Category Archives: MUSIC & VIDEOS

Music and Music Videos that I prefer to listen to.

Thoughts from Songs – Different Drum

Posted on by
Reply

tn_DeadendI listen to a lot of my old MP3’s as I go through my days as a Retiree. And, unlike some of what I now hear being played on some systems and sites, I prefer songs that are poetic. By that I mean; the words mean something and usually they rhyme.

So, here is what the song Different Drum originally written and sung by Michael Nesmith.

My favorite lyrics are;

You and I travel to the beat of a diff’rent drum.

…..

Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I’m knockin’.
It’s just that I’m not in the market
For a girl who wants to love only me.
Yes, and I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t pretty.
All I’m sayin’s I’m not ready for any person,
Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me.

There are more lyrics to this great song, but these are the ones that my brain still retains, even to this day. A number of other artists also recorded this classic, but it’s not the great artists renditions that move me, but rather that iconic first line;

You and I travel to the beat of a diff’rent drum.

These simple lyrics say something to me each time I listen to them, and I’ll use them to generate a comment on something I see going on in our country.

My Thought:

Why have we changed from a nation of Diversity to one of Confrontation?

Let me explain; From the time of our Independence as a nation, we Americans were Rich and we were a Diverse collection of races, religions, and political ideals.

We were rich, not in monetary terms, but in land.

America had accumulated, from its infancy, vast amounts of land that needed to be settled and tamed that we accepted anyone who wanted to come here from anywhere in the world and then settle on a piece of America.

They could turn their land into a home and live their lives without any interference from others.

And as people came to America, we became a nation of very diverse views on just what the words in our nation’s Constitution really meant.

And our diversity drove us to a Civil War. There’s no need for me, a common citizen to speak on the politics of this tragic war, other than to say that, the people of America had split into two intractable, unmoveable political groups that were so polarized from each other’s views that the leaders of each group were beyond continued conversations and compromises.

This my friends is historically, how Wars start. And it did. It really doesn’t matter, from my perspective, who was wrong or who was right on which point. The lines had been drawn and a War resulted.

You can pretty much pick a major War and make the same conclusions; people formed into opposition groups who could, or would, not negotiate or compromise and a War was the result.

I know, mine is a simplistic view, but then I’m no politician, just a simple man with a simplistic view of politics.

So, back to my song and the key words that I love to hum under my breath when I turn on the local or national news.

You and I travel to the beat of a diff’rent drum.

You see, I am old enough to have seen enough, and opinionated enough myself to know that we, the people of America, will never totally agree on pretty much any issue before us as a nation.

But if we can keep the lies and deceits out of the negotiations, we can I believe, come up with compromises that when looked at over time, will hopefully show a movement towards our nation being a better place for ALL of its citizens!

Yeah, I like this old song, and I enjoy singing it often these days as I go through my life just watching as we and our drummers end up marching together.

by Donald Bobbitt, July, 2019, All Rights Reserved.

Click and play this great song as recorded by Linda Ronstadt:

Different Drum

end

Advertisement

A Kiss is just a Kiss – reflections from another generation.

Posted on by
Reply

A KISS is Just a KISS – thoughts from a Classic Movie during the horrors and inequities of Wartime

The Pains inflicted during WWII
In those years of the second World War, the world wasn’t just involved in a military conflict. Rather, I say it was involved in a war of ideals.

These were such lofty ideals as human freedoms; freedoms of speech, thought, religion and the freedom to live together as humans.

I ‘m not writing this forum to preach about the purity of the thoughts of people on either side of the conflict, nor am I attempting to define or or demean the children of either side for their personal feelings about the warriors of the time who died and survived.

No, I’ll not be preaching to you or at you. Instead, I just want you to listen to a simple song of those times.

It’s a song that reverberated so strongly with a generation of warriors, wives and families at the time that it became a classic everyone knew the words to.

Yet today, after all these years, it is nearly unknown to most of today’s generation of music lovers.

If you are still wondering about this song, I’m talking about, that’s understandable. The song was almost haphazardly stuck into the middle of a classic black-and-white movie called Casablanca.

The movie itself has, stood the tests of time as a classic example of what people, normal everyday people, had to do and give up, just to survive in those horrendous times of WWII.

You see, people were often arrested or even shot just because of an errant word spoken  in front of the wrong person.

People were imprisoned for what was simply a suspected slight to the wrong person.

People were placed in front of firing squads for having the wrong documents with them as they traveled around the world.

And yes, some people were placed in gas chambers just because of their ethnicity.

But I will not beat on this much wounded horse anymore. We all know that the atrocities were real and the pains suffered by so many people were beyond unbearable.

