I 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

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