doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
music
made for walking
0
I’ve always loved the Nancy Sinatra song, “These Boots Were Made For Walking”. I don’t know why but it is one of those songs that I’ve always loved (and I don’t even own it – weird as that is!).
She sounds so strong and sure of herself in the song. I wonder if she felt that way when she ended relationships. I wonder if she was always sure of herself when she walked away. Or was she strong enough to say “enough”?
I think it could be an anthem. Heh. Albeit a retro anthem.
You keep saying you’ve got something for me.
something you call love, but confess.
You’ve been messin’ where you shouldn’t have been a messin’
and now someone else is gettin’ all your best.These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin’
and you keep losin’ when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin’ when you oughta be changin’.
Now what’s right is right, but you ain’t been right yet.These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.You keep playin’ where you shouldn’t be playin
and you keep thinkin’ that you´ll never get burnt.
Ha! I just found me a brand new box of matches yeah
and what he know you ain’t HAD time to learn.Are you ready boots? Start walkin’!
nostalgia
0
As much as I embrace change and love looking forward, there are parts of me that absolutely love tradition or wish I had lived in a different age.
This morning as I drove into work, I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR and they were interviewing Maude Maggart. Maude is the older sister of Fiona Apple. She is also a singer but doesn’t sing pop or rock songs. Instead, she sings Irving Berlin, 20s & 30s American Standards, and Cabaret.
Her voice is like honey. She brings to life a whole different era that most of us have only heard about from older relatives or have seen in movies.
She has a presence that makes me wish I had been alive during those times so I could have heard more of the music.
You can listen to samples (and they are long samples) of her CDs on her web site: Maude Maggart. You won’t be disappointed.
change of life
0
I have always loved music. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t.
When I was a kid, we would dance around the house to whatever songs my mom would have playing on the stereo (and she typically liked the harder stuff to come out of the 60s & 70s – Cream, Jimmy Hendrix, etc.).
When I was around 9, I saved up money to get one of those cool FM radios from Radio Shack. They came in different colors called raspberry, blueberry, lemon, and lime. I got a blueberry. It went everywhere with me – me and my tinny tunes.
In my pre-teens, I got a record player (remember those???). It was small. It was a little box that I could lock down the top on like old luggage and take it with me. It was the boombox of its day.
The first album I remember owning was the duets album with Barry Gibbs and Barbra Streisand. I would play it for HOURS. The second was Pete Townsend’s Empty Glass (I won it in a radio contest).
I had a tape recorder, one of the big ones, that I would use to record music off of the radio so I could play it on my smaller cassette player.
I got a Walkman, a CD Walkman, and a Dell Jukebox.
And then the heavens descending upon me and I got an iPod.
Seriously. The skies opened up and I was welcomed into the exhalted world of TUNES.
I have always loved music but I didn’t realize just how much I had loved music until my iPod came along.
Couple my iPod with iTunes and I have a library of goodness. I have 300+ CDs that have been loaded into my computer and then loaded into my iPod. Add in to that the free download that iTunes gives out each week and my library continues to grow.
It’s all now at my fingertips. I listen to music all day long.
My iPod goes to workouts with me (although I don’t use the earbuds because they hurt my ears so I have big headphones that probably look dorky but I don’t care). My computer plays tunes during the day.
I’m in music heaven.
emotional masochism
0
In one of my classes, we are reading Name All the Animals by Alison Smith. Our instructor brought up the topic of people reading certain books for the emotions they evoke.
It made me think of the conversation between my friend and me last night.
We were discussing TV shows. What kinds of TV shows do we watch? I watch shows that tend to make me cry. There is a release that comes from the build up of emotion over the course of an hour’s worth of television and at the end, I’m able to purge that heavy load that is sitting within me.
I worry over the characters. I fret that they may not do what is necessary to get out of the predicaments they are in. I want to help them to safety.
Of course, logically, I know it’s a television show. I know that the characters will survive because, otherwise, there wouldn’t be a program.
However, take a show like Lost. They actually kill off main characters on that show. If I get involved with that character and that is the person that is killed, I’m hurt by that.
And yet, I keep going back to the programs. I keep going back to books that tear me up from the inside out. I keep going to movies that will hurt my heart. I listen to those NPR and This American Life programs that make me want to sob.
