Bruce Springsteen - Worlds Apart

Surfing around the web something about a poll on religious freedom caught my eye. What's there to poll you may ask, as I was wondering, shouldn't everybody just be pro? I continued scanning and found out that apparently the majority was for more religious freedom ... for Christians not so much for other religions. Of course, the outcome of any poll depends of a variety of factors including, but certainly not limited to, the demographics and the manner in which questions are phrased. Nonetheless, things like that poll are scary, I think. Doesn't it makes a wasted effort out of the struggles of those who have fought hard -and even given their lives- to ensure liberties such as freedom of religion ... Of course, I'm well aware that such issues are rarely if ever painted in black and white and there are infinite nuances and facets adding to the total picture. Alas, the weeks past have been rather trying and I'm feeling utterly wretched tonight ...

"May the living let us live before the dead tear us apart" ~ "Let's let love give what it gives"

Worlds Apart (The Rising)
Bruce Springsteen

I hold you in my arms, yeah that's when it starts
I seek faith in your kiss and comfort in your heart
I taste the seed upon your lips, lay my tongue upon your scars
But when I look into your eyes we stand worlds apart

Where the distant oceans sing and rise to the plain
In this dry and troubled country your beauty remains
Down from the mountain road where the highway rolls to dark
'Neath Allah's blessed rain we remain worlds apart

Sometimes the truth just ain't enough

Or is it too much in times like this
Let's throw the truth away we'll find it in this kiss
In your skin upon my skin in the beating of our hearts
May the living let us live before the dead tear us apart

We'll let blood build a bridge over mountains draped in stars
I'll meet you on the ridge between these worlds apart
We've got this moment now to live then it's all just dust and dark
Let's let love give what it gives
Let's let love give what it gives

Gordon Lightfoot - Whispers of the North

Seven weeks between the old job and the new one. Seven weeks to my own; time to unwind, to relax, to renew, and to take a deep breath. For reasons I wouldn’t know how to put into words Canada always was a land I wanted to visit and finally there was my chance. 

My memory of the first day heading into Canada is fuzzy thanks to an uninvited travel companion: a severe cold no doubt caught on the flight over to Seattle. Surely, my nose then was as big and red as that of Rudolph the Reindeer, dripping remnants of the brain that was being pounded to mush by a headache without equals – ‘nough said … Although the recollection of that first day is spotty at best, two things stand out bright and clear.

Pentangle - Reflection

Artists have an immense amount of tools at their disposal to paint their mental picture of the world and convey it to their audience. Be it the colors of the rainbow and the texture of the brushstroke used to paint a picture, the words, syntax and possibly the rhyme to tell a story, the melody, the rhythm and instrument to perform music. A song can expand the palette of the artist by adding words.

Reflection by Pentangle to me is a perfect amalgam of words and music, voices and instruments. It is hard to believe that it dates back to 1971 – more than 45 years ago.

Gregorian - Hymn (Barclay James Harvest)

There are days when the music stage in my mind wants to play nothing but angry or sad songs. Sometimes that's just fine with me. Right now, however, considering the root of my anger and sadness, I seek a calming balm to ground myself again. 

One song that has long had the ability to ease my mind is "Hymn", for tonight performed by Gregorian. The song was originally performed by Barclay James Harvest and released in 1977 in the album "Gone to Earth". Reading about it I was astonished to learn that "the song is primarily about the dangers of drug abuse, contrasting their illicit thrill with the spiritual 'high' of Christianity."

Hymn

Valley's deep and the mountain's so high
If you want to see God you've got to move on the other side
You stand up there with your head in the clouds
Don't try to fly you know you might not come down
Don't try to fly, dear God, you might not come down

Ballad of Yarmouth Castle - Gordon Lightfoot

There's something about the majesty and relentless power that is the ocean inspiring awe and fear alike and keeping me fascinated in spite of tragedies like the loss of the Yarmouth Castle. Here's to her and to all other ships and souls who came to rest below the waves ~

Ballad Of Yarmouth Castle
Gordon Lightfoot

Well, it's four o'clock in the afternoon
And the anchors have been weighed
From Miami to Nassau
She's bound across the waves

Bruce Springsteen The Ghost of Tom Joad live in Studio

Every year I take a road trip to clear my mind and reset my equilibrium ~ for me, there's nothing better, nothing more relaxing than driving some off-the-beaten-path road and listening to music. One such trip included driving through the night on some forgotten street, and in the early hours of the new day -long before the sun would make its appearance- 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' by Bruce Spingsteen started playing on the radio ...