Just a Song in a Movie
War! Love! Spies! Exotic Countries! Intrigue! What else can you ask for in a movie, regardless of when it was made.

I just want you, my fellow human beings, to read the short collection of words and then hear them sung, oh so lightly then, and by some other artists, since then.

Words that reflect a worlds feelings that even they did not know were unique and special reflections; of a generation’s acceptance of horrors of their times, and their individual battles for their freedoms.

Words, sung with feeling and for effect, of course, in a classic movie scene.

The words of a simple piano player, sung in a raucous bar full of people in a strange land, that if you listen closely, and consider the dangers surrounding everyone in the scene, can tear at your heart strings.

If you just take the time to see, hear and feel their power.

Lyrics of a song of its time
Too often, songs with great lyrics can become famous and especially popular just because of the popularity of the writers or the singers, and their popularity at the time.

This classic song is more poetry than just a song.

It is more a pained reflection of a time of world wars, confusing futures and savage devastations.

Read them as the Poetry they are;

This day and age we’re living in
Gives cause for apprehension
With speed and new invention
And things like fourth dimension.

Yet we get a trifle weary
With Mr. Einstein’s theory.
So we must get down to earth at times
Relax relieve the tension

And no matter what the progress
Or what may yet be proved
The simple facts of life are such
They cannot be removed.

You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.

And when two lovers woo
They still say, “I love you.”
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.

Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny.

It’s still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

© 1931 Warner Bros. Music Corporation, ASCAP

Read my article on this classic movie, Casablanca and how much the song meant to a whole generation, not so long ago!

by Don Bobbitt, 2014

Click on the link below to watch the scene of “PALY IT AGAIN SAM! in Casablanca;

PLAY IT AGAIN SAM

Sometimes you just need to press SHUFFLE!

Posted on by
1

I walked outside my RV earlier and stretched out in my chair.

I set my iPhone on the plastic table beside me and set it to run one of my playlists, specifically the one I call MY MUSIC -1.

I only have one MY MUSIC playlist so the list number itself is kind of dumb.

But, it is a very big list holding over 1400 different songs.

I know, that’s a little crazy and I should take the time to organize this personal mish-mash of songs by artists from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and, oh Hell, right up to today.

Sure I have several specialized playlists with a few hundred songs in each them, but they are all loaded with music of a very focused theme, such as; Jazz, Blues, Country, Rock, R&B, and on and on.

They’re good to listen to on occasion of course, but this big playlist of mine is my favorite.

You see, when I just want to relax, I can select My Music-1, press the SHUFFLE button and each song that comes up is very often a surprise for me.

Some are so old that I am surprised to hear one of those songs which I haven’t listened to, in years. And the great thing about using SHUFFLE, is that one song will often be followed by something I placed in my playlist just a few weeks or months ago.

That’s the great thing for me; just sitting outside, staring at a Palm Tree, or a passing car, or maybe just an interesting cloud floating by and not really thinking about the state of the world’s affairs or whatever silliness is going on in Washington, but just listening while enjoying the act of being.

You see, the music, My Music, makes my heart beat faster, my eyes see more clearly, and my mind flush itself of the stacked up worries about the world stored there.

So, I press SHUFFLE.

I get a new song, unlike the last song, one after the other, with no real rhyme or reason what the next selection will be and the list of selections is so large I am confident that each song will only be played for me once, on that day.

Try it for yourself, in life, or with your music, just press SHUFFLE occasionally!

DON BOBBITT

Copyright, Don Bobbitt, December 12, 2017. All Rights Reserved.

The reader is free to enjoy this article, and share it with friends, but if they wish to use it commercially then they must have the authors permission, in writing beforehand.

Emmy Lou Harris – Boulder to Birmingham

Posted on by
Reply

I was reading a fellow Hub writers article about Emmy Lou Harris. In it he mentioned her song from long ago called Boulder to Birmingham.

The verse goes :

I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham

I would hold my life in his saving grace

I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham

If I thought I could see, I could see your face.

“Boulder to Birmingham” lyrics by Emmylou Harris

Here is the song:


by Don Bobbitt, 2014

God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy!

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes, as other people race through their lives, they pass me, sitting on my bench.

I just sit and watch their frantic antics and it doesn;t take long before I start singing this song.

Enjoy!

by Don Bobbitt, 2014

Take me in Pretty Woman, Take me in; said the Snake!

Posted on by
Reply

Gator_at_pond_01

I was watching a neighbor, a Snow Bird by the way, as she was throwing food to a young Gator, that had come out of the pond to sun itself and it made me think about this old song.

It just seemed to appropriate.