Why do we do that? Why do we poke at that soft spot in our heart?
As I said yesterday, I poke because it makes me feel and even that hurt feels good.
So I wonder. Is this self-flagellation with emotional materials? Am I beating myself until my heart cries? Am I purging? Am I feeling some sort of spiritual or omni-presence descending over me as I poke?
I like the crying. It makes me feel good. I hurt during that hour and then I’m freed.
Caged and released, time and again, watching and reading and listening.
musical interludes
0
“Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body.”
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Lately Carole King has been all over the place. I saw an interview with her on the CBS Sunday Morning program and heard her on NPR’s morning edition.
I didn’t realize how prolific she really has been. I own Tapestry and have always enjoyed singing along to her songs but I didn’t know that some of the other classics of the American song book were written by her and various writing partners.
I was impressed. I was moved.
Her songs have a power to them. They can make you feel something. They can make you smile or cry. They touch the fabric of our lives because they are real.
I wouldn’t have previously listed Carole King as one of my favorite artists. After seeing all of the songs she’s written, though, I’d be hard-pressed to not include her in that list.
You’ve got a friend
When you’re down and troubled
And you need some loving care
And nothing, nothing is going right
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night
You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there
You’ve got a friend
If the sky above you
Grows dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind begins to blow
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud
Soon you’ll hear me knocking at your door
You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running to see you
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there
Ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend
When people can be so cold
They’ll hurt you, and desert you
And take your soul if you let them
Oh, but don’t you let them
You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there
You’ve got a friend
bundy
0I think that Bundy musical instruments are the most well-known and most widely-used instruments in public schools in the United States. It seems that everyone has either owned, borrowed, used, (or knows someone who has) a Bundy.
click for enlargement
This is my Bundy instrument: the middle section of my flute.
Pulling out my flute once again for a number of pictures made me smile. I haven’t played it in many years because I was wearing braces and just couldn’t get my embouchure right. Now that the braces are gone, I should give it a whirl.
I wonder…is it just like riding a bike?
collide
0The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You’re barely waking
And I’m tangled up in you
Yeah
I’m open, you’re closed
Where I follow, you’ll go
I worry I won’t see your face
Light up again
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide
I’m quiet you know
You make a frist impression
I’ve found I’m scared to know I’m always on your mind
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find
You and I collide
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to ryhme
Out of the doubt that fills your mind
You finally find
You and I collide
You finally find
You and I collide
You finally find
You and I collide
~ Howie Day ~
daughters
0John Mayer – Daughters
I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
But she’s just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I’ve done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I’m starting to see
Maybe it’s got nothing to do with me
Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too
Oh, you see that skin?
It’s the same she’s been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she’s left
Cleaning up the mess he made
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too
Boys, you can break
You’ll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without the warmth from
A womans good, good heart
On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too
barefoot santa claus
21Thanksgiving, for my family, has always been THE holiday that we loved. We all come together, cooking, laughing, and enjoying one another’s company.
When we were kids, Thanksgiving was the day that we started playing Christmas songs. It was the beginning of the holiday season to us.
Mom would put on an album and we would all sing as we set the table and got ready to sit down. I can’t remember a Thanksgiving without Burl Ives or some other deep voice singing a beautiful song in the background as we ate turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce.
One of the fun things about this tradition was tormenting my Dad. *chuckle* He HATES holiday songs. They drive him mad. So, singing these songs at the top of our lungs was part of the fun in poking at our dad and having fun with him.
To be honest, I’m not sure if he really hates it or if it’s his inner-curmudgeon coming out to tease us back.
Our most favorite song to sing was (and is) Barefoot Santa Claus by Sonny James. This song is our family song. We all light up and laugh and enjoy singing this one with one another.
It’s an obscure little song. I don’t know anyone else who has ever heard it (although, I’m sure one of you will surprise me!).
We once had an album with it on it but that album got lost in the moves over the years. So, in 2000, I found the song online and transferred it to CD for the members of my family.
I won’t be surprised if I hear this CD playing today when I go to my brother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.
I will smile if I do.
