Song for Day 72 - "Joy Will Find A Way" by Bruce Cockburn

Songwriter Bruce Cockburn.

Day 72 - "Joy Will Find A Way" by Bruce Cockburn

      "Joy Will Find a Way" captures the paradoxical "New Orleans" spirit of this series:  optimistically funereal.  It is the second in a three-part series of Cockburn creations concerning our current predicament...and how we might hope to recover.

Lyrics:

Make me a bed of fond memories
Make me to lie down with a smile
Everything that rises afterward falls
But all that dies has first to live.
As longing becomes love
As night turns to day
Everything changes
Joy will find a way

     Speaking of optimism under bleak circumstances, let's ponder America's future.  Of course, with 2018 looming we should be talking about Congress and the states but let’s consider a more conventional tack.  With our General Manager (Tom Perez) and Head Coach (Keith Ellison) in place the successful franchise turns to its next quarterback.

      We have many worthy candidates who could win, especially with RepTealians setting the bar so low an arthritic centipede could clear it in street shoes, but why go with anyone less than our best?  Above the competence and integrity we expect from all Democratic candidates, let's say the ideal nominee would exhibit these characteristics:

1. Universal recognition;
2. no baggage;
3. professional grade speaking skills; and,
4. passion/strength.

     The first two are almost mutually exclusive.  How can someone in the political arena be a household name and iconic figure without having attracted millions of enemies?  Where can one develop and demonstrate rhetorical skills outside of politics and law?  How does one balance passion and strength without seeming flighty or threatening?  Who would score highest in trust, favorability and recognition among centrists and  left-leaners?  Who is the next Barack Obama?  Who has the dignity, equanimity, grace and humor to unite the Democratic Party as it has never been before? 

     Need any more hints?

     Guesses?

Links:

Resistance Song for Day 71 - "Fascist Architecture" by Bruce Cockburn

Resistance Song for Day 72 - "Joy Will Find A Way" by Bruce Cockburn

Song for Day 71 - "Fascist Architecture" by Bruce Cockburn

Songwriter Bruce Cockburn.

Day 71 - "Fascist Architecture" by Bruce Cockburn

I will fight the fascist here.
I will fight the fascist in Spain.
I will fight the fascist in China
and I will fight the fascist in me.
 - Dr. William Norman Bethune (1890-1939) 

    The title, "Fascist Architecture", makes us think of an anthem, full of cliché, bombast and pride.  In fact, Bruce Cockburn speaks of a far more personal power structure, one that each of us must overcome.  Its many manifestations include an urge to avoid conversation with those who don't entirely agree with our world view.  This "koan of silence" gave us 24/7 Red Don which, in turn, gave us Hair Backpfeifengesicht.  We have nothing to lose and everything to gain from engagement.

(If the sound on the video is poor, try this version instead.)

 

 Lyrics:

Fascist architecture of my own design
Too long been keeping my love confined
You tore me out of myself alive
Those fingers drawing out blood like sweat
While the magnificent facades crumble and burn
The billion facets of brilliant love
The billion facets of freedom turning in the light


Bloody nose and burning eyes
Raised in laughter to the skies
I've been in trouble but I'm ok
Been through the wringer but I'm ok
Walls are falling and I'm ok
Under the mercy and I'm ok
Gonna tell my old lady
Gonna tell my little girl
There isn't anything in the world
That can lock up my love again

 

 

 

Song for Day 70 - "Superman's Song" by the Crash Test Dummies

Singer Brad Roberts.

Day 70 - "Superman's Song" by the Crash Test Dummies

     "Superman's Song" came from the Crash Test Dummies' 1991 debut album "The Ghosts that Haunt Me".  Some might be more familiar with the band's 1993 hit  "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm".   Their songs can be recognized by lead singer Brad Roberts' distinctive bass-baritone.

           The group's core lineup included the Roberts brothers (vocalist Brad and bassist Dan), keyboardist Ellen Reid, percussionist Mitch Dorge, and Benjamin Darvill on harmonica and mandolin. 

     There are some strange taboos in our political discourse.  We can listen to news shows for months without hearing the words "honor", "integrity", "fairness", "grace", "passion" or "compassion".

     Barack Obama showed all of these virtues.  And many more.

     We are unlikely to see his ilk again.

Lyrics: 

Tarzan wasn't a ladies man
He'd just come along and scoop 'em
Up under his arm like that
Quick as a cat, in the jungle
Clark Kent, now there was a real gent
He would not be caught sittin' around in no jungle scape
Dumb as an ape, doin' nothing

"...but what fate can take from us was never ours."

Superman never made any money
Savin' the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair
The world will never see another man like him

Hey Bob, Supe had a straight job
Even though he coulda smashed through
Any bank in the United States
He had the strength but he would not
Folks said his family were all dead
Planet crumbled, but Superman he forced himself
To carry on, forget Krypton, and keep goin'

Superman never made any money
Savin' the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair
The world will never see another man like him

Tarzan was king of the jungle
And lord over all the apes
But he could hardly string together
Four words, I Tarzan you Jane

The Crash Test Dummies.