Well the highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes ...

It wasn't a highway, and the street wasn't alive that night, but -as strange as that may sound- the song dispelled some of the lonely feeling that I hadn't been able to shake ~

The Ghost of Tom Joad
Bruce Springsteen

Men walking 'long the railroad tracks
Going someplace, there's no going back
Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge

Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day - Jethro Tull (HD)

YAY \ö/ ~ the weekend's here. And it's brought snowflakes along 😊 It just feels right to go 'Skating Away' with Jethro Tull. Admittedly, the song is not quite that exuberant when you look at the lyrics. 

And as you cross the circle line, the ice-wall creaks behind
You're a rabbit on the run. ...

Perhaps it's because of the deeper contemplation that I keep playing it in my mind ~

Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of The New Day)
Jethro Tull

Meanwhile back in the year One, when you belonged to no-one
You didn't stand a chance son, if your pants were undone.

John Mellencamp - Farewell, Angelina

Sometimes I run into a song and it strikes me: The song dates back to the 60ies ~ alas, it could have been written yesterday ... Farewell, Angelina written by Bod Dylan is one of those songs ~ I'm using the version by John Mellencamp here because that's the version I heard first ...

The machine guns are roaring
The puppets heave rocks
The fiends nail time bombs
To the hands of the clocks ...

Farewell, Angelina
Bob Dylan

Farewell Angelina
The bells of the crown
Are being stolen by bandits
I must follow the sound

Bruce Springsteen - Youngstown

Going through the online news today I ran into an article starting with the sentence "The people of Youngstown are fed up." Immediately, my mind went to playing Bruce Springsteen's 'Youngstown'. From the first time I heard the song it spoke to me ~ perhaps because I grew up in a coal-mining, steel-milling town, perhaps because the haunting lyrics and melody wormed their way into my mind, or perhaps because Bruce Springsteen's voice of velvet, rust and gravel just brings a lot of memories to life ... Whatever the reason, I'm sure the song will be playing on my mind for a while again ...

From the Monongaleh valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalacchia
The story's always the same

Youngstown
Bruce Springsteen

Here in north east Ohio
Back in eighteen-o-three
James and Danny Heaton
Found the ore that was linin' yellow creek

Zager & Evans - In The Year 2525

I have a distinct love/hate relationship to a large part of the music of the 60ies: It draws me in to listen but the more I listen to it the more I tend to ponder the fact that nothing really has changed since. Take "In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" by Zager and Evans for example: the song bemoans how humanity becomes more and more dependent on technologies. That was in 1968. Almost 50 years ago. And still, humanity becomes more and more dependent on technologies ...

But through eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday ~

In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)
Zager and Evans

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

Pentangle - Lord Franklin

There are many times where music compelled me to investigate further into topics, history, or places. In rare cases, however, something I read led me to the music. Such was the case of Lord Franklin and his search of the Northwest Passage which I first encountered in Sten Nadolny's novel 'The Discovery of Slowness' (original German title: Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit). The recent rediscovery of the HMS Terror has reminded me of the ballad 'Lord Franklin' aka 'Lady Franklin's Lament' which recalls the loss of the expedition ...

Lord Franklin
Pentangle, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn

It was homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew

Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust

"Well I'll be damned ..." indeed!

To me, 'Diamonds and Rust' by Joan Baez is one of those songs that does not sound its age, and the unmistakable voice of Joan Baez is one that doesn't grow old. Of course to me it has little to do with Bob Dylan -the one Joan Baez talks about in her song - but rather with the incredible chance which had me hear this song on the radio after a similar "here comes your ghost again ... you happened to call" moment ...

Diamonds and Rust
Joan Baez

Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

Bruce Springsteen - War

My heart cries for the people in Munich and around the world ~ thoughts and prayers to all affected by the cowardly acts ...

War, what is it good for?

Absolutely nothing!

War

Oh no-there's got to be a better way
Say it again
There's got to be a better way-yeah
What is it good for? (war)

Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A.

This page is about music, certainly not politics. But then, sometimes, music touches on politics and there’s no getting around scraping the issue.

Not that I believe all I hear on the news, but this sounds just wrong enough to be true: Donald Trump is playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” at his rallies as a swipe at his co-contender Ted Cruz. … What’s wrong with this picture? Anybody? Anything?

 

To me, the song is anything but glorious or patriotic.