—
Barefoot Santa Claus
Sonny James
Barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Jumping on the roofs without his boots
Barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Happy in his big red suit
The reindeer couldn’t believe their eyes
The stars were blinking, too
For zooming through the Christmas skies
was Santa without his shoes
Now Santa had to beat the mornin’ sun
With a hey and a holler and a hoot
But he needed some help getting his job done
And he had to give away his boots
Oh, barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Jumping on the roofs without his boots
Barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Happy in his big red suit
Now a hint of dawn was in the sky
With many a mile to go
When Tommy, the newsboy, happened by
My story I’ll bet you know
Santa called and Tom didn’t even pause
With a hey and a holler and a hoot
And he worked so hard helping Santa Claus
That he wore out his own boots
Oh, barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Jumping on the roofs without his boots
Barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Happy in his big red suit
The sun came up but the job was done
Because young Tommy cared
His thank you was a special one
Santa gave him his boots to wear
The reindeer couldn’t believe their eyes
The stars were blinking, too
Wiggling his toes and aheading for home
Was Santa without his shoes
Oh, barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Jumping on the roofs without his boots
Barefoot, barefoot Santa Claus
Happy in his big red suit
Happy in his big red suit
Happy in his big red suit
addendum: for those who have asked, as of December 2007 you can find a copy of the mp3 here: http://rapidshare.com/files/18859683/Sonny_James_-_Barefoot_Santa_Claus.mp3.html
You have to jump through some hoops to get the download but it is free.
trust
0I am learning to trust.
I learned a lesson yesterday in a very gentle and affirming way.
I didn’t need to be hit over the head with this lesson. I didn’t need to hear that I’m being silly or that I’m being ridiculous or that I’m being stubborn. I’m dealing with some very real self-image issues that have barred me from living life to its fullest. I’m dealing with issues that are steeped in heavy baggage from the past.
I needed to hear the words, “I understand.”
I needed to hear the tone that was patient and kind.
I heard kindness. I heard patience and understanding.
I heard “trust me.”
Trust.
My hands start to shake. My stomach starts to churn. I’m thinking a mile a minute of how to get out of this situation. Normally.
You want me to do what?
Trust me.
It was implied. It wasn’t blatant.
I didn’t run. I didn’t shake.
I heard it. For the first time in a long time, I felt it. I can trust this person. I won’t be hurt.
The most profound thing I learned is that when someone reaches out in sincerity and asks you to trust, they are taking a chance, too. They are saying, “I believe in you. I trust you.” They are making themselves vulnerable. They are putting themselves on the line.
I can either take the hand offered to me and move forward or I can perpetuate the distrust and, perhaps, cause the other person to feel a little of that as well.
I would rather be someone who stops a cycle. I would rather move in a positive direction. Where there was one saying, “trust me,” now there can be two.
A strong hand reached out to me.
I chose to take it.
—
As I was writing this, I kept hearing a song in my head (which is not abnormal…music plays a big part in my life). While all of the lyrics may not match, it strikes me that much of this path of discovery is mirrored in this song.
The Power of Love
Indigo Girlsguess i wasn’t the best one to ask
me myself with my face pressed
up against love’s glass
to see the shiny toy i’ve been hoping for
the one i never can afford
the wide world spins and spits turmoil
and the nations toil for peace
but the paws of fear upon your chest
only love can soothe that beast
and my words are paper tigers
no match for the predators of pain inside heri say love will come to you
hoping just because i spoke the words that they’re true
as if i offered up a crystal ball to look through
where there’s now one there will be twoi was born under the sign of cancer
(love will come to you)
like brushing cloth i smooth the wrinkles for an answer
(love will come)
i’m always closing my eyes and wishing i’m fine
(i close my eyes and wish you fine)
even though i know i’m not this time
(even though i know your not this time)i say love will come to you
hoping just because i spoke the words that they’re true
as if i offered up a crystal ball to look through
where there’s now one there will be twododging your memories a field of knives
always on the outside looking in on other’s livesi say love will come to you
hoping just because i spoke the words that they’re true
as if i offered up a crystal ball to look through
(i have offered up to you)
where there’s now one there will be twoand i wish her insight to battle love’s blindness
strength from the milk of human kindness
a safe place for all the pieces that scattered
learn to pretend there’s more than love that matters