Sometimes when Supe was stoppin' crimes
I'll bet that he was tempted to just quit
And turn his back on man
Join Tarzan in the forest
But he stayed in the city
Kept on changin' clothes
In dirty old phone booths 'til his work was through
Had nothin' to do but go on home

Superman never made any money
Savin' the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair
The world will never see another man like him

And sometimes I despair
The world will never see another man like him

Song for Day 69 - "Angie" by The Rolling Stones

Day 69 - "Angie" by The Rolling Stones

     People ask:  "Exactly how old is Keith?"

     When Keith Richards was born cells were produced by a division of DNA (i.e. deoxyribonucleic acid), not a division of Samsung.  The Ottoman Empire wasn't yet a chain of furniture stores.  Not only were the Virgin Islands British but some still had virgins on them!

     And here's the really scary part:  of the six original Stones (i.e. Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Ian Stewart) , Keith is the youngest!

    In 2005 this Rolling Stones hit song from their 1973 Goats Head Soup album was used on Angela Merkel's campaign.

    Feel free to try your hand at captioning her historic "WTF?" moment with Douche à l'Orange:

Angela, checking for lobotomy scars.

Lyrics:

Angie, Angie
When will those dark clouds all disappear

Angie, Angie
Where will it lead us from here
With no lovin' in our souls
And no money in our coats
You can't say we're satisfied
Angie, Angie
You can't say we never tried
Angie, you're beautiful
But ain't it time we say goodbye
Angie, I still love you
Remember all those nights we cried
All the dreams were held so close

Seemed to all go up in smoke
Let me whisper in your ear
Angie, Angie
Where will it lead us from here

Oh, Angie, don't you wish
Oh your kisses still taste sweet
I hate that sadness in your eyes
But Angie
Angie
Ain't it time we said goodbye
With no lovin' in our souls
And no money in our coats
You can't say we're satisfied
Angie, I still love you baby
Everywhere I look I see your eyes
There ain't a woman that comes close to you
Come on baby dry your eyes
Angie, Angie ain't good to be alive
Angie, Angie, we can't say we never tried

Song for Day 68 - "One Night In Bangkok" by Murray Head

Singer Louise Robey.

Day 68 - "One Night In Bangkok" by Murray Head

     Let's face it.  So far, to no one's surprise, Hair Gropenführer has been a Harold Lloyd film.  Is there any hope on the horizon?

     "One Night in Bangkok" was a hit as part of the 1985 album and musical "Chess".  It featured the adventures of an American grandmaster, Frederick "Freddie" Trumper (no relation to anyone we know).

     Some prefer Louise Robey's version.

Songwriter Murray Head.

     While the song doesn't rank among my favorites, it segues nicely into a discussion of chess strategy and tactics featured lately in the political arena.  The first of these is zugzwang (or "move compulsion"), where the side would be fine if it had the luxury of doing nothing but, unlike bridge, one cannot pass in chess.  It seems the RepTealians, with no help from Democrats, have painted themselves into a Sophie's choice on health care. Thanks to their obsession for the last seven years, they can't leave well enough alone but they're simply too lazy and/or incompetent to improve it.

     A month ago it was the Democrats demonstrating a classic technique--and, this time, far more deftly.  Seconds after Tom Perez was elected as the DNC Chair, the Left braced itself for a repeat of 2016.  In the next instant, prior to the denouement, we saw a brilliant zwischenzug  (or "unexpected in-between move"):  Perez and Keith Ellison locked arms in a power-sharing move that united the party as we've not seen recently.  (See also Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer.)

 Lyrics:

Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner

Time flies doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or
or this place!

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother

It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board, not looking at the city

Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town

Tea, girls, warm, sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite

Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha

And thank God I'm only watching the game controlling it

I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you

So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage
parlours

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
A little flesh, a little history
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

Song for Day 67 - "Shadows On A Dime" by Ferron

Day 67 - "Shadows On A Dime" by Ferron

Songwriter Ferron.

      A generation ago, especially in the Great Northwest, Deborah Foisy, "Ferron", was an icon in the folk and LGBTQ communities.  She remains the single finest confessionalist songwriter in recent history.  "Shadows On A Dime", from the 1984 album by the same name, is the third Ferron such contribution (after the eponymous "Testimony", sung by Marcelle Davies Lashley on Day 2, and "Cactus" on Day 12) to this series.

      "Shadows on a Dime" was released while centrists ("Reagan Democrats") were helping Ronald Reagan humiliate Walter Mondale by 58.8% to 40.6%.  This song is a panoply of perspectives, including many featured in both elections, 1984 and 2016 (and many since):  moving forward, labor, losing options, complicit crime, health, feeding dreams, and "selfhood" (i.e. duty, identity and destiny:  "Who would I be if I didn't sing?").  The more romantic second half can inspire some to think fondly of a recent Democratic candidate, especially at the end of the campaign.

