![](\"http:\/\/www.truthinsideofyou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/music2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Short answer? “No, I can’t!<\/strong>” For that matter, “I wouldn’t want to try<\/strong>\u00a0life without music!”<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n As noted in my post from April 4, 2021,* I\u2019m working on a new\u00a0E-book<\/a>:<\/p>\n The tentative title is \u201cTurning 70 in 2021 \u2013 and\u00a0still\u00a0<\/strong>thinking the best is yet to come<\/em>.\u201d One chapter will be \u201cOn the music of my life,\u201d and how important it\u2019s been to me. (Like making those long\u00a0Camino<\/a>\u00a0hikes \u2013 illustrated [below] left \u2013 more enjoyable, as well as those endless hours of canoe-paddling, [say] on the \u201cRideau Canal Adventure<\/a>?\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n For starters, a lot of the music that I listen to – mostly on my\u00a0iPod Shuffle<\/a>*\u00a0– brings back a bundle of memories of good times from long ago. (Very pleasant, like when I’m on one of those “long\u00a0Camino<\/a>\u00a0hikes,” or enduring hours of butt-numbing canoe-paddling, like “on the ‘Rideau Canal Adventure<\/a>?’\u201d) But sometimes it works out the other way around.<\/p>\n Like the one memory I had from visiting London back in the summer of 1979.* That memory brought to mind a song few people know, “on this side of the pond<\/a>.”<\/p>\n You can hear the song at\u00a0George Formby – I’m a wanker<\/strong><\/em> – YouTube<\/a>,\u00a0with one note from the guy who uploaded it: “Not many people have herd [sic] this song by the old George Formby, so i thought i would upload it.” (To put it delicately, the song concerns a practice which had been described as “heinous,” “deplorable,” and “hideous.” However, “during the 20th century, these\u00a0taboos<\/a>\u00a0generally declined.”)<\/p>\n Although I will add that ol\u2019 Lawrence and his band kicked ass with his 1960 – or ’61* – song\u00a0Calcutta<\/a>. You can hear that instrumental at\u00a0LAWRENCE WELK \u2013 \u201cCalcutta\u201d (1960) \u2013 YouTube<\/a>. (When I listen to it I can just imagine the\u00a0Lennon Sisters<\/a>\u00a0cutely singing \u201cla-la-la-la-la-la\u201d in the background.)<\/p>\n Note too this was \u201ca chart hit<\/a>, the most successful of Welk\u2019s career.\u201d<\/p>\n So you could say my musical tastes are\u00a0eclectic<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. (As in my liking music from a “variety of sources, systems, or styles.”) Which can lead to jarring moments, listening\u00a0on my\u00a0iPod Shuffle<\/a>… Like when I hear\u00a0Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus<\/a>\u00a0– by the\u00a0Atlanta Symphony Orchestra<\/a>\u00a0naturally –\u00a0and that song is\u00a0followed immediately<\/em><\/strong> by the cackling, maniacal opening to\u00a0Wipe Out<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n That’s the 1962 instrumental by\u00a0The Surfaris<\/a>. (Hear it on\u00a0YouTube<\/a>, and if you keep listening you can hear the “drum cover by Sina.”) Note too that this instrumental is\u00a0not to be confused with\u00a0Pipeline<\/a>, also from 1962, to wit: the “instrumental\u00a0surf rock<\/a>\u00a0song by\u00a0The Chantays<\/a>.*<\/p>\n Another instrumental I like is\u00a0Java<\/a>, recorded In 1963 by Al Hirt<\/a>\u00a0(1922-1999), famed\u00a0trumpeter and bandleader.\u00a0“He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of ‘Java<\/a>‘\u00a0and the accompanying album\u00a0Honey in the Horn<\/a>…\u00a0<\/i>Hirt’s recording won the\u00a0Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a01964<\/a>.” You can hear that song at\u00a0Al Hirt – Java – YouTube<\/a>; and if you have a pulse at all, it’ll get your toes tapping.<\/p>\n Then there are some songs I used to do on\u00a0Karaoke<\/a>, the\u00a0“interactive entertainment<\/a>\u00a0usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a\u00a0microphone<\/a>…”<\/p>\n One of my biggest signature songs was\u00a0You Never Even Called Me By My Name<\/a>, the 1975 song by\u00a0David Allan Coe<\/a>. Not only was it a favorite chorus-singalong at karaoke, it was also popular at “my” family events, like weddings, graduations, and some 50-year-anniversary-get-re<\/em><\/strong>marrieds. In the same vein there’s\u00a0Farewell Party<\/a>, the 1979 song by\u00a0Gene Watson<\/a>. For some reason I found that I could do a great job with the last note (“g-o-o-o-o-o-n-e!”