as as all I knew was the name of the artist and whether I liked the song. Every week I'd go buy the latest magazine (who's name I don't remember) with all the lyrics to every top 40 song. I'd learn them all every week...."Hit Parade" that was its name. Still, this far on in life I remember so man song lyrics. And I've embraced so many song lyrics as I felt related to my self and my life. I may get into them later but here are some of the county/bluegrass gospel songs that were popular Then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X48_0_xthw0
This World is Not My Home
White Dove
Stanley Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vqcUNdaMUg
Mother used to sing this... I think. I remember sking my grandfather what was a rank stranger. He obviously did not know it as he told me it was someone you used to know but did not know now. Now it is just people you have never known at all.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vqcUNdaMUg
Man, I wish I could plan the banjos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h0dpiM9c0k
Will the Circle be Unbroken....
This one is one I find to be very PRENTOUS and HOLIER than THOU. Still, I"ve always liked it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgFCzz9wjJM
Then there are the songs from my mother I can only remember parts of but still mean a lot to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkhJLcwRfms
My Dad always loved these songs. He had all the Hee Haw Quartet albums and played the all the time he was not reading the bible. I always got the feeling he was searching for a loophole. But I did get uses to and love the music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S2qFjf3J2s
No matter what you think about religion these guys are worth listening to for the harmonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S2qFjf3J2s
George Jones.... Ole Possum had one of the best voices ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5PMTEORjqg
Ricky Skags ( I went to high school with him *brag*)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ujdxIzi_Y
I guess this is enough for the evening. I'm sure more is on the way. Being entirely nonreligious I still love a good, ole, gospel song.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Random Music I Love
In my life there have always been two important things, books and music. It is one of the great sadnesses in my life that I have zero musical ability. As they say, I cannot carry a tune in a bucket. Playing the radio pushes my musical ability to the extreme. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for those who can bring music to the world for our enjoyment and perhaps a little edification should we choose to use it that way.
From as far back as I can recall I loved Science Fiction books and sad songs. Despite growing up in rural Eastern Kentucky I was not a fan of country or bluegrass music. Those loves came about later in life. As a teen and young adult it was rock or nothing. I'm happy to say today I enjoy many genres of music. Take me from Ralph Stanley to Rod Stewart, from the Rolling Stones to Ricky Skaggs (I went to high school with he and Keith Whitley who's music I also love). Even throw in a little Wagner and Stephen Foster.
There are some people who just do not understand my love of sad songs. Heck I like happy songs, too but they are so fake. Life is filled with sadness and travails and sad music is more true to life. My life at least.
But there are some songs that are not quite sad but still true. Like this one from 1973.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNf3eHJGe70
Sometimes I wonder just how close I may have came to being like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsXywDAmh0
But growing up where and when I did one was exposed to a lot of country and bluegrass and I can tell you that bluegrass is built on sadness and tragedy. So many songs about death, loss and a man killing a girlfriend. Then my life was not the most cheerful so I guess something in the sadness called out to me and I responded to it.
Here is the very first song I can remember hearing and it was one my mother sang. Performed by a group from Eastern Ky called Goose Creek Symphony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE6cw4XY_ns
We lived way back in the sticks where "they had to pump in the sunshine". We listened to WSM on an old, battery radio. My brother had climbed the apple tree to put the antenna (which was just a long wire) up high so we could pull it in. It being in Nashville and the home station of the Grand Ole Opry. Always listened to the Opry on Saturday nights hosted by Wayne Ramey. I always remember that name. He stopped being on the show and my grandfather said he had a growth inside him. All I could picture was some kind of plant like corn or beans or something.
One of the big names in the Opry was the Stanley Brothers. Carter passed away long ago but Ralph is still (barely) kicking. Here is a song they sung that is still one of my very favorites. Sad but hopeful lat the same time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqpOdKMrZS0
Anybody who knows me at all can tell you I'm not at all a religious person and they would be telling the truth yet I grew up with country and bluegrass gospel music and I do for a fact love it.
I'm sure I'll continue with music as music and books are where my life has lain.
From as far back as I can recall I loved Science Fiction books and sad songs. Despite growing up in rural Eastern Kentucky I was not a fan of country or bluegrass music. Those loves came about later in life. As a teen and young adult it was rock or nothing. I'm happy to say today I enjoy many genres of music. Take me from Ralph Stanley to Rod Stewart, from the Rolling Stones to Ricky Skaggs (I went to high school with he and Keith Whitley who's music I also love). Even throw in a little Wagner and Stephen Foster.
There are some people who just do not understand my love of sad songs. Heck I like happy songs, too but they are so fake. Life is filled with sadness and travails and sad music is more true to life. My life at least.
But there are some songs that are not quite sad but still true. Like this one from 1973.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNf3eHJGe70
Sometimes I wonder just how close I may have came to being like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsXywDAmh0
But growing up where and when I did one was exposed to a lot of country and bluegrass and I can tell you that bluegrass is built on sadness and tragedy. So many songs about death, loss and a man killing a girlfriend. Then my life was not the most cheerful so I guess something in the sadness called out to me and I responded to it.