     The New York train stops here.

Lyrics:

This window makes a perfect frame
For New England leaves like painted rain
They hold me as I hold this train
All shadows on a dime.
You move forward fast by holding back
You gauge your steps and you don't look slack
Me I'm looking backward down the track
To see us dreamers in our prime.

I poured my soul in Santa Cruz
I ached all night,
Next day I lost my shoes
It's so optional what you may or may not lose
in this pattern we call time.

Fifteen years ago I worked the line
With a thousand more all doing time
While a foreman smiled complicit crime
We were strangers to the plan.
An old old woman ran the gears
She couldn't move
They said she'd been there forty years
...I think that's rude...
'Cause forty years is forty years
And I was only fifteen then.
And the work waged war upon our backs
But we gauged our steps and we didn't look slack
One day the old woman didn't come back
I couldn't work so well and they let me go.

But I don't forget about the factory
I don't expect this ride to always be
Can I give you what you want to see?
Can we do it one more time?

Ten years have worn this guitar down
Its ivory whites are now mustard brown
Its face bears cracks from every town
Still it resonates with age.
Where would I be without its ring?
Who would I be if I didn't sing?
For half a chance you spare nothing --
A tethered bird to a tethered cage.

I sing to you to feed the dream
I call to you 'though it's a muted scream
We're one on one projected beams
Translucent future be our sage.

Five years have blazed since she warmed my side
She is my gift I've loved and cried
With her level look she is my guide
A spirit on the wing
Our love has jostled like this train
Or like the moon to wax and wane
But to know somebody worth the strain --
Me I have one gift to bring

I cried for her then I let her down
She let me go and then we came around
I felt us new and I felt the ground
And I felt myself believing.

And now a tired conductor passes by
He takes my ticket with a sigh
I don't think he meant to catch my eye
But he doesn't turn away.
He says "I have a daughter as old as you
And there's really nothing anyone else can do
Do you play guitar...well good for you
Me I play the violin"
I imagine him with his hair jet black
Does he hide his fiddle in the back?
He gauged his words as the train went slack:
The New York train stops here

But I don't forget the factory
I don't expect this ride to always be
Can I give them what they want to see
Let me do it twice --
The second time for me.

'Cause these windows make a perfect frame
For New York buildings like upright trains
They hold me as I hold the rain
All shadows on a dime.

Song for Day 66 - "All the Desperate Men" by John Stewart

Singer Buffy Ford Stewart and songwriter husband, John.

Day 66 - "All the Desperate Men" by John Stewart

     "All the Desperate Men" was written in 1982 and released on the Swedish remix of "Blondes"  later that year.  It was re-released in 2000 on "Wires from the Bunker".  As such, it straddles John's career before retirement and the addendum where he had to make a comeback to pay for his wife's medical bills before his own death in 2008. 

      Clearly, no singer was closer to the American political scene and, in my view, no one captured it on vinyl better.

      It is too late to ask what happens when all these desperate men (and a few desperate women) stumble into power.

Lyrics and Chords:


(Dm) (Bb) (Dm) (Bb) (Dm) (Bb)

(Dm)Out there on the (Bb)street

(Dm)You can hear ´em mumble, (Bb)stumble on their feet.

They are(F) all the (C)desperate (Dm)men.


Out there on the (Bb)road

You (Dm)see them on the highway, (Bb)ev´rywhere you go.

They are(F) all the (C)desperate (Dm)men,

(Bb)All the (C)desperate (F)men,

(Bb)Singin´,"Will I (C)ever, will I (F)ever (Am7)love a(Bb)gain?"

(Bb6)All the (C)desperate (F)men. (Dm) (Bb) (Dm) (Bb)


(Dm)Right there in your (Bb)bed

(Dm)Tossin´ and a turnin´ on the (Bb)pillow by your head,

Yes,(F) all the (C)desperate (Dm)men.


Right there in your (Bb)arm

(Dm)You can hear ´em crying, (Bb)sounding the alarm.

Yes,(F) all the (C)desperate (Dm)men,

(Bb)All the (C)desperate (F)men,

(Bb)Singin´, "Will I (C)ever, will I (F)ever (Am7)love a(Bb)gain?"

(Bb6)All the (C)desperate (F)men.


(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

Yes, (Dm)all the (C)desperate (F)men.

(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

Yes, (Dm)all the (C)desperate (F)men. (Dm) (Bb) (Dm)


(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

We are (Dm)all the (C)desperate (F)men.

(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

We are (Dm)all the (C)desperate (F)men.

(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

We are (Dm)all the (C)desperate (F)men.

(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

We are (Dm)all the (C)desperate (F)men.

(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

We are (Dm)all the (C)desperate (F)men.

(Bb)(C)All the (Bb)desperate men,

(Dm)All the (C)desperate (F)men.