<\/em><\/strong>) long and loud. (Loud enough for people to cover their ears.)<\/p>\n In a different vein, I used to do a kick-ass version of\u00a0John Lennon<\/a>‘s 1971 song\u00a0Imagine<\/a>. (The link is to the\u00a0original demo<\/a>\u00a0version.) From late 2016 to early 2019 – just before the COVID hit – I used to sing that song every once in a while, just to tweak a large part of the audience; mostly old, mostly white and mostly conservative, most nights. (And – need I say it – way too many Trump supporters?) Along with\u00a0Well Respected Man<\/a>,* the 1965 song by The Kinks<\/a>. (“Doing the best things so conservative-leeee…<\/em>)<\/p>\n And in a way<\/em> <\/strong>different vein, from time to time I also liked to do\u00a0Bob Marley<\/a>‘s tribute to the “black U.S. cavalry regiments, known as ‘Buffalo Soldiers<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.'”\u00a0(You know, the ones that “fought in the\u00a0Indian Wars<\/a>\u00a0after 1866?”) Needless to say, in the mostly old, mostly white and mostly conservative audience (most nights),\u00a0that song usually went over like the proverbial “disagreeable nuisance or source of irritation<\/a>.”<\/p>\n However – to borrow a phrase from Big Chill<\/a>, the 1983 film – “The heck with them if they can’t take a joke<\/a>.”\u00a0Or<\/em><\/strong>, a phrase from\u00a0Hunter Thompson<\/a>, that noted\u00a0iconoclast<\/a>,*\u00a0 “Something, anything<\/em><\/strong>, to give the Right-wing Whackos a jolt!”<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n Hunter S. Thompson<\/a>, the prototypical\u00a0gonzo<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Karaoke<\/a>\u00a0singer?<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0The Importance Of Music In Our Life Image\u00a0–\u00a0Image\u00a0Results<\/a>. It comes with an article,\u00a0The Importance of Music in Our Daily Lives<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>See also\u00a08 reasons why music is important to us \u2014 Mitch de Klein<\/a>, and\u00a0Why is music so important? | SiOWfa15: Science in Our World<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Re: The post I did on April 4, 2021. See\u00a0Revisiting March 2020<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The Wikipedia caption to the “Camino hike” photo: “A pilgrim near San Juan de Ortega.”<\/em><\/p>\n Re: My\u00a0iPod Shuffle<\/a>. That’s the “discontinued digital audio player designed and formerly marketed by\u00a0Apple Inc<\/a>.” Unfortunately I had to move on to a variety of the\u00a0SanDisk Sansa<\/a>\u00a0model music player, because – being now defunct – I couldn’t buy a replacement “Shuffle.” And personally I found the\u00a0iPod Shuffle<\/a>\u00a0much easier and better to use. Sometimes, it seems, “progress isn’t really progress.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Re: “Visited London back in the summer of 1979.” My lady friend at the time – Janine, who is undoubtedly a grandmother by now – attended\u00a0Eckerd College<\/a>, while I worked at the old St. Petersburg Times. She did a semester abroad early 1979; I took three weeks vacation to visit her in London, after which we toured “the Continent” via\u00a0Eurailpass<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Re: “Wanker” song. See\u00a0The Winker’s Song (Misprint) – Wikipedia<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Re: Welk’s “Calcutta.” From the Wikipedia article: “This article is about the 1960 song performed by Lawrence Welk…\u00a0An\u00a0instrumental<\/a>\u00a0version by American bandleader and TV host\u00a0Lawrence Welk<\/a>\u00a0on the 1961\u00a0Dot Records<\/a>\u00a0album\u00a0Calcutta!