Something Soothing This Way Comes

Happy birthday yesterday, Bobbie Gentry!

I've been overwhelmed by a mixture of sadness and an anger I wish I could root out of myself. In my desperation, I've decided to turn to some slightly moldy oldies that remind me of my childhood, of times when my biggest concern was what my Mom was fixing for dinner. This song brings to mind childhood trips to visit relatives in Dayton, OH, my wonderful cousins, my . . . interesting . . . maternal aunts and uncles, the time my brother tried making popcorn in my Aunt Joan's kitchen and covered the floor in the stuff. Simple stuff. A reprieve from the madness of the moment.



This was the song that was playing the very first time I kissed a girl at a high school dance. If that makes me a late bloomer in that regard, that's OK, because I think I made up for lost time. She's a friend on FB now, and I'm happy about that for any number of reasons. Maybe Jo Nesbo is right, we can't really recapture those moments that will always linger in our lives. That they linger, though, is evidence of just how special, how important, how vital they are. I may never be not-quite-sixteen again, surprised at the warmth of that moment when I first kissed a girl there on that dance floor, but I can recall it so vividly, and all the tangled adolescent emotions that, really, I don't need to do it again.



Early mornings, it's nice to have music playing. It has to be the right music. Soothing, itself rather quiet. Music that doesn't intrude too much, but adds something to the ambiance of the sun rising, the birds feeding and chattering. More than just background music, less than mood-setting. More reflective of the moment, as my wife and I sit together, reading, drinking coffee, chatting in quiet voices.

Now, I think I'm ready for whatever might come my way.

Improv (Travel Bleary Capricorn) - King Crimson, live, 1969
Refuge of the Roads - Joni Mitchell
Good Lovin' - Grateful Dead (1980, Nassau Colloseum)
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3 (Live) - Pink Floyd
Ripples - Genesis
The 13th - The Cure
Play With Me - Jeff Beck
Eleven Four - Dave Brubeck Quartet, Live at Carnegie Hall, 1963
The Acid Queen - The Who, The Complete Live At Leeds
Vicarious - Tool

Because it's in keeping with the theme, here's Joni, who in her old age has turned in to a bit of a crank.