"Just one more mornin I had to wake up with the blues
Pulled myself out of bed and put on my walkin shoes
Went up on the mountain to see what I could see
The whole world was fallin down right in front of me
Pulled myself together, put on a new face
Came down off the mountain and got back in the race."
from the Allman Brothers - Dreams
When you wake up with the blues, the way I did this morning, the only cure is to put the Allman Brothers on the stereo and crank that southern fried rock UP! That is the good news. The bad news is that I do not own a stereo and all my Allman Brothers albums were sold at a yard sale years ago.
Everyone's taste in music is personal and regardless of the snobbery of some who think classical, or jazz, or this or that, is the best, people who create music have a gift the rest of us depend upon. I rue the passing of those great old rock bands, like the Allman Brothers. They played big, loud, magnificent music and you could not feel bad listening to it.
One of Gregg Allman's early songs, "Queen of Hearts", is still one of my favorite love songs:
"And after all that we've been through I find when I think of you
A warm soft wind runs through and through, in my heart there's only you
And I will always keep on trying, togetherness brings peace of mind
Without it there'd be lonely me and oh darlin lonely you"
Of the men I have genuinely loved in my life, three are gone - two dying in their early twenties, and one dying at age 51. Two are still kickin, happily married to other women, which is the best for all involved, believe me. It does not often happen but sometimes a memory rises in my consciousness that illuminates the present for a day or two -- my first kiss, standing in the twilight of my parent's back yard the summer before high school. Flying a kite in the middle of the night from the rooftop outside our bedroom window. Slow dancing with his heartbeat against my ear, knowing we would never dance together again. Leaning against his warm and broad back as we rolled through the dark summer nights on his Harley. Seeing his face for the first time after his son was born. And all the sad, disappointing, hurtful things that broke hearts, his and mine, no matter who it was I loved.
When I get to thinking about some of that old stuff, there is only one cure: Statesboro Blues!
"I'm going to the country Baby do you want to go?
If you can't make it, your sister Lucille say she want to go
And I sure will take her
I woke up this morning, I had them Statesboro Blues
I woke up this morning, I had them Statesboro Blues
I looked over in the corner Baby and Grandpa seemed to have them too"
Play it loud!
Statesboro Blues here
6 comments:
You don't need records. You don't need a stereo. You have your dumbputer, and utube.com. There have been a few, but not many songs that I haven't been able to find that someone hasn't posted on utube. Sometime the quality may be less than stellar, but when you gotta have it, there it is. Sometimes you have to wade through wannabe's who think they can cover a song (every great once in a while, someone with talent shows up.)
As you wish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfZdwCtrKWI
and I'm playing it loud, because you said so.
Love,
Kit
Oh Kit - that was GREAT! There is even film of Duane Allman playing! Thank you for a great link. It was great to hear those rough boys playing that ass-kicking old song.
When I mentioned stereo, I was pining away for the component system I had, with speakers so big it took two people to move them. None of the cd's today can compare to the old vinyl and those "state of the art" stereo systems we all used to have. Remember THOSE days?! ha ha ha
Remember THOSE days? Should I confess that I still have my "state-of-the-art" stereo system and hundreds of vinyl records? The large 40-year-old speakers are keeping up with their younger and smaller cousins. It's been upgraded with a CD player and surround sound system but the old bones are still there. (The reel-to-reel tape deck is stashed away in a closet.) I can still rain down sonic mayhem on my neighbors if they don't behave.
Mostly, I use the dumbputer sound system I've created (ingrained habits die hard). The old stand-by gets cranked up from time to time.
Now, see? You are a smart man! I would give anything to crank up that old system, listen to Dark Side of the Moon - Led Zepplin - Allman Brothers. When I sold everything, I thought I was divesting myself of the past. Little did I know that the past needs to be revisited and given homage, once in a great while. That is who I was, and what made me who I am.
Growing up alone in a crowded world, music was the salvation of my soul, savior of my mind. I could no sooner divest myself of any other part of my being. I'm not sure that it's always healthy for me. It it what it is.
"And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon."
-Pink Floyd, Brain Damage-
We came from the dark side of the moon! ; )
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