\u00a0was a chart hit…”<\/em><\/p>\n Re: “Chart hit.” The link is to\u00a0Hit song – Wikipedia<\/a>, with a subsection on “Chart hits,” with two paragraphs on the various charts at issue, such as the Billboard Hot 100: “a single is usually considered a hit when it reaches the top 40 of the\u00a0Billboard\u00a0Hot 100<\/a>\u00a0or the top 75 of the\u00a0UK Singles Chart<\/a>\u00a0and stays there for at least one week.”<\/em><\/p>\n Re: The instrumentals “Wipeout” and “Pipeline.” See also\u00a0Surf music – Wikipedia<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Re: The Kinks song “about conservatives.” Hear one version at\u00a0The Kinks – A Well Respected Man lyrics – YouTube<\/a>, but that version is way faster than the one I used to sing. I liked to draw it about a bit, and especially the final,\u00a0\u201cDoing the best things so conservative-leeee\u2026\u201d<\/em>\u00a0And add an occasional word of explanation, like “He likes his fags the best (cigarettes)…”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Re: “Buffalo Soldier.” I just learned the song “did not appear on record until the 1983 posthumous release of\u00a0Confrontation<\/a>, when it became one of Marley’s best-known songs.” Marley died in 1981.<\/em><\/p>\n Re: “Give the squares a jolt.” The allusion is to<\/em>\u00a0Hunter Thompson<\/a>‘s book\u00a0on the Hell’s Angels, infra. See\u00a0How The Hells Angels Became America’s Notorious Black Sheep<\/a>, at bottom:<\/em><\/p>\n By kissing one another<\/a>\u00a0the Angels proved that they were way more far out than the people watching them… In Hunter S. Thompson\u2019s book, he explained that when Hells Angels were kissing each other full force on the lips they were doing it for shock value because the act \u201cis a guaranteed square-jolter, and the Angels are gleefully aware of the reaction it gets. The sight of a photographer invariably whips the Angels into a kissing frenzy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n See also\u00a0Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga<\/a>\u00a0(1967). I first bought the book in the early 1970s. I thought it a superb example of what can best be called\u00a0experiential journalism<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n Mother Jones (magazine) recently had a piece about life as a prison guard, one of the very best examples of experiential journalism which I have ever read. The reporter became a prison guard without alerting his employer [the prison] that he was a reporter…\u00a0They are a shining example of the reporter\u2019s obligation as an experiential journalist to dig deep, to be acutely aware of his or her own psychology and thought processes, and to observe the internal impacts of an external reality which is far from the life ordinarily lived<\/strong>…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Emphasis added. See also\u00a0Experiential Journalism – MR. RESTAD<\/a>. And just for the record, I thought – and continue to think – that\u00a0Truman Capote<\/a>\u00a0did an equally good job of experiential journalism in his 1966\u00a0non-fiction novel<\/a>,\u00a0In Cold Blood<\/a>. Which is pretty much what I try to do with my\u00a0\u201cADVENTURES IN OLD AGE\u201d BOOK<\/a>, and my next book, on “Turning 70 in 2021 – and loving the sh– heck out of it!”<\/em><\/p>\n Re: “That noted\u00a0iconoclast<\/a>.”\u00a0<\/em>See also my March 2015 post,\u00a0On Pink Floyd and \u201crigid schooling<\/a>.” It quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson’s\u00a0Whoso would be a man, must be a noncomformist<\/a>, and it’s worth both a re-visit – in a near-future review – and a bit of re-editing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0Hunter Thompson – Wikipedia<\/a>. The\u00a0caption: “Self-portrait photo of Thompson\u00a0c.<\/abbr>\u00a0<\/span>1960\u20131967.” Wikipedia said he founded<\/em>\u00a0the “gonzo journalism<\/a>\u00a0movement. He first rose to prominence with the publication of\u00a0Hell’s Angels<\/a>\u00a0(1967), a book for which he spent a year living and riding with the\u00a0Hells Angels<\/a>\u00a0motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of the lives and experiences of its members.”\u00a0Gonzo journalism<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is said to be a “style of\u00a0journalism<\/a>\u00a0that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story using a\u00a0first-person narrative<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n The word “gonzo” is believed to have been first used in 1970 to describe\u00a0an article about the Kentucky Derby<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Hunter S. Thompson<\/a>, who popularized the style. It is an energetic first-person participatory writing style in which the author is a\u00a0protagonist<\/a>, and it draws its power from a combination of social critique and self-satire…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And finally, for future reference on later post I’ll do on other<\/strong> important music in my life, these early notes I wrote for this post: “1) Roxanne [The Police]<\/a>. Lousy karaoke song. 2)\u00a0Devo<\/a>. Crack that whip. 3)\u00a0Hanky Panky<\/a>, reminded me of ‘Sgt. Sjoberg, CAP encampment,’ circa 1966-67.” To clarify, the actual title of the Devo song is\u00a0<\/em>Whip It<\/a>. (See\u00a0<\/em>Wikipedia<\/a>.) The “Hanky panky” song was by\u00a0<\/a>Tommy James and the Shondells<\/a>. At the 1966 or 1967 Civil Air Patrol encampment in Orlando, Sgt. Sjoberg was in charge of my barracks and loved to sing the song, apparently because he had a young-lady friend who was also at the encampment. And “Roxanne” is a lousy karaoke song because of the chorus:<\/em><\/p>\n (Roxanne) Put on the red light If only one person is singing the song – as Brie the waitress tried on one karaoke night – all she can sing is “Roxanne” at the end, over and over again. She really needed a partner for the “put on the red light”\u00a0counterpoint<\/a>, as that term is defined by\u00a0Merriam-Webster<\/a>: the “use of contrast or interplay of elements in a work of art (such as a drama),” or a karaoke song.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Short answer? “No, I can’t!” For that matter, “I wouldn’t want to try\u00a0life without music!” * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * As noted in my post from April 4, 2021,* I\u2019m working on a new\u00a0E-book: The tentative title is \u201cTurning 70 in 2021 \u2013 and\u00a0still\u00a0thinking the best is yet to come.\u201d One chapter will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10562"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10562"}],"version-history":[{"count":127,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11038,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10562\/revisions\/11038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/3\/3d\/Auf_dem_Weg_nach_San_Juan_de_Ortega_-_panoramio_%281%29.jpg\/800px-Auf_dem_Weg_nach_San_Juan_de_Ortega_-_panoramio_%281%29.jpg\")
So here it is, one<\/em><\/strong> post on “(some of) the music of my life.” (And maybe “the importance thereof.”)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/pixhost.icu\/avaxhome\/60\/a9\/0043a960.jpg\")
Anyway, another group<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0I like – and that few people seem to know – is (are?)\u00a0The Blind Boys of Alabama<\/a>. Per\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>, it’s\u00a0an American\u00a0gospel<\/a>\u00a0group, made up of blind Alabama black men. “The group was founded in 1939 in\u00a0Talladega, Alabama<\/a>\u00a0and has featured a changing roster of musicians over its history, the majority of whom are or were\u00a0visually impaired<\/a>.\u201d Their song that I like best is\u00a0Down By the Riverside<\/a>.\u00a0You can hear it on\u00a0YouTube<\/a>, and you’ll no doubt notice it’s the “real thing.” The soulful\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>version, as opposed to the lily-white, pasty-ass\u00a0Lawrence Welk<\/a>\u00a0version.<\/p>\n![\"Photograph](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/7\/71\/Hunter_S._Thompson_%28self-portrait_photograph_-_Hell%27s_Angels_author_photo%29.jpg\/800px-Hunter_S._Thompson_%28self-portrait_photograph_-_Hell%27s_Angels_author_photo%29.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n(Roxanne) Put on the red light
\n(Roxanne) Put on the red light
\n(Roxanne) Put on the red light
\n(Roxanne) Put on the red light, oh<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n