Here is the very first song I can remember hearing and it was one my mother sang. Performed by a group from Eastern Ky called Goose Creek Symphony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE6cw4XY_ns
We lived way back in the sticks where "they had to pump in the sunshine". We listened to WSM on an old, battery radio. My brother had climbed the apple tree to put the antenna (which was just a long wire) up high so we could pull it in. It being in Nashville and the home station of the Grand Ole Opry. Always listened to the Opry on Saturday nights hosted by Wayne Ramey. I always remember that name. He stopped being on the show and my grandfather said he had a growth inside him. All I could picture was some kind of plant like corn or beans or something.
One of the big names in the Opry was the Stanley Brothers. Carter passed away long ago but Ralph is still (barely) kicking. Here is a song they sung that is still one of my very favorites. Sad but hopeful lat the same time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqpOdKMrZS0
Anybody who knows me at all can tell you I'm not at all a religious person and they would be telling the truth yet I grew up with country and bluegrass gospel music and I do for a fact love it.
I'm sure I'll continue with music as music and books are where my life has lain.
Monday, February 11, 2013
My First "Anthem" Song
I am a person who believes in music and there are many songs I've encountered over the years which seem to tell a part of my story though I know the song's writer and singer(s) have no clue who I am. Still, the song has a special meaning to me. Some would be pretty obvious and some are quite cryptic I think.
This one, though is really the first. It is not the first song I remember (That would be "Satisfied Mind") not the song I like best. Just the first in line.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-3RZkzpwM
I think it speaks to the loneliness I felt as a child and young adult and the way people perceived me to be that had nothing at all to do with the way I really was. This is also my first "funeral song".
This song would have come out when I was in the vicinity of fifteen or sixteen. I can remember one day my dad and mother were both gone and it was grey, cold and rainy outside. I was sick but I put on this 45 (old vinyl 45 rpm record) and listened to it and the "B" side over and over as the hours drug by.
The "B" side of this single is pretty good as well but really has no special meaning to me and seriously had no special meaning then other than as a song I liked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0iA_rOcn9Y
Along about that time several rock legends were overdosing on drugs and ending their lives way too soon. One of my very favorite song writers, Kris Kristofferson, came out with a single called, "Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again". The "B" side though was my favorite. Just called "Epitaph(Black and Blue)". I loved the song from the first time I heard it and have only recently discovered it was written to his good friend Janis Joplin after her death by drugs. I think it is a beautiful song. I played it one day for my mother and dad and my mother just did not "get it" but surprisingly enough my dad seemed to understand.
I'd love to link it but all I can find is a cover version that truly sucks. The song was done with just a piano playing a bare bones melody.
Her close friends have gathered
Lord ain't it a shame
Grieving together
Sharing the blame
But when she was dying
Lord, we let her down,
There's no use crying
We can't help her now,
The party's all over
Drink up and go home
It's too late to love her
And leave hear alone.
Just say she was someone
Lord, so far from home
Who's life was so lonely
She died all alone
Who dreamed pretty dreams
That never came true
Lord, why was she born
So black and blue.
If you ever find it by Kris and not some cover be sure to give it a listen.
This one, though is really the first. It is not the first song I remember (That would be "Satisfied Mind") not the song I like best. Just the first in line.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-3RZkzpwM
I think it speaks to the loneliness I felt as a child and young adult and the way people perceived me to be that had nothing at all to do with the way I really was. This is also my first "funeral song".
This song would have come out when I was in the vicinity of fifteen or sixteen. I can remember one day my dad and mother were both gone and it was grey, cold and rainy outside. I was sick but I put on this 45 (old vinyl 45 rpm record) and listened to it and the "B" side over and over as the hours drug by.
The "B" side of this single is pretty good as well but really has no special meaning to me and seriously had no special meaning then other than as a song I liked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0iA_rOcn9Y
Along about that time several rock legends were overdosing on drugs and ending their lives way too soon. One of my very favorite song writers, Kris Kristofferson, came out with a single called, "Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again". The "B" side though was my favorite. Just called "Epitaph(Black and Blue)". I loved the song from the first time I heard it and have only recently discovered it was written to his good friend Janis Joplin after her death by drugs. I think it is a beautiful song. I played it one day for my mother and dad and my mother just did not "get it" but surprisingly enough my dad seemed to understand.
I'd love to link it but all I can find is a cover version that truly sucks. The song was done with just a piano playing a bare bones melody.
Her close friends have gathered
Lord ain't it a shame
Grieving together
Sharing the blame
But when she was dying
Lord, we let her down,
There's no use crying
We can't help her now,
The party's all over
Drink up and go home
It's too late to love her
And leave hear alone.
Just say she was someone
Lord, so far from home
Who's life was so lonely
She died all alone
Who dreamed pretty dreams
That never came true
Lord, why was she born
So black and blue.
If you ever find it by Kris and not some cover be sure to give it a listen.
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