I know a place
Uh, ain't nobody cryin'Ain't nobody worried, noAin't no smilin' faces, mmm, no, noLyin' to the races..."For some reason, I have never forgotten this song
In 1968, a local Lansing radio station, WILS, played its top 40 once a month. One week the top 3 were
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy
- 1919 Fruitgum Company
Angel of the Morning
- Merrilee Rush
And this Richard Harris ditty:
There would be another song for me
https://youtu.be/S_OX2HwWy-o?si=41Xkd8WK_dtRo8tM
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece las palmas,
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma.
Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera
Mi verso es de un verde claro,
Y de un carmín encendido.
Mi verso es de un ciervo herido,
Que busca en el monte amparo.
Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera
Cultivo una rosa blanca
En julio como en enero
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca.
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazón con que vivo,
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo;
Cultivo la rosa blanca.
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Con los pobres de la tierra,
Quiero yo mi suerte echar.
El arroyo de la sierra
Me complace más que el mar.
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
- José Marti
As sung by Pete Seeger:
Only love can make it rain
The way the beach
Is kissed by the sea ...
- lyrics & music, Pete Townshend
https://youtu.be/DhLsC2FpDZk?si=x3SLVnC5SjwyRFcP
Released this day in 1973 on Quadrophenia
Look at me
I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree
And I feel like I'm clinging to a cloud
I can't understand
I get misty just holding your hand...
- Johnny Mathis
Lyrics by Johnny Burke, music by Errol Garner
https://youtu.be/KCQRZbisuMA?si=wHfaPgYhzFwuM-ZK
And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Today at church we had a baptism. The young girl, granddaughter of members, was visiting with her family from out of town. I would guess she is maybe 9 or 10.
The baptismal service was likely straight out of the Book of Common Prayer. As part of the process, the kid was asked a series of questions which started with:
"Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?"
And she was to respond:
"I renounce them."
Now, I do not know if the young lady even understands the term "renounce". Maybe, maybe not.
But WTH does a kid her age even have to renounce? I am trying to remember what it was like to be her age. Maybe she sometimes does not share with a sibling or school mate. Maybe she at times says something bad about someone behind their back.
I don't know why the church would need to brow beat a kid to renounce Satan?
The priest tried to make light of the questions just before asking by saying "Here comes the hard questions."
I just hope the kid, her family, and friends enjoyed the baptism ceremony. I hope it was beneficial for them.
Me? I question why we teach little kids they need to renounce anything except maybe too much candy.
Good grief. Maybe a group of child psychologists need to rewrite portions of the Book of Common Prayer.
- Musing at Fans of John Shelby Spong
Take me to the river
Wash me in the water...
- Talking Heads
https://youtu.be/r9f21bsjMIo?si=SPYhn397CUwbmbGQ
I am not a pretender.
I solely jot words on paper
which makes it unnecessary
to call this literature.
Now, however, I do wish
that I more than a poetaster
could grasp the elusiveness of communication
and give you a thank-you
as large and bright as a Fourth of July sky.
But, I guess, at least I've tried.
-September 1975 at sea between the Philippines and Japan
Written for a friend who I attended Journalism School with at Fort Benjamin Harrison and who was an Air Force journalist serving at Clark Air Force Base and with her Filipino husband (Venny) I visited while my ship was in port Subic Naval Base.
Venny asked me if I wanted to go to Manila. So, he drove us along the two lane highway toward that goal. Little other than farm fields with rice and other crops tended by farmers and water buffalo on either side. We never got to Manila.
Every so often a country store. You could tell it was a store since there was a Coca Cola sign in front. I asked him to stop at one such store to buy us a couple Cokes. They had no refrigeration. So the young girl handed me two warm bottles of Coke. I handed her a 20 peso bill, about $1.00 or $1.25 maybe, but she did not have money for change. Awkwardly, I fumbled in my pocket for Filipino coins. To this day, I thought I should have just told her to keep the change. The two Cokes cost about 12 cents each.
The bus ride in a Filipino bus to and from Subic to Clark was an